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"Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the
Spirit, that ye strive together (sunagonizomai) with me in your prayers to God for me,
and that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea and that my service,
which I have for Jerusalem, may be accepted of the saints; that I may come unto you
with joy by the will of God and may with you be refreshed" (Rom./ 15: 30-32).
Here Paul asks prayer for four important things concerning himself and mentions
God's will regarding them. If the fulfillment of this will was automatic, there would be
no need of prayer, but it is evident that the Apostle did not so regard it, but rather that the
petitions of the Church at Rome could materially help forward the fulfillment of his
desires.
We trust that careful consideration of these passages will impress upon the mind of
both writer and reader how vastly important our daily prayer life is and how it can very
practically affect not only our own Christian service but also the service of others.
From time to time we come across believers who are exercised about their sphere of
service and witness for the Lord. They are rightly concerned about these things. It is not
our province to direct the conscience of such, but this we can say that here is a supreme
ministry we can all engage in, namely that of intercession. It will cost us something in
time and perhaps in other ways and we shall get no human commendation for it as it is a
thing only known to us and our Saviour.
Just as in our physical bodies there are organs like the heart and lungs doing vital
work, yet are never seen like the external members as the hands and feet, so believers
who engage in this vital activity behind the scenes may be doing as much in the Lord's
sight as those whose service is in the open and manifest to all.
The reader will remember the wonderful type given in Exod. 17: 8-13. Joshua and
his men may fight strenuously with Amalek in the valley, but it was the man unseen at
the hill top who controlled the battle, namely Moses.
"When Moses held up his hand Israel prevailed and when he let down his hand
Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone and put it under
him and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the other
side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun" (verses 11, 12).
Do we who value dispensational truth and the glories of the dispensation of the
Mystery, uphold our leaders like this in prayer? Oh the need to-day for many like Aaron
and Hur! As we look around us we see a growing apathy to spiritual things in general
and to our calling in particular. Christian walk and witness is getting more difficult as the
weeks and months pass. We may put this down to the increasing apostasy and declension
which marks the end of the age and we may be right in so doing. But can it be that we
have not yet fully realized the possibilities latent in a vital prayer life and that the lack of
results which we deplore may be due to the fact that we have sown the seed of the written
and spoken word and then forgotten to water it by the ministry of prayer? Only then can
we expect the increase or growth that God alone can give (I Cor. 3: 6, 7).