Struggle

Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. (Colossians 4:12)

This verse speaks of "struggling in prayer."

Have you (or I) done that lately? Do you (or I) understand what it means?

A related question is, should I be on the computer right now - or learning the answer to these questions?

Prayer for the Fatigued

Perhaps you feel fatigued because you have served the Lord with your whole being, prayerfully and joyfully, and now it's time to rest in Him for a while. Or perhaps, like me, you find yourself fatigued because your service to Him has been too often accompanied by prayer but has not actually been the result of prayer. If you fall into this later camp, perhaps the following prayer may help you as it helped me:

Lord Jesus, whom I follow --
I am sorry, and I repent of my ways,
Which obscure your ways.
I repent of the self-sufficiency so embedded within me -
And of the prayerlessness, restlessness, busyness, and fatigue
That are its consequence.

I repent because I have not honored Your ways by drawing from Your strength.
I repent because I want Your ways to be known in the earth, not my own ways.
And in honesty I acknowledge that I repent because I know that I desperately need the fruits of this repentance.

Please receive me back as Your follower,
Though I have sought to lead the way.
Please deliver me from self-sufficiency and its fruit,
And cause me to know the gladness of service once again.
Whatever I have built with my own hands --
Tear down in Your jealousy
Or redeem in Your mercy
Either way, I praise You, O Lord,
For your gracious forgiveness and cleansing
Because of the shed blood of Calvary.

Lists, Lists, Lists

“All of us would be wiser if we would resolve never to put people down, except on our prayer lists.” – D.A. Carson

In A Call to Spiritual Reformation, his book on the prayers of Paul, D.A. Carson introduces the book with a chapter on lessons he has learned about prayer from other Christian models in his life. Among these is the suggestion to develop a system for prayer lists. I admit that when it comes to keeping and using a prayer list, I fall short. With my poor memory, I either forget to write people and situations to pray for, or write them down and forget to use my list later.

Carson uses a system he borrowed from J. Herbert Kane, a missionary to China in the mid 20th century. He keeps a manila folder in his study (where he does most of his praying) and takes it with him while traveling. The first sheet in the folder contains a list of people to pray regularly and indefinitely for – “people bound up with me, who I am.” He includes his wife, children, relatives, close friends, his church and his seminary.

The second sheet lists short-range and intermediate-range concerns that will not remain indefinitely. These may include forthcoming responsibilities in ministry and opportunities or crises he has heard about. In other words, the first sheet is made up of people for whom he prays constantly. The second includes people and situations for whom he prays for a short or extended period of time.

The rest of the folder is made up of his advisee list (seminary students) and letters. These letters are prayer letters or personal letters, organized in alphabetical order. He tries to set aside time to intercede with God on behalf of these people, and cycles through them regularly.

Carson uses his manila folder. Pastor Mullen uses index cards. Our church bulletin lists prayer concerns and missionary letters weekly. Many missionaries and organizations publish prayer lists. There are many systems to help us to pray with and for others. If you have a system that works, or know of a system someone else uses, please share!