Public prayer asking for grace and mercy

I am called to pray for everyone.

First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, requests, and thanksgivings be offered to God for all people. – 1 Timothy 2:1 GNT

First of all – not a reference to time but rather to importance.

“In the first place, let me remind you that the Church’s public prayers must be made expressly for all men, from the Emperor downwards.” – White

Petitions – is not all about asking but it is about having bold confidence that comes from God’s Word.

Requests – we pray and give the needs of others a place of priority.

All people – who needs prayer? All of us do and so there is not a single person I will meet or know who I should not pray for.

It would appear that my prayer life needs to be more evangelistically based. People need to know Jesus.

It also means that I am called to include those in authority in my prayers.

For kings and all others who are in authority, that we may live a quiet and peaceful life with all reverence toward God and with proper conduct. – 1 Timothy 2:2 GNT

Prayer makes it right.

The early church leader Tertullian explained: “We pray for all the emperors, that God may grant them long life, a secure government, a prosperous family, vigorous troops, a faithful senate, an obedient people; that the whole world may be in peace; and that God may grant, both to Caesar and to every man, the accomplishment of their just desires.” – Clarke

I have to go back to what I said earlier about evangelical prayer.

This is good and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to know the truth. – 1 Timothy 2:3-4 GNT

There is a strong suggestion that prayer needs to be about bringing individuals to a place of truth and salvation.

Daniel had something similar in mind when he was praying.

Darius the Mede, who was the son of Xerxes, ruled over the kingdom of Babylonia. In the first year of his reign I was studying the sacred books and thinking about the seventy years that Jerusalem would be in ruins, according to what the Lord had told the prophet Jeremiah. Daniel 9:1-2 GNT

I believe he was praying as he was studying.

“These verses show Daniel as a diligent student of Scripture who built his prayer life on the Word of God.” – Archer

“Oh! That you studied your Bibles more! Oh! That we all did! How we could plead the promises! How often we should prevail with God when we could hold him to his word, and say, ‘Fulfill this word unto thy servant, whereon thou hast caused me to hope.’ Oh! It is grand praying when our mouth is full of God’s word, for there is no word that can prevail with him like his own.” – Spurgeon

Here is how Daniel proceeded.

And I prayed earnestly to the Lord God, pleading with him, fasting, wearing sackcloth, and sitting in ashes. – Daniel 9:3 GNT

There are many examples of prayer in the Bible but few that have a sample of what confession looks like – this one does.

The fasting, sackcloth and ashes all indicate a seriousness of his prayer. The rest of Daniel’s prayer in chapter nine has some rich instruction regarding true prayer. It is in response to the Word, it is characterized by fervency and self-denial, it identifies with God’s people, is strengthened by confession, is dependent on God’s character and has as its goal, God’s glory.

There was an ask for grace, mercy and compassion – everything hinges on God’s forgiveness. I cannot ask for anything but grace and mercy.

It is worth noticing that Luther says that this twice-daily prayer regimen could be in private in your room or in a church with an assembled congregation. He writes: “When I feel that I have become cool and joyless in prayer . . . I hurry to my room, or, if it be the day and hour for it, to the church where a congregation is assembled.” This is testimony to the importance of corporate worship in Luther’s theology. We do not conquer a hard, cold, prayerless heart only on our own, through personal exercises. The public house of worship of the people of God was a place where you could hear the Word of God through the preached Word—not just through the read Word as in private—and where the response of prayer and praise
was corporate, not just individual. – Timothy Keller

Power and priority of a prayer life with answers

Remember the story of the couple who hosted Elisha from time to time as he passed through their village and through their home? It is found here in 2 Kings 4:8-37.

I believe that the woman in this story, in her relationship with Elisha, has began to learn, maybe through him, the power and priority of prayer and it has become part of her practice.

Maybe it is not personal prayer – maybe she recognizes that she needs a mediator and an intercessor.

One day Elisha went to Shunem, where a rich woman lived. She invited him to a meal, and from then on every time he went to Shunem he would have his meals at her house. She said to her husband, “I am sure that this man who comes here so often is a holy man. Let’s build a small room on the roof, put a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp in it, and he can stay there whenever he visits us.” – 2 Kings 4:8-10 GNT

The Psalmist in Psalm 116 knew that God listened to prayers as well.

I love the Lord, because he hears me;
    he listens to my prayers. – Psalm 116:1 GNT

Calvin’s Institutes are something like what we would today call a systematic theology. It is striking and somewhat puzzling, then, that even writers of systematic theology in Calvin’s Reformed tradition do not usually have a chapter on prayer. One exception was Charles Hodge, the nineteenth-century Princeton theologian, whose systematic theology contains a substantial section on prayer, and particularly on the implications of the Christian doctrine of God for Christian prayer. See Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1965),
692–700. – Timothy Keller

Pray there will be a clear path

It is how God works.

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Dig ditches all over this dry stream bed. Even though you will not see any rain or wind, this stream bed will be filled with water, and you, your livestock, and your pack animals will have plenty to drink.’” – 2 Kings 3:16-17 GNT

Remember when Elijah wanted rain – remember what happened? That did not happen with Elisha – he neither saw nor heard the rain. Prayer has this amazing power to bless people and we really do not know the how. I also have noticed that even though my own family members may not be receiving the blessings I pray on them, others do.

In the waiting on God, through prayer, I prepare for those floods of grace to give.

When I need God to respond, He does. His blessing wait on my heartfelt prayers and my faithfulness.

It is the very reason why Paul asks for prayers.

Finally, our friends, pray for us that the Lord’s message may continue to spread rapidly and be received with honor, just as it was among you. – 2 Thessalonians 3:1 GNT

I will never really know how individuals are helped because I have prayed for them. If there is nothing else I can do, I can pray.

Specifically, that the power of God’s Word would change lives. I pray that there are no obstacles that stand in the way of just that – may there be a free and clear path to preach the gospel.

Of course, many things we do now, including prayer and praise, can be called a “pleasing sacrifice” to God (Hebrews 13:15–16), but they are no longer an appeasing sacrifice. In Hebrews 13, Christian prayer is depicted as a thank offering for a salvation already secured by Christ. Prayer is not, on New Testament terms, an atoning or appeasing sacrifice that turns aside God’s wrath and procures and merits God’s attention and favor. – Timothy Keller

Prayerfully requesting grace

Once more the king sent an officer with fifty men. He went up the hill, fell on his knees in front of Elijah, and pleaded, “Man of God, be merciful to me and my men. Spare our lives! The two other officers and their men were killed by fire from heaven; but please be merciful to me!” – 2 Kings 1:13-14 GNT

It is not only a prayer seeking grace, but it is a prayer that is offered up with honour.

There is a way to serve the Lord prayerfully, out of godly character, joyfully in His power and for His glory.

Paul teaches me how to do this well.

Our friends, we must thank God at all times for you. It is right for us to do so, because your faith is growing so much and the love each of you has for the others is becoming greater. That is why we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God. We boast about the way you continue to endure and believe through all the persecutions and sufferings you are experiencing.

All of this proves that God’s judgment is just and as a result you will become worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering. And he will give relief to you who suffer and to us as well. He will do this when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven with his mighty angels. That is why we always pray for you. We ask our God to make you worthy of the life he has called you to live. May he fulfill by his power all your desire for goodness and complete your work of faith. In this way the name of our Lord Jesus will receive glory from you, and you from him, by the grace of our God and of the Lord[a] Jesus Christ. – 2 Thessalonians 1:3-5, 7, 11-12 GNT

This is how Paul models how I should be praying.

  • Pray for spiritual growth
  • Strength to endure asking God to use this time to reveal how just He is
  • For relief of the suffering/hardships/persecution being experienced by myself and other followers of Jesus
  • For God to enable me to live a life of divine purpose
  • May His power to complete my faith and my desire to accomplish good
  • For God to receive glory from every area of my life
  • For me to receive grace, honour, and favour from God

Some commentators argue that the groans here are only the groans of the Spirit, not ours. We are, therefore, entirely unaware of them. They arise to God beside our petitions. The Spirit’s intercession, therefore, arises constantly and happens essentially apart from us and our prayers. (Commentators on Romans 8:26–27 who take that view include Douglas J. Moo and Joseph A. Fitzmyer.) Others believe that while it is strictly true grammatically that the groans are the Spirit’s —the point of the promise is that we feel weak and don’t know how to pray and the Spirit helps us in that. After all, God is a “searcher of hearts” (Rom 8:27), and this means God is looking into believer’s hearts. So the groanings of the Spirit are believers’ groanings and longings after conformity to God’s will originating from the Holy Spirit. Commentators such as John Murray, Peter O’Brien, John Stott, and Thomas Schreiner take this latter view. – Timothy Keller

Pray at all times to find grace and mercy

It seems like three impossible commands.

Be joyful always, pray at all times, be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 GNT

Can anyone say that they have “always” practiced any one as opposed to all three?

Even in our corporate worship we find it hard to practice them – probably because we have not practiced them individually.

To pray all the time means that I am being challenged to have an attitude of prayer – an awareness of God’s presence – a constant dialogue and close relationship with Him.

In other words, continual prayer is a posture of unceasing dependence on God.

Prayer is my ability to tap into God’s limitless resources. I limit my praying if I do not give my whole self to His grace and mercy.

As a follower of Jesus, I am called to be a person of prayer – to be in regular communication with Him. It becomes my first instinct in every situation. It does not occur to me not to pray.

Prayer is about being thankful.

Prayer is simply a conversation.

Every day tasks can incorporate prayer. When I was younger and in physical training, I used that time to pray. I prayed four hours a day – changed my life.

Watch out for the revenge type prayers.

May his life soon be ended;
    may someone else take his job!
May his children become orphans,
    and his wife a widow! – Psalm 109:8-9 GNT

It is a serious thing when we look at Jesus’ call to love our enemies and pray for those who come against us.

It is good for me to evaluate why and for whom I am praying for. When I find myself praying for those who come against me, I pray they may find the same grace and mercy that I have received from Jesus.

Ward goes on to show also that the Bible is a covenant document. When God enters into a relationship with us human beings, it is not merely personal but also covenantal. It means we are bound to God and he to us by promises to be faithful to one another—and now we have right of access to him. It is analogous to the covenant of marriage. Both the Bible and prayer, then, are covenantal privileges. God speaks to his people (through the Bible) and listens to his people (through prayer), who are bound to him in the covenantal relationship. – Timothy Keller