I moved into my new office on September 1st. It is extremely exciting to be doing something I enjoy so much as my vocation! Hannah was a true blessing in helping me get all my stuff moved in quickly. There are still a few more things I would like to set up but I need to get into the swing of working here first. A couple weeks in, and I am already feeling a little overwhelmed (but I consider the stresses I do have to be good stresses). Within my first full week I had to prepare three different devotionals. It was studying one of the passages I wanted to speak about when I stumbled upon something that really nailed me.
1st Timothy 2:1-7
The idea of prayer as an act of worship is very humbling to me. Prayer is powerful because of WHO you are praying to not who or what YOU are praying for. It's humbling because by praying there is an act of submission that happens. Prayer reveals that there are people and situations in life that are out of my control. (i.e. I cannot cause a persons heart to love God) To make prayer a true act of worship means to admit from the very essence of what it means to be human that God is more powerful and more caring than I could ever be.
Don't get me wrong, I am very thankful that He is! I am thankful that I can pray to God, who can do something. From the above passage, I know that God hears my prayers because Jesus Christ is interceding for me. My prayers do not deserve to be heard because of the sin that is in my life. Yet, Jesus Christ makes that possible. Jesus is actively working on my behalf before God. He is not dead, His tomb is empty. He is very much alive and very much still at work! He is my Savior, and my Mediator (and He offers his work freely to you as well).
So, prayer and the cross go hand in hand. They are intertwined because they both directly relate to God's plan through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ again proves to be the epicenter of God's plan for His people.
This passage also reveals God's desire. God wishes that all would be saved. So, Paul says pray for all people. God doesn't want any to perish (John 3:16). That is why he sent Jesus Christ as payment for sin. Without Christ we are enslaved to sin. With Christ we are free from it! The sad reality is that not everyone will believe and therefore be saved. But, the work of Christ is sufficient for all. Paul takes a moment to reaffirm God's mission by looking at his purpose: to preach the good news to the Gentiles so that they might be saved (v.7).
The last piece that really caught my attention was Paul calling the people to pray for the government and high officials. A lot of commentaries say that he wanted this so peace could be restored to the Christians because they were under heavy persecution. Sure this is true but I believe that Paul intends more than that. He is calling the church to do what Christ would have done...love their enemies. At this point in history, Nero is emperor of Rome. He hated Christians. He imprisoned, tortured, burnt, and killed many who confessed Christ as their Savior. Paul knew this, Timothy knew this, and the church in Ephesus (where Timothy was at the time of this letter) knew this. Nero was in fact probably the last person that these Christians in Ephesus wanted to pray for. Paul tells them to pray for the officials...as an act of love for their enemies and so that there might be peace. Those officials needed Christ just as much as anyone. Also, think about how quickly the gospel could spread if the government no longer viewed these Christians as a threat to their empire. Maybe that too is what Paul was getting at.
Sometimes I find it hard to make anytime in my day to pray. Paul emphasized it as of high importance not for just individuals, but for the church, as a whole, as well. All of this is very humbling to me.
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