And for me.
—Ephesians 6:19
Praying also for us.
—Colossians 4:3
Finally, brethren, pray for us.
—2 Thessalonians 3:1
These expressions from Paul suggest his conviction that Christians had power with God and that their prayers would bring new strength to him in his work. Paul had such a sense of the unity of the body of Christ, of the interdependence of each member—even the most honorable—on the life that flowed through the whole body, that he sought to rouse Christians, for their own sakes and for his sake and for the sake of the kingdom of God, with this call: “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; Withal praying also for us” (Colossians 4:2–3).
The church depends on the ministry to an extent that we very seldom realize. The place of the minister is so high—he is the steward of the mysteries of God, the ambassador for God to beseech men to be reconciled to Him—that any unfaithfulness or inefficiency in him must bring a terrible blight on the church that he serves. If Paul, after having preached for twenty years in the power of God, still needed the prayers of the church, how much more does the ministry in our day need them?
The minister needs the prayers of his people. He has a right to them. He is dependent on them. It is his task to train Christians for their work of intercession on behalf of the church and the world. He must begin by training them to pray for himself. He may even have to learn to pray more for himself and for them.
Let all intercessors who seek to enter more deeply into their blessed work give a larger place to the ministers, both of their own church and of other churches. Let them plead with God for individual men and for special circles. Let them continue in prayer, so that ministers may be men of power, men of prayer, and men full of the Holy Spirit. Fellow Christians, pray for the ministers!
Our Father in heaven, we humbly ask You to arouse believers to a sense of their calling to pray for the ministers of the gospel in the spirit of faith. Amen.