Learning to Pray

In the twelfth chapter of Paul’s epistle to the church at Rome, the Apostle exhorts the saints to dedicate their lives towards obedient service to God. Amid Paul’s entreaty he charges the saints to be “devoted to prayer.” It is interesting to note that just as they were to be devoted to one another (verse 10), they were to devote themselves to prayer.

What does it mean to be devoted to prayer? This could probably be its own blog series, could it not? But today I would like to share with you some things I have learned about prayer from the men at my church.

Approximately three years ago I began looking for a new church. I first visited the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church (my current church) during their weekly prayer meeting one Wednesday evening. I vividly remember the first time I pulled up to the church. It wasn’t the big church I imagined it to be. It wasn’t fancy. There was a small group of about 30 people inside, chatting away. The meeting began with Pastor Fry delivering a “sermonette” (usually a 25-35 minute sermon) from the Psalter, followed by the men and women splitting up to pray. Pastor Fry asked me to introduce myself, and then invited the men to share any praises or prayer requests. The pastor gave instructions as to how their prayer time would go (probably for my sake): they go around the circle, each man praying if he so desires. I was impressed at the reverence these men possessed as they approached the throne of grace with their petitions. It was obvious their prayers were well thought out and organized. I knew that night that this was a church I could call my home.

Since that night, I have learned so much about prayer from these godly men at PRBC. To give you an idea of some of the regular things we pray about: (1) for God to grant repentance, revival, and reformation in our land; (2) for our children to be saved in the days of their youth; (3) for the sick and afflicted in our congregation; (3) for our pastor and our elders; (4) for our Sunday school teachers; (5) for our leaders in government; (6) for our judges to rule justly; (7) that the gospel would continue to go forth / opportunities to boldly proclaim the gospel / we would be faithful to proclaim and defend the gospel; (8) thanking God for salvation; (9) asking for sanctifying grace; (10) for renewed passion for the Word of God …

God has blessed me with the example of the men at the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church. They are steadfast disciples of Christ who take their walk with the Lord seriously. I aspire to become more like them, and thus, more like my beautiful Savior.

Rusty