Our Need of Prayer

I was just reading a chapter about prayer in a book for pastors. I was preparing to discuss that chapter tomorrow morning with a small group of other pastors. I'm used to talking about prayer and hearing about the importance of praying - even if I'm not as good a pray-er as I ought to be. There were sections on private prayer for ourselves, praying for those in our churches, praying as part of pastoral visitation or counseling, and public prayer. But it was the final section of the chapter (just two paragraphs) that really caught my attention. The section was titled "Our Own Need of the Prayers of Others."

Quite often, the apostle Paul asked others to pray for him. Here is a sampling:

Romans 15:30-32 - "Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints; so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company."

Ephesians 6:19 - "Pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak."

Colossians 4:3 - "...praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned."

If Paul needed people to pray for him, then we need the prayers of other at least as much. We are pretty good at asking others to pray for others who are in need. And we aren't to bad at asking them to pray for us when we are in a crisis - financial, health, marital, etc. But most of the time, are we seeking to have others pray for us? Do others know how we would like them to pray for us? Sure, when we ask others to pray for us, we can no longer hide the fact that we are not self-sufficient. We reveal our need in general, which is humbling enough, and we may be further humbled by particular needs that we reveal. But wouldn't we rather have people praying for the needs that we actually have, rather than keeping those needs to ourselves?

The closing line in this chapter on prayer is this: "No Christian knows how much he owes to God for the prayers of others, and not least shepherds (meaning pastors) and teachers." So...how do you want people to pray for you? And who are you going to ask to pray for you?