5 Questions Concerning Your Prayer Life

Some of the most beautiful and convicting prayers in the Bible are the prayers of the apostle Paul. This particular one, from the book of Romans, really spoke to me, "I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen." (Romans 15:30-33). A few observations:

God speaks more about corporate prayer than private prayer. When Paul appeals to the Roman church he does so in the plural, not the singular. This means that the appeal to pray is for corporate prayer, not private prayer. You will see this truth in other commands as well. When Paul commands the Colossian church to "devote yourselves to prayer" (Col.4:2), it is for corporate, not private prayer. God's people need to heed the call for corporate prayer. May the church be called "a house of prayer"!

When we pray together we work together. Paul asked the Romans to "strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf." The word we translate "strive together" means to join with someone in a fight or a battle. When we pray for others, we enter the work of the gospel with them. Oh how we need this type of vision for our prayers. We need to see ourselves working with those to whom we are praying.

The spread of the gospel must be the passion of our prayers. We really can't understand Paul's request in these verses if we don't understand the larger context of the chapter. Paul said in an earlier verse, "I make my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ as already been named" (Romans 15:20). The place that he wanted to preach the gospel, according to Paul, "I will leave for Spain by way of you" (Romans 15:28). Paul wanted to go to Rome on his way to Spain. His passion was the spread of the gospel. Therefore, when Paul prays to be delivered from unbelievers and acceptable service with Jerusalem so that he can make it to Rome, the passion for these requests is the gospel spreading to people who have not heard the gospel.

Here are five questions I was confronted with as a made these observations:

How often does my church pray together? Do I participate?

Am I actively praying for others doing the work of the ministry?

Do my prayer requests have anything to do with the spread of the gospel?

Can I honestly say that the framework for all my requests is the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

I must confess, after answering these questions, the Lord has revealed changes that need to be made in my prayer life.