In All My Prayers for You

“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy” (Philippians 1:4)

Dear Friends and Members of IBC,

This Sunday we will begin a ten-part sermon series going through the book of Philippians. I am excited about it. Paul begins his very personal letter to the church at Philippi with a joyful outpouring of thanksgiving, characterised by verse 4, where he specifically encourages the church by assuring them that He regularly prays for them. In this week’s Word for the Week, let’s reflect a moment on this verse.

As Christians, we know we ought to pray. We know it is an essential spiritual discipline. We know if we want to grow in our relationship with God, then we must commit to spending time in prayer. We can even see in our communication with one another that we recognise its importance. I wonder how many times we have messaged each other the words “I’ll be praying for you” or ended a conversation with “I’ll keep you in my prayers”.

The question is then whether we go ahead and actually pray, whether we sacrifice that extra hour of sleep to get on our knees in petition and supplication, whether we truly fulfil our promises to intercede for one another.

E. M. Bounds once declared that whilst it is a great thing to talk to people about God, talking to God about people is greater still. He said that we will never talk well and with real success to people about God, if we haven’t first learnt how to bring people before God in prayer.

And I must admit that there have been times when I have neglected to do this. I have oftentimes wrestled in prayer. You see, prayer is taxing, hard, spiritual work. It is humbling. It crucifies the flesh; there is little place for pride or comfort. Let’s not kid ourselves it’s always easy. Some of us may have been granted special faith to come before God for long periods of time, but we know that there will be seasons for all of us when God seems distant, when praying seems like an uphill struggle.

It is good that we have a dedicated prayer ministry at IBC. Yet we have the hope that IBC grows to become a praying church. A house of prayer.

If we want to fulfil this desire, then one of the key steps is accepting that each of us are in a school of prayer, and that learning to pray takes time and faithful perseverance. Will we commit to attend and allow our divine Teacher to teach us? Our Lord Jesus Christ, the One who right now intercedes for us as our High Priest, has given us the wonderful Holy Spirit, who can encourage us, guide us, and help us to pour out our hearts to Him. After all, it is only by beginning to pray that we actually learn to prayer. Only then do we see how easily distracted we are, how we tend to stumble and are often unsure of what to say.

So, I encourage us to push on, to commit to this good, spiritual work, to rest in the knowledge that God loves to hear us pray to Him. He inclines His ear to your prayer; He is waiting right now for you to engage with Him again.

God Bless
James