Why do we Pray?

 

2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

Why do we pray?  When you pray do you believe God is listening or is it just a last ditch effort or playing the long shot?  Are your prayers having any affect on those whom you are praying for?  Jan and I have been active in local assemblies we call the church for almost forty years, and one prayer seems prevalent, that is the prayer for the sick.  And often we prayed that prayer, always desiring that the brother or sister in Christ return to good health, and that is a good thing to do.  Often we are told that the doctor does not give then any chance, if we are not careful it will skew our prayer life, why, because we put more faith in what the doctor has said than in trusting the Creator.  I also believe we often do not want God’s will for that person unless it agrees with our will.  But, do you know what is very unusual in those local assemblies and also in the small groups, we often refer to as Adult Bible Studies, the pray that the apostle Paul is asking the Church of Thessalonica to pray is not voiced.  Pray for those with no understanding of the price paid by Jesus for them, by His death on the cross.

We might refer to this as the lost prayer of the local church, we might also give the lack of this type of prayer as the reason for the decline of the American Church.  “Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men.  For not all have faith.  But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.  And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command.  May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”  It almost seems strange; we pray diligently for those who are saved are going to heaven that they won’t go too soon, and we seem to give no time to those that are perishing, those who have not the promise of eternal life in heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ much less our enemies.  If Jan and my observations are in error and some how it has only been the assemblies and small groups we been part of over the last forty years that do this, forgive me for implying that it is a major problem in the American Church.

If you are of like mind and agree that we have lost the urgency, the importance of praying for those who are perishing, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead, and many will come to know Christ.  Begin to ask for prayer, do we not believe that the Lord is faithful?  Do we not believe that He will establish us and guard us against the evil one, have we lost confidence in the Lord?  My prayer for all of us is, “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”  For this is the heart of God, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  (John 3:17)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice