. (The
address is a graphic, rather than an e-mail link, to minimize use of my address
by spam senders. Just enter the address in your e-mail program. Sorry!) Feel
free to refer to these pages, or copy them for the use of others.Prayer in the New Testament
I did a search for the word "pray," using the Bible Gateway, and the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. The KJV uses outdated language, but is in the public domain, so that I can include it on this page without violating copyright. A search for the word, "pray," without specifying whole words only, also returns such words as "prayer" and "praying." I searched the New Testament from Romans through Revelation, because I supposed that these 22 books give the best possible picture of the New Testament church. There were 59 occurrences of "pray," or a word containing it, in these books.
The churches that I attend spend most of their prayer time on people who are sick. I don't believe that there is anything wrong with that, but praying for the sick is not the emphasis of the New Testament. Of the 59 occasions mentioned above, only 4 seemed to be references to praying for the sick, and some of these were not certain, as they used the word "afflicted," which may refer to spiritual or other problems. (Please don't take the numbers given in this document as absolute. Using another version might have given a different count, and others might correctly interpret a meaning, where I have not.)
So, what did the New Testament church pray for? (Prayer, here, has the narrow meaning of supplication--asking for things. There should be other types of prayer, including confession, thanksgiving, and adoration.) Surely, if not for the sick, they must have prayed for non-believers to come to belief? Sorry, but that's not true. There are three references to praying for a brother (already a believer) who has sinned. The only clear reference to praying for someone to come to belief is this: Romans 10:1: Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. This is Paul's heart cry for his fellow Jews.
So, what did the New Testament church really pray for? In two words, the answer is "each other."
In a number of places, Paul wrote that he prayed for other Christians, beginning with Romans 1:9: For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. He described himself as Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; (Ephesians 6:18) and that he was constantly in prayer for the believers he had won to Christ: 2 Timothy 1:3: I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
Paul also wrote that Epaphras prayed for other Christians: Colossians 4:12: Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
There are several other indications that Paul prayed for other Christians. Here are some of the things Paul prayed for, and, I believe, I should, also:
That other Christians don't sin: 2 Corinthians 13:7: Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates.
The wording in the NIV for the last portion suggests that Paul wanted to be sure the the Corinthian church knew that his motive was not so that he, the founder of the church, would look good, but that they should not sin, just because God doesn't want Christians to sin. All Christians are subject to temptation--Christ Himself was--so can sin. We shouldn't.
That the love of other Christians may increase: Philippians 1:9: And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
And not just random love, but love guided by the Holy Spirit--Christ-filled love. According to C. S. Lewis, there are four types of love, corresponding to four different words in the Greek. The kind of love we should mostly pray for is the agape (agaph) love described in I Corinthians 13.
That other
Christians might know God's will:
Colossians 1:9: For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease
to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his
will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
I suppose that this should be prayer
for God's will for the life of the individual I am praying for, and also prayer
for God's will generally--where does God want to work at this time, and how?
That other Christians might be sanctified: 1 Thessalonians 5:23: And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Merriam-Webster OnLine indicates that being sanctified means being set apart, and also free from sin. That should be me: set apart for God's use, and, so that God can use me, free from sin.
That other Christians may be worthy of God's calling: 2 Thessalonians 1:11: Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:
How can we, imperfect,
human, sinners that we are, be worthy of God's call on our lives? Obviously not
at all, in our own strength. No wonder Paul prays for the Thessalonians, not
exactly that they be worthy, but that they be counted as if they were.
Here he also prays that these other Christians may do God's work.
That other Christians may
effectively communicate God's message:
2 Thessalonians 3:1: Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord
may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:
God wants His message to be communicated effectively. He wants us to pray that that will be so. God could have chosen to work without us (and sometimes He does) but He usually chooses to work through us. Prayer of this type is, apparently, a necessary part of God's plan to spread the gospel. If we do that, sinners will be saved.
In the letters of the New Testament, the readers were asked, and expected, to
pray for Christians who were leaders. Here are some examples:And then, of course, we have the best example possible, namely Jesus Christ. One of His most important prayers is recorded in John 17. The heart of that prayer is verses 9 - 18:
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which
thou hast given me; for they are thine.
10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified
in them.
11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world,
and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou
hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name:
those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of
perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world,
that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them,
because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent
them into the world.
Christ's prayer was that
Clearly, praying for other Christians is very important. I wish that I had done more of it, and that other Christians had prayed more for me. What should I pray for other Christians? What I should pray for them is is that they become, or remain, pure in an impure world, and that their ministry be effective. I believe that these are the main things that the New Testament teaches that Christians ought to ask God for. (I should also thank God for them in my prayers.) This does not rule out praying for my own needs, and those of others, be they believers or not, but, it seems, if we place most of our prayer efforts on praying for other Christians to be pure and effective, God's kingdom can advance as it should, and many of the other things will take care of themselves.
For a much more thorough treatment of this subject, including scripture, see The New Testament on Prayer. (This link is to a .PDF file, not .HTML) It was published by Stand to Reason. I don't know much about that organization, other than that they publish this page (and others). The present page has not been endorsed by any organization. I am a layman in The Wesleyan Church.
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Thanks for reading! - Martin LaBar
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April 6, 2005, with a link updated on March 9, 2008