Partnership in Prayer
“You don’t know me, but because of your grandma, I pray for you girls regularly.”
The white-haired woman had made her way over to the table where my younger sister and I sat after our grandma’s funeral. Tears sprang to our eyes as she proceeded to ask us about our lives. Was my sister still cancer-free? Was she still working at the same law firm? How were my four children?
My sister and I were stunned. We knew our grandma regularly prayed for our family, but suddenly we realized it hadn’t stopped with her. In fact, as we left the memorial that evening, we found a church-wide prayer sheet including my sister’s health struggles. An entire body of believers in Michigan was praying for a sister in South Carolina all because a 95-year-old woman saw the value of prayer.
“In a world filled with division and argument, prayer sets Christians apart by binding our hearts together spiritually.”
In the days following that interaction, I couldn’t stop thinking about how indispensable prayer is to the health of the global church. In a world filled with division and argument, prayer sets Christians apart by binding our hearts together spiritually. We are unified by a desire for God’s kingdom to grow through individuals spread throughout different local churches across the world.
Why Should We Pray?
One of the best scriptural examples of the necessity of prayer is found in the book of Philippians. In the first chapter, Paul thanks God for the church in Philippi, and his regular prayer for them continues to be a repeated idea throughout the book. Paul’s heart behind his prayer for this historic local church should guide our own prayer lives.
And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Phil. 1:9–11)
When Paul uses the word prayer, he is referring to an expression of need or supplication. Prayer is a reminder of the insufficiency found in our own strength or wisdom. It is a recognition of God’s ability and of our inability to meet our deepest spiritual and physical needs. When we grasp how incredibly desperate we are in every area, we develop a desire to pray. There is no other option. We must turn to God for everything.
How Should We Pray?
If prayer is so important, then the next logical question might be, “How do we pray?” Is there a model to follow when we pray for others in the church, for missionaries in other countries, or for the church in general? Is there a motivation behind consistent prayer in the life of the believer?
In Philippians 1:9-11 Paul shares his specific, continual prayer for the church. Moreover, these phrases serve as a model for how we too should pray.
Abounding Love. The Greek word used here is agape, which is a word used by New Testament writers to describe a love displayed by self-denial and devotion. It is the fullest and highest expression of love. Paul's use of this word ties in perfectly with his description of deep love for this church found throughout the entire letter. We should pray with Paul that those in our churches would be captured with the same kind of love for Christ and for their fellow believers and that our love would abound more and more over time.
Knowledge and discernment. It’s interesting that Paul uses these words to accompany such a dramatic expression of love. But this is not just knowledge for knowledge’s sake; rather Paul is describing a knowledge that influences a person’s thinking and actions. Affection alone would not be enough for the furtherance of the gospel. Believers need moral discernment to “approve what is excellent.” In other words, we need to scrutinize or examine the beliefs and doctrines in the society around us to choose what is truly valuable. False teaching and subtle additions to the gospel are all around. To what should we cling? We pray with Paul for the discernment to pick what is excellent or literally “of more value.”
Purity at Christ’s coming. Next, Paul prays for believers to be pure and blameless when Jesus returns. “Pure” ties in directly to the word “excellent” in the preceding phrase. This comes from the process of examining or judging something (usually a gemstone) in the sun to be found genuine. By approving what is excellent or more valuable, we prepare—as the Philippians themselves did—to be holy for Jesus’s coming.
Fruit of righteousness. In John 15 Jesus describes the production of spiritual fruit in the life of the believer, saying, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (vv. 4–5). In Galatians 5:22–23, Paul gives the list of the fruit of the Spirit that will be produced when a Christian abides in Christ: the fruit of love, joy, peace, gentleness, etc. This beautiful harvest demonstrates the glory of God and helps to further the message of the gospel to a watching world. We should pray with Paul that churches will be producers of this spiritual fruit.
We could summarize this section of Paul’s letter like this: partnership in the gospel is started and completed by the work of God and flourishes with prayer as we approach the day of Christ’s return.
To the Glory and Praise of God
“Many of us share requests for health, relationships, and life frustrations. This is definitely a part of gospel love, but we often forget to pray for the spiritual health of those in our church family. ”
How are we currently praying for our local churches? Many of us share requests for health, relationships, and life frustrations. This is definitely a part of gospel love, but we often forget to pray for the spiritual health of those in our church family. This opening section of Philippians is a perfect model for praying for those in your church. Simply start at verse three and pray following Paul’s pattern. Pray for your partnership in the gospel. Pray for affection for them. Pray for abounding love, knowledge and discernment, and for evident fruit of righteousness.
I am not even half of my grandma’s age when she passed away. If Jesus does not return, I could have many more decades to live. Perhaps I could be the white-haired woman encouraging two grieving sisters one day. Perhaps my faithful prayer could affect both my local church family as well as the brothers and sisters around the world who I will never meet. May God continue to knit the hearts of his people together through their prayers to him until our Savior returns.
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6
Rachel Pereira (@rachelepereira) is pastor’s wife and mom to four. She loves teaching the children of Covington Baptist Church in Covington, Pennsylvania. She blogs about motherhood and theology at RachelPereira.me. She also releases an audio version of each post on the Dishes & Doctrine podcast.