The Apostle, at the end of his first epistle to the Thessalonians makes this request — “Brethren, pray for us.” We may be certain that it was a necessary request or it would not have been left on record in Holy Writ. The Apostles had need of the prayers of the brethren. Paul, himself, though an eminent Apostle, did not think it beneath him to ask for the prayers of the brethren. He understood full well what James left on record in his epistle, that is, that “The effectual prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
How often is the subject prayer alluded to in the word of God. The godly in all ages were men of prayer. The Saviour Himself in the days of His flesh resorted oftentimes to prayer. What wonderful petitions the Saviour gave utterance to is clear from the seventeenth chapter of John, where His intercessory prayer to the Father before He suffered is recorded. So, too, can it be said of His utterances in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross of Calvary. With what a depth of agony He cried to the Father in the garden that, if it was His will, the cup of his sufferings and of His people’s damnation might pass from Him. What an amazing petition came forth from His holy lips on Calvary when He said: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” What compassion filled the heart of the compassionate Redeemer to make such a request for those who had nailed Him to the accursed tree and had put Him to an open shame. It was from these very same lips that the awful cry of dereliction was wrung so shortly afterwards: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me.” Can we wonder then at the disciples, on one occasion, when the Saviour had ceased praying, making the earnest request: “Lord, teach us to pray.”
To the exercise of prayer the people of God are called in every age of time. So long as they are in the world the tried, afflicted and tempest-tossed children of God need to make known their requests to God. They have discovered that God is the God-hearing and God-answering Jehovah
— that His ear is open to the cry of the poor and the needy — and that He will send relief. His people will not betake themselves to Him in vain. Baal could not answer the cries of his deluded votaries in the days of Elijah, but it was not so with the God of heaven to the petitions of His servant. The God that answereth by fire, let Him be God, was Elijah’s plea, and God made Himself known to the assembled multitude. To show the power of prayer, James has to say of Elijah in his epistle: “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” Such was the power of prayer in Elias’ day.
For whom are we to pray? We are to pray “for all men; for kings, and for all in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty”. We are to pray for all to whom we are knit in bonds of earthly ties, that they may be blessed with the rich blessings of divine grace and mercy and love. We are to pray for the city or town or place where our lot is cast. Our nation needs our prayers and those who rule over us, as we have already seen. But we are not to confine ourselves within the bounds of our own nation. Our prayers ought to reach out to the nations of the earth with the plea that the kingdoms of the world might become the kingdoms of God and of His Christ. We are to remember the Church of God. What need the Church of God has of our prayers in such an age of apostasy as is our day. We ought to plead for the children of God that they might be upheld in such a dark day as this and that they might enjoy much of the comforting Presence of their Lord and Master. We are to plead for the multitudes still in the darkness of sin and unbelief that they might be brought to the light of the Gospel and to the light of the knowledge of the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
But the apostle in writing to the Thessalonians is making a special plea for the Apostles themselves and for all the true servants of Jesus Christ when he says: “Brethren, pray for us.” Is this a selfish request he makes? Verily, no. Because of the relationship in which the people of God stand towards the servants of Christ, and the servants of Christ to them, they have a special duty towards them. The people of God are exhorted in the Word of God to remember them which have the rule over them, and surely one way to remember them is to bear them on their spirits before God at a Throne of grace. In his second epistle to the Thessalonians he says: “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: and that we may be delivered
from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.” Have not the servants of Christ then a right to plead with the people of God for a place, not only in their hearts, but in their petitions at a Throne of grace? Again, if the people of God when they are sick have a right to call for the elders of the church to pray over them so that the prayer of faith may save the sick, have not the servants of Christ a reciprocal right to the prayers of God’s people?
What makes the needs of the servants of Christ so imperative? One answer is that they are but men, men who need to be kept by the power of divine grace. Therefore it becomes the people of God to add their petitions to the petitions of the servants of Christ for their preservation. Another answer is that weighty burdens are laid upon them which they cannot bear in their own strength. Therefore, brethren, pray for us. They have a task laid upon them under which angels might be bowed down — to proclaim the Gospel to a people whose ears are largely closed to hearing the truth. Under what discouragements and under what despondency they might sink were it not for being upheld by the prayers of the living saints. How hopeless their task would be in making inroads in Satan’s kingdom unless their hands were supported as Moses’ hands were in overcoming the Amalekites. If the prayers of one saint — Elijah — were so effectual, what will be the effect of the concerted prayer of many saints? Seeing it is so, brethren, pray for us.
There is much to discourage fervent and effectual prayer. Satan, the world and the flesh all combine to hinder in every way possible the prayers of the saints. Satan will tempt them that their prayers will never be heard, that they are rising no higher than the ceiling and that, therefore, they may as well give them up. If this will not succeed, the enemy of souls will come and point out to them how poor and lame their prayers are and will say to them, Do you think God, a great God, is to hear such poor prayers as these? And the child of God, only too conscious of the poverty of his or her prayers will be ready to be discouraged. But Satan is a liar. If he thought that these prayers were not being heard he would leave the soul to pray on. He would not trouble a soul whose prayers are dead prayers. The world also will bring its influence to bear upon the prayer life of the believer in such a way that he or she is so taken up with the things of the world that little time is left for prayer. The whole spirit of the world also is a deterrent to prayer, for the spirit of the world is one of self-sufficiency and not dependency upon God. The flesh, too, will never encourage the soul to the exercise of, or in the exercise of prayer. The old nature has no delight in prayer to God but says, Who is God that I should
obey Him? It is the new nature that delights in drawing near to God, therefore there is always a conflict within, ere the soul can engage in this holy exercise of calling upon God. Notwithstanding all these discouragements, let the people of God continue importunately in prayer for the servants of Christ. “Brethren, pray for us.” Let us ever remember that the servants of Christ are in the vanguard as standard-bearers and therefore are pre-eminently in need of the prayers of God’s people. Often they can tell on their spirit while proclaiming the truth whether or not they are being remembered at a Throne of grace. Seeing that their role is so vital to the prosperity of Christ’s kingdom, do not be the cause of discouragement to them by restraining prayer before God. Be earnest in secret for them and God who sees in secret will reward openly. Brethren, pray for us.