Praying With Paul Sample

Prayer for Ministry

Even apostles need prayer. As Paul proclaimed the gospel to the nations, he saw lives transformed and churches planted but also encountered constant opposition, controversies, hardships, and setbacks. Having preached the gospel from Jerusalem to Illyricum, Paul planned to travel to Rome and then Spain to share the gospel with those who have never heard of Christ. But first he intended to risk his life and his reputation to return to Jerusalem, bringing a financial gift from Gentile churches to the impoverished Jewish believers. So in Romans 15 Paul exhorted fellow believers to intercede for him and his ministry. 

This passage informs how we can strategically pray for pastors, missionaries, and other Christian leaders. Paul also offers us an important example of maintaining a broader, long-term ministry vision while requesting timely prayers for present ministry challenges. 

Paul’s specific request for intercession has clear implications for how we might pray for pastors, missionaries, and other Christian leaders. First, we should ask God to preserve and protect Christian leaders from outsiders who oppose and threaten their ministries. Opposition, harassment, and overt persecution constantly threaten missionaries who labor in parts of the world with very few Christians. Sometimes this opposition or resistance is very subtle, taking the form of denied visa applications or work permits or restrictive laws. Other times, Christians in these places are faced with false accusations, smear campaigns, violent threats, vandalism to property, kidnapping, beating, imprisonment, or worse. Even leaders of established church denominations oppose sound doctrine and sound gospel preaching, as they adopt an intolerant version of tolerance and stress cultural conformity over biblical orthodoxy. Believers should pray that God might protect, preserve, and deliver faithful Christian leaders from opposition and threats that seek to hinder faithful gospel ministry.

Second, we should pray that believers might accept and benefit from the service of pastors, missionaries, and others who labor for God’s kingdom. Unfortunately, some Christians evaluate their pastors and leaders according to unbiblical standards—say, desiring sermons that entertain and encourage but that do not urge repentance and holy living. Others compare their pastor’s sermons with those of well-known, exceptionally gifted preachers who write books, speak at conferences, and top the charts for podcast downloads. We need to pray that God will send us shepherds who are wise, spiritual, godly, disciplined, informed, prayerful, and faithful to Scripture. But we also need to pray that their ministry will be acceptable to the saints. We should pray that God would make the ministry of His most faithful, spiritual Christian workers acceptable to the churches they serve.  

For more information on the Praying with Paul Bible Study, please visit https://www.lifeway.com/en/product-family/the-gospel-coalition/praying-with-paul.