Prayer First of All
When I was praying about a theme for this conference, the phrase Paul used in Col 3:14 came to mind, “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness”.
After writing 2 1/2 chapters of this epistle, Paul suddenly inserts, “And above all these things”. He certainly draws your attention to the subject with that statement. And he drew my attention to it as a good theme for this conference.
Writing “and above all these things” is like us saying when we’re preaching, “If you don’t get anything else out of this sermon than what I’m about to say, get this. This is the most important thing”.
We have principal things in the ministry that we must accomplish. We can’t let chores, phone calls, text messages, administrative responsibilities, hobbies, emails, family duties, normal activities (eating, sleeping, exercising, reading, etc), financial obligations, and so forth distract us to the point that we neglect these things.
As I was praying about my session, the Lord directed me to this text, 1 Tim 2:1-3. Notice what Paul wrote, “first of all”. No doubt, he places a high priority on prayer. And not just prayer in general, but prayer specifically “for all men”.
I’m not going to teach you anything deeply spiritual about prayer today. Everyone in this room who has been preaching, for even a little while, has taught and preached on prayer. You know how to pray, you know how to teach others to pray, you have read some good books from praying men on prayer. Men like Spurgeon, E M Bounds, and Tozer have written inspiring and instructive books on prayer. I can’t top these. And don’t be intimidated by them.
Furthermore, I don’t feel worthy to teach you on this topic. I am sure that the best prayer warrior among us is sitting in here, not standing up here. So, I am not going to pretend that I am the guy you should emulate when you pray.
However, I’ve learned some things about prayer that might help you. So, I’ll pass those along and hope that my session is profitable for you and your men for whom you pray.
1. Paul exhorted us to pray, “for all that are in authority”. You know what? You make it harder on yourself and your church to pray for men and women in public office when you are running them down from the pulpit. Paul wrote, “for all men”. Not just your favorites. I get it that there are those in office you don’t like. But God made it clear that to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, we must pray for all that are in authority.
I’m not an ostrich, but I saw what making a steady diet of the news was doing to my spirit. It interfered with my prayer time, because the news is designed to either scare you or make you mad, or both. And I don’t deal well with anger and fear. They prevail upon my mind and body. It’s hard to concentrate on God and sense the leadership of the Holy Spirit when you’re ticked off. So keep prayer first of all.
2. You have a lot of things going on. So, it’s easy to let prayer fall to a lower place on your list of things to do. As a matter of fact, most of us in here are task oriented men and we use lists to keep track of the things we have to do. Look at your list when you get back to your room and see if prayer is even on the list.
I was talking to Pastor Keck when he was 77 years old and still pastoring. I asked him to tell me some things he has learned in “old age” that would help if I were still in the ministry at 77. He said, among other things, “I have learned that I get a lot more things done through prayer than I do through work”.
I get that. Solomon wrote, “The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head”, Prov 20:29. Work seems so much more productive than prayer, particularly when you’re young. You definitely need to put some footsteps with your prayer. But your footsteps are going to be more effectual if you will start “first of all” with prayer.
Everyone here can testify that when they have approached any task with prayer first, the outcome is always better. Where it’s your daily routine, or a major event, you can tell the difference. And yet, we have this tendency to still put prayer on the back burner. Light the fire of prayer first of all.
3. You have a lot of people in your church, among your friends, in the ministry, and the like, who ask you to pray for them. I’ll give you two suggestions that you already know but, like Peter wrote, I’ll give you “to stir you up by putting you in remembrance”, 2 Pet 1:13.
Write down their request in a place where you can find it and pray for them. The notes app in your phone is a good place. You can look at it when you look at your phone and you can edit the list very easily.
Pray with them at the moment they ask you to pray. That way, if you forget to pray after that, at least you have prayed. It’s very uncomfortable when someone thanks you later for praying and you haven’t prayed. You can’t even remember what it was they asked you to pray for. You just smile and say, “Praise the Lord”.
4. Fast when you need a tune up. You know the instructions on fasting and prayer. Knowing what to do is not the problem. The problem is doing it. We have all seen substantial differences in our prayers and the answers to our prayers when we have fasted and prayed. We just don’t want to do it. But we must.
Conclusion: This lesson is to get us back to praying fervently. Keep prayer first of all.