Prayer is essential. As I shared in the last post: “No man or woman can progress in grace if he forsakes prayer.” We could enlarge that statement to read: “No team or group of workers can progress in grace in ministry to others if they forsake prayer.”
A perennial question that arises is: how should we pray for one another? We could pray the ‘one another’ commands as a team. We could pray the promises that God has given in His Word to sustain and encourage us. We could pray for the perseverance to stay faithful in ministry together. All of these prayer points are ones you and I have prayed many times for one another.
Then another thought came to mind. How should we pray for one another in a ‘gospel centred way’? Prayer is one of our guiding principles, and the Gospel is the ultimate guiding principle from which the others flow. So, what would it ‘look like’ to pray in a way that drives us back to the Gospel and our dependence upon Him?
Take a practical example. During our World Team Day of Prayer, we might find this prayer point among others: Pray for our team to remain united together around the common vision of multiplying disciples and communities of believers. During our concert of prayer together, one of our team members might add: Yes Lord, search our hearts and show us how often we create disunity among us because of our willingness to put our own self above others. Remind us that the Son of God came not to be served, but to serve and that His sacrifice frees us from self-love to be other-centred. May our hearts be warmed by that grace again today so that we might grow in unity and have the gospel power to be able to see the vision of our team worked out.
I can so often fall into the trap of thinking I can ‘do’ all that is expected of me as a worker. That is why the challenge to pray in a ‘gospel centred way’ would help myself, and I expect many others, to keep my eyes upon the One who is the author and perfecter of our faith.
Feel free to share examples of how you might pray a prayer point in a gospel centred way.
Filed under: Gospel, Grace, One another commands, Prayer |
Thoughts Along The Journey 
Jacob sent me this comment:
“Thanks David, this is a great reminder. Gospel-centred prayer, scriptural prayer, keeps us focused on one of the great promises John reminds us of – “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” – 1 John 5:14.
“Father, thank you for the broken body and poured out blood of Christ, being for us salvation, bringing us into relationship with you. Father, as we work to bring this glorious Gospel to others, remind us of all we have in Christ, and how that identifies us. We confess that we are not identified by the results of our ministry, or by our own feelings of self-value. Truly, all that we are is found in you – because of your grace and truth!””