FRIDAY May 24th
Ephesians 1:16
‘I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.’
Paul was undoubtably a man of prayer, again on a recent Sunday I took us through some scriptures that covered the subject of prayer, in particular corporate prayer and from Acts 16 I mentioned two examples concerning Paul and prayer.
The first was from Acts 16:13 ‘And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.’ It would seem that it was important for Paul and his companions to partake in prayer with others, the second example is later in the same chapter after Paul along with Silas had been arrested and put into prison, it says in verse 25 ‘About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them’, and if you are familiar to the account, you know what happened, there was a sudden earthquake, which eventually led to the jailor and his family coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But there is a third reference to prayer, it comes in between the two I have mentioned, but chronologically actually happened before they had net with the believers for prayer by the river side.
It is in verse 16 which says, ‘As we were going to the place of prayer’, Paul then gives a report of what happened, they met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination. The result was that she was delivered, and this was what eventually what led to them being arrested and put in prison.
Prayer was integral to who Paul was and what he did as a servant of God. He met with a prayer group, he prayed when he was in a difficult situation, and as we have seen from our text from Ephesians he was actively praying for the believers.
This is not meant to be a series about prayer, but it is a reminder of the power of and the importance of prayer, both personal prayer and collective prayer.
Returning to our text verse, in the ESV there are cross references to Romans1:9-10 and 2 Timothy 1:3 where we see again Paul’s concern for others expressed in prayer, in Romans it is for the local Church, in Timothy it is for an individual, he was and so should we be concerned through prayer for us as a collective body of believers, the local church and also for each individual that makes up the local church.
May we be a prayerful church, continually upholding one another before the throne of grace so that each one of us will receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
We are away next week, Monday through to Friday with some of our family for a holiday together, so the devotions will return on Monday June 3rd.