Every morning before the sun has thought about rising, I find myself on the elliptical in our basement exercising and praying. I don’t do well with simply sitting in place while I’m having my prayer time, most likely because I don’t do well with many things simply sitting in place. Times like these allow me to focus on what truly matters, before the hustle and bustle of family and work begin to intrude. (Meetings are not the best place to focus on prayers.)
Paul understood that at the heart of his relationship with the churches with whom he corresponded was prayer—prayers of thanksgiving for the fact that they had heard the Good News of the Gospel; prayers for their uplifting and continued growth in faith; prayers that they would be able to meet in person and build one another up.
I love his understanding that his call to ministry is one where he is not simply the one serving the Church. Rather, through the relationships formed by his ministry, he and the Church mutually encourage each other’s faith. As your pastor I pray for you, and I long to be strengthened by your prayers. We need this two-way line of prayer, where not only do you entrust the “professional Christians” who serve you, but that you also would feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit to pray for us in our joys, our hardships, and most of all in the day-to-day life that we seek to live.