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All Kinds of Prayers for All Kinds of People
“I urge you, firstly, that all kinds of requests, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be made for all mankind,”
(1 Timothy 2:1)
When we arrive at these verses, we often have a tendency of focusing on the importance of our praying for kings and other leaders. While it is true that we are to pray for such people who are in positions of influence over our lives, we sometimes overlook the two things that are being asserted here. First, our prayers should be for all kinds of people, not just the rich and powerful. We should be praying for the poor, the widow, the laborer who lives down the street, as well as those who are doctors, lawyers, and other people of wealth and influence. We should be praying for blue-collar and white-collar workers alike. We should be praying for soldiers and police officers. We should be praying for firemen, EMT personnel, nurses, therapists, farmers, mechanics, and the many other people who labor in our midst as moving parts of what we might call the great human-machine of society.
On a certain level, we indeed understand the importance of doing so, but do we pray for such people who are working for our overall good, but whose work makes our daily life more inconvenient? For instance, how often have we been running late to our own jobs only to find roadwork being done on the primary route we drive? Do we pray for such folks or do we hurl expletives into the air because crews have torn up the road for what seems to be the third time in as many months? When the person in front of us is driving too slowly, or who is moving too slowly down the middle of an aisle in the grocery store, do we pray for such people or just grumble at them? When a police officer gives you a ticket for going too fast on the road, do you grumble that the officer just happened to be present, like a shark seeking prey, or do you pray for said officer and give thanks to God for people who labor to keep our community safe (even if it means keeping the community safe from people who drive too fast)?
The point is, for a community to function, there are all sorts of people who must be engaged in labor. We are called to pray for these as well as our governors. Secondly, we are to offer all sorts of prayers. We are to intercede on behalf of others. We are to pray with those who are suffering and facing great challenges in life. We are to pray with those who cannot even lift prayers of their own. We are to pray for the needs that others happen to have and make requests on their behalf. And further, we are to make thanksgiving. We are to thank God for their presence in our community and we are to celebrate when they achief goals (even if we are struggling to meet our own goals!).
In the end, do we pray all kinds of prayers for all sorts of people? Sometimes the prayer life of Christians can be rather selfish and limited. Try spending a day praying for everyone you encounter. You might just find that you have far more for which you can pray than you initially thought.
Anxiety is not Good for the Believer
“Do not be anxious, but in everything, with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
(Philippians 4:6)
Are we to suggest that God does not know our needs before we “make them known”? Certainly not! Jesus says that our Father in heaven knows our needs even before we ask him (Matthew 6:8). No, the emphasis on the making our needs known to God is not on informing the omniscient one, the emphasis is on how we present ourselves before the King of the Universe.
Paul writes that we first must not be anxious in our manner. Why not anxious? Why shouldn’t we be worriers over every little thing? The answer is that we are adopted by the God of the universe who knows our needs and has the power to see those needs met. It is the pagan who has the right to worry, for their gods cannot act or move or hear their prayers.
Thus, we take our prayers to God in a way that is not anxious, but trusting in his divine hand, his divine character, and his divine goodness and we lift them before the Lord of heaven. Paul uses the phrase, “prayer and supplication,” which is a common phrase for the Apostle (see Ephesians 6:18;1 Timothy 5:5). Supplication speaks of specific entreaties or pleas for help before God and prayers speaks in a more broad and general way. The key is, that with this humble reliance upon our God, we are to lift our cares before him.
The thing, of course, that many struggle with is the anxiety part. How we often ask God for things in such a way that we would not want our children asking us for a need or a concern that they might have. How often we come across (if we look at our prayers objectively) as if we are doubting God’s goodness or power or both. How often we try and make demands rather than being still and having confidence that God is, well, that he is who he says he is (Psalm 46:10). Beloved, do not worry or be anxious and do not allow that anxiety to become part of your prayer life…instead, let your prayer life be such that it takes away your anxiety because you are assured of the one to whom you speak.
Jesus is God!
“For I know that this will turn out for my salvation through your supplications and through the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,”
(Philippians 1:19)
The confidence of Paul in the prayers of the Saints and the strength of the Spirit should not surprise us much as we arrive here in verse 19. Indeed, as Christians, how we rely on the prayers of others. That said, I wonder whether we genuinely pray and make supplications to the Lord on behalf of those who are in distress, in chains, or just in ministry…the leadership of the church that we make wise and Godly decisions when such are set before us.
What is quite significant, though, about this verse is Paul’s use of the phrase, “the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” This is the only spot in the Bible where the Spirit is spoken of in this way. We find the phrase, “The Spirit of God,” often enough (25 times), but this is something that stands out, though it should not give us pause. The reality is that Jesus is God and thus it is a natural linguistic transition to make from saying “the Spirit of God” to “the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” At the same time, this verse does provide us with an apologetic reminder that Jesus Christ is fully God. We live in a day and an age where many are trying to make less of Jesus than he is, making him look to be some sort of demigod or divine human, seeing him as created and not part of the Triune Godhead. Here, Paul would seem to refute such an idea, reminding us that the Holy Spirit is just as much connected with the Son as he is with the Father.
But also make note of the language applied to the Spirit here…it is the Spirit who strengthens, who provides for Paul, who fortifies him in his time of need. How we need to be reminded sometimes that we do not do things in our own strength as believers, but what we do we must do in reliance on the strength of the Holy Spirit. He empowers, we bring nothing to the table other than obedience…and that is something the Spirit works in us as well. There is no room for personal pride, folks, only pride in our Savior, Christ Jesus.
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