The Biblical World: Pray Continually: Thoughts on Praying with the Chu...: I noted yesterday that I was posting some of the application material from my commentary on 1 & 2 Thessalonians. I am doing this to get ...
I just today was preaching on Ephesians 6:10-20 ("put on the full armor of God") and noted that there are really only two things that Saint Paul tells us to do once we have all that armor on. One is to "take your stand." The other is to "pray for all the saints (and, oh yes, for Paul, too)."
He doesn't ask us to commit portions of our time, treasure, or talent for the work of the church.
He doesn't ask us to go out and knock on doors, walk across a room, ask two questions of our neighbors.
He doesn't ask us to do miracles, to hold potlucks, to have fellowship events, to conduct VBS.
He says that with that armor on we can / should do two things "take your stand" and "pray for all the saints."
But why is praying for all the saints so hard? Why is that last on the list of what churches do? Why is that never on the Strategic Plan or the Mission Statement?
Is it really because it's too hard? Or is it because it just doesn't seem like we're doing much, just sitting there with our hands folded and our eyes closed and our heads bowed? Does it seem like we haven't accomplished anything by the time we're done, like we have nothing to show for the hour we spend in prayer?
Is the reason why it is so hard for us to "pray for all the saints" that we're just too busy trying to bring order to our own corner of the universe that we can't be bothered with someone else's - even the one who invites us to call Him "Father"?
Is it because we really don't care about the other saints after all?
Or is it just because we're all overstimulated, hyper-aroused, and attention-deficient from everything in life to do something like pray?
I don't know the answers to any of these; I just wonder.
