The Pastor's Page - 12/12/08
Praying for the Strong
Please help!! The words were mouthed by a tired worn looking man in his forties. The sign he held on the on ramp to I-70 outside Limon Colorado said his destination was Indiana and his plea struck an anguished cord in my heart. I said nothing to my wife but later it was clear she also was dealing with the moral predicament of just driving on by. As we ourselves were returning from a vacation our vehicle was fairly full and we would be stopping for the night just another hour further east so our desperate traveler would instead have to rely on our prayers for someone else to come to his aid.
The haunting image of his desperate face and cry still stirs up a desire to help. Yet it can also illuminate a failing we might have related to prayer. And that is how we only think of the weak or hurting as needing prayer. I’ve passed other people with a sign who were hitching a ride to somewhere who didn’t look nearly as needy as that man outside Limon, but it is possible that they were more needy and hurting. Like Samuel of old we rely far too much on appearance as the barometer for need, and thereby, as the inspiration for prayer.
Consider with me a powerful Biblical example. A man like other men in so many ways and yet unlike them in as many others sets down to write words of instruction to a group of believers. His words speak of privilege and duty, victory and struggle, peace and empowerment. As he nears the end of his discourse he urges that the people "pray,.. always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,... for all the saints-- . "And then it comes. That unseen, unexpected plea that seems so out of place for such a man. " and for me " 1
Who is this man? None other than the Apostle Paul. Consider his resume to date. He has started churches across Asia Minor, had special miracles from God worked through his life, had risen in prominence as the Apostle to the Gentiles. He has possibly taken a trip to heaven and seen unspeakable wonders. He has accumulated more fruit for himself and others than most of us will dream of. And yet in the closing words of one of his many letters of instruction and exhortation he closes his thought with a plea. Please help!! His achievements and the glamour we moderns attach to him do not supplant his need for prayer.
Now while we should never ignore the weak or those who are obviously beaten down by life we should be equally diligent not to assume that the apparently strong among us do not need our prayers. Even for them there are hours when their efforts alone are not enough to sustain then or to assist them. Consider another man of incredible strength and power. One so familiar with the practice of prayer that all night prayer sessions were apparently commonplace. One whose pattern of prayer was so exemplary that those around him were moved to request instruction in the noble art.
Yet in spite of this he comes to a dark night in a lonely garden and in an anguished voice pleads with his fatigued comrades. Please help!!! His actual words of course were "What? Could you not watch with Me one hour?
"Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 2 We are left to wonder how his disciples could be so indifferent to his plight? Perhaps for the same reasons we are with those of strength among us. We ask silently the same question; How can a man like that need anything from me?
In such a manner God teaches us the power and importance of prayer. In ways we cannot comprehend the words we utter and the pleas we offer up to God have effects in the lives of both the weak and the strong. Let us not be distracted from the calling to pray for our leaders by their apparent strength, success or influence. Even the powerful among us are insufficient for the task of spiritual warfare without the aid of those who tarry in prayer.
1 Ephesians 6:18,19
2 Matthew 26:40,41
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