PURPOSEFUL PRAYER
Prayer is not a willy-nilly, hit-and-miss grocery list of requests and demands. Prayer is the unfolding of our participation with the Father in His purpose to bring His kingdom to earth, to complete His plan to have a family like His Son to live with Him forever.
Thus, our focus in prayer, in the coming of God’s kingdom, involves prayer for God’s people. Jesus prayed for His disciples, present and future, not for the world.
My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you.”
John 17:9 NLT
Paul also, in all his recorded prayers, does not instruct us to pray for unbelievers, except in 1 Timothy…
“I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. “
1 Timothy 2:1NLT
Once again, this instruction to pray points us towards the kingdom of God, asking God to create a peaceful environment to further the proclamation of the gospel.
So, Paul’s concern was, primarily, the quality of the spiritual life of kingdom citizens. He prayed for spiritual enlightenment and understanding so that God’s people would…
… know who they were in Christ and…
… live out that knowledge where they were…
… so that they would be witnesses to the rule of God in their lives. In this way, love, unity, and peaceful co-existence would draw pagan people to the gospel of Christ.
“Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.”
Philippians 2:1415 NLT
Through prayer, God’s way of drawing us into partnership with Him, we learn to share His heart. His plan is to bring everything, including people, under His rule so that we can experience all His goodness and bring glory to His name.
“Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back? For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.”
Romans 11:33-36 NLT
PRAYER
Father, you are an awesome God. Your plan for your people is far greater than we can ever imagine. Through our prayers, you have called us into partnership with you in the unfolding of that plan. We cannot understand how you in your sovereignty can allow us to participate with you in bringing heaven to earth, but it does.
Thank you for your wisdom, love, and power that has honoured your people by giving us this great gift of prayer. Help us, Father, to be faithful in praying for your kingdom to come and your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Help us, Holy Spirit, to hear you as you speak to us and direct us in our prayers and in our witness to Jesus to the people around us.