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Post by CowboysDad on Jan 28, 2015 23:09:09 GMT -6
I'm wanting to pray more meaningfully for my church members. Most people only ask me to pray for them if they are sick or to pray for issues that get resolved fairly quickly (finding a job, safe travel on a trip, etc.). How do you pray for your members? Do you have a series of things that you generally pray for your people on an ongoing basis? Have you ever done a Scriptural study to learn what to pray? I may have to do that myself, but was just wanting to start a conversation for now. I'd love to hear any insights.
- Daniel
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Post by brianwagner on Jan 31, 2015 12:55:20 GMT -6
The Holy Spirit had Paul tells us to imitate him (1Cor. 4:16, 11:1). But remembering this I then begin to feel pretty guilty when I read his testimony of prayer for others recorded at the beginning of almost all his epistles! I wish I could be disciplined to imitate Paul's prayer life more (or the Lord's for that matter, cf. Luke's references to the Lord's prayer times). Paul also mentioned Epaphras' example of "laboring" in prayer (Col. 4:12), I have found that having a written list to work through, like one has for any job of labor, doesn't seem to "unspiritual" because of Paul's use of the word "labor" in that context, and a list helps me have greater focus and consistency. Brian
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Post by CowboysDad on Jan 31, 2015 13:06:27 GMT -6
Thanks, Brian, I appreciate your input. I keep a quick list of prayer items on my phone as people mention them to me, so that helps me for sure, and often when people ask me to pray for a certain event I'll set a timer on my phone to make sure I pray when they've asked. But most of those prayers are again more reactive and I'm looking to be more proactive in prayer. Would love to interview George Mueller!
- Daniel
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Post by CowboysDad on Feb 16, 2015 15:58:55 GMT -6
In 1 Thessalonians 1:2, we read, "We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you IN our prayers." The preposition epi is typically translated as "in," but when you look at the lexicons you won't see "in" as an option. I think "at" is a much better translation, suggesting a prayer time for Paul. Did Paul have a prayer list? Likely. Did he pray regularly throughout the day? Yes (cf. 1 Thes. 5:17). But did he have a prayer time--a point in his day when he STOPPED to pray? Sure looks that way!
- Daniel
Added note: Just happened tonight to be poking around in the 1890 Darby Bible and decided to look at 1 Thes. 1:2. Aha, look what I found: "We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you AT our prayers."
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