“The proper way for a man to pray,”
Said Deacon Lemuel Keyes,
“And the only proper attitude
Is down upon his knees.”

 

“No, I should say the way to pray,”
Said Rev. Doctor Wise,
“Is standing straight with outstretched arms
And rapt and upturned eyes.”

 

“Oh, no; no, no,” said Elder Slow,
“Such posture is too proud:
A man should pray with eyes fast closed
And head contritely bowed.”

 

“It seems to me his hands should be
Austerely clasped in front
With both thumbs pointing toward the ground,” Said Rev. Doctor Blunt.

 

“Las’ year I fell in Hodgkin’s well
Head first,” said Cyrus Brown,
With both my heels a-stickin’ up,
My head a-pinting down;

 

“An’ I made a prayer right then an’ there–
Best prayer I ever said,
The prayingest prayer I ever prayed,
A-standing on my head.”

 

This little poem is titled “The Prayer of Cyrus Brown.” It was written by the New England poet Sam Walter Foss sometime in the 1890’s.

Please allow me to share another prayer with you. It is the old Celtic prayer:

May those who love us, love us;
and those who don’t love us,
may God turn their hearts;
and if He doesn’t turn their hearts,
may he turn their ankles
so we’ll know them by their limping.

 

What do these two prayers show us? They show us that many people don’t know much about prayer. This really is true—even longstanding church members and veterans of the Christian faith have a lot of questions about prayer. We contemplate even basic questions like: How should we pray? Who should we pray for? What should we pray for?

It seems like every church tradition and every book written about prayer advocates something different. As in our humorous poems about prayer, some people say you should pray sitting, but others advocate standing, kneeling, or lying down. Likewise, some people say you should pray in solitude while others advocate public prayer. Some say we should only pray prayers of thankfulness while others say you should make requests. Even with all of the information we have about prayer, most of us still have a lot of questions.

In I Timothy 1, the Apostle Paul exhorted his young associate Timothy to remain in Ephesus and continue to stand against a group of rogue church leaders that was spreading heresy. Now here, in chapter 2, Paul begins to set some priorities for Timothy to get the church back on track and advancing the true gospel of Jesus Christ. In verse 1-7, he urges Timothy to make it his first and top priority to reestablish the prayer life of the church. This is why Paul begins with, “First of all, then, I urge…” in verse 1. No doubt, the prayer life of the church was suffering because they had spent so much time battling the false teachers. (Isn’t it interesting how prayer is usually the first thing to go when we face times of difficulty and busyness in our lives?)

As Paul reestablishes the priority of prayer in the Ephesian church, he also answers some critical questions about prayer—some of the same questions that people have about prayer today. This passage is certainly not an exhaustive teaching about prayer, but it does tell us something about how we should pray, who we should pray for, and what we should pray for!

 

1.) How should we pray? (1a)

In verse 1 Paul answers the question “How should we pray?” by using four different words for prayer—supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings. Although these terms are clearly linked together for emphasis, they each highlight different aspects of prayer. The first word “supplications” means entreaties, petitions, or requests. This is the common facet of prayer where someone asks God to meet a special need or desire in one’s life.

The second term translated here as “prayers” is the Greek word proseuca.j (proseuchas). It is the most common word used for prayer in the New Testament. It too involves petitions and requests, but it typically refers to asking for God’s general blessing and care rather than a specific need.

The third term “intercessions” refers to a bold and urgent appeal on behalf of another person. This is the type of prayer where someone “stands in the gap” or holds someone up before God when they are going through some particular plight or difficulty. It casts the image of one who comes to a king and appeals for the king’s favorable response for the person mentioned.

The fourth term is the Greek word euvcaristi,aj (eucharistias) from which we get our English word Eucharist. These are prayers gratitude and thanksgiving to God for what he has done; the assumption is that, when praying, the congregation remembers with gratitude how former prayers have been answered, and therefore prays with all the more confidence.

The fact that Paul uses four distinct terms for prayer shows that there is more than one right way to pray. He wanted individuals and the church as a whole to be engaged in all of these forms. Also, the plural form of all of these words shows that these types of prayer aren’t supposed to be used just once, but over and over again.

So, when you pray, how do you do it? Do you ever seriously sustain a supplication? When was the last time you uttered an intercession? How often do you pray prayers of thanksgiving?

It is easy for us to get locked into just one or maybe two ways to pray, but we need to keep all of these forms in view. For instance, some people are really good at asking God for specific requests in their lives, but they are not so good about praying prayers of thanksgiving after God has answered their prayers. Other people are really good at intercessory prayers, but they are not comfortable praying for their own needs and desires. As Paul urged Timothy and the Ephesian church, we also need to make prayer a top priority in our lives and utilize all of these forms in our prayer lives.

 

2.) Who should we pray for? (1b-2a)

Verse 1 not only answers the question “How should we pray?” but it also answers the question “Who should we pray for?” Paul makes it unmistakably clear that he expected Timothy and the Ephesian church to be praying “for all people.” But what exactly does this mean—every single human being on earth? Probably not! It would be virtually impossible for anyone to pray for every person. Paul most likely has in mind here “all [kinds] of people.” This is the typical meaning of the term throughout Paul’s writings and it fits the context best here, where he is counteracting the narrowness of the false teachers.

This point is reinforced further by the fact that Paul immediately highlights one “kind” of people in verse 2—“kings and those who are in high positions.” In the context of this letter, the “king” would have been the Roman Emperor and the civil authorities in Ephesus and throughout the Roman Empire. Now we have to remember that at the time of the writing of this letter, the Roman Empire was starkly opposed to Christianity. Their worldview and values couldn’t have been more different. Many Christians were being thrown into the arena to be eaten by lions, but Paul urged the church to pray for them anyway.

This verse echoes a theme that we see repeated throughout the New Testament about church and state relations. In Matthew 5:44, Jesus told his disciples, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. In Romans 13:1, Paul says, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” It is our Christian duty to pray for our governing authorities, even when we disagree with their laws, policies, and practices.

In our own time and context, it is our duty to pray for our president, our congress (Lord knows they need it), our governor, and our state legislators. We need to pray for the ones we like and dislike—the ones that we trust and don’t trust—the ones who share our worldview, values, morals, convictions, and the ones who don’t. Some of you love Barack Obama—you think he is the best thing since…well, Bill Clinton. That is fine! Make sure you pray for him! Some of you can’t stand him; you hate everything that he represents. That’s fine too! But you better make sure you are praying for him! God calls us to pray for all kinds of people! Will you do it?

 

3.) Why should we pray? (2b-7)

So, why did Paul want Timothy and the church to pray for the very government officials who opposed them? He gives a clear answer in the second part of verse 2 when he says “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and dignified in every way.” Paul knew that the governing officials had the power to make Christian’s lives miserable or peaceable. All Paul wanted was for the government to allow Christians to live out their faith in society, which reveals one of the main reasons why Christians should pray.

Along with this, Paul wanted the church to pray for the governing authorities because they had the ability to change the societal conditions that would enable the gospel of Jesus Christ to move forward. In verse 4, Paul makes a profound theological statement that directly contradicted the heresy that was being spread in Ephesus. The false teachers promoted a religious view that God’s grace and salvation were only for certain types of people, namely those who conformed to their judaizing philosophies. But Paul corrects this view by saying that “God desires all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.” The term “all” means “all kinds” as it did in verse 1. God desires all kinds of people to respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ; it is not limited by race, ethnicity, gender, background, or occupation.

Paul clarifies the gospel in verse 5 when he says, “there is only one God, and there is only one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all…” He is saying that the only way to receive forgiveness and get to God in heaven is through the one man Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only one who lived a sinless life and gave himself as a guiltless ransom. He is the only one who could provide atonement for humanity’s sins.

This message is the whole reason why Paul was appointed to be an apostle. It was his God-given mission to proclaim the faith and truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is why Paul wanted Timothy to pray for the civil authorities. This is why he wanted him to pray for all kinds of people with supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings.

Think about this! Paul is saying that Jesus is the only way to get to heaven! There is no other! Mohammed can’t get you there! Buddha can’t get you there! Good works can’t get you there! Being a “good” person can’t get you there! The pluralistic philosophy that affirms many different paths to heaven is false. Jesus Christ is the only way!

Have you put your faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins? Have you responded to the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection for the redemption of your soul? And if you want to know what to pray for, pray that this message would go forth and transform people’s lives and souls!

 

In closing, as I mentioned earlier, this passage doesn’t answer all of our questions about prayer, but it does answer some. I hope you will all pray with supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings! I hope that you will pray for all types of people, especially for our governing officials! And I hope that you will pray that the gospel of Jesus Christ would be advanced in our society and around the world!