THE CALL TO PRAYER
1 Timothy 2:1-8 ( ESV )
1First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,
2for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a
peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
7For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling
the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
8I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting
holy hands without anger or quarreling;
OBSERVATIONS OF THE PASSAGE
1-First of all-This is in light of the context
esp. 1:18 Paul wanted Timothy, “to wage a good warfare.” The first thing we
must realize about prayer is that when we enter into prayer we are entering into a warzone.
·
Daniel in Daniel 10 after seeing a vision
Daniel is trembling when a hand touches him. He stands up still trembling when
he is told in verse 12. 1. Fear
not. 2. God heard his prayer the first day because he was willing to set his
heart to understand and was humble before God. 3. There was spiritual conflict
in heaven between this one for 21 days with the Prince of Persia and then
Michael came to His aid. Verses 13-14.
·
Ephesians 6:18 I believe that along with the Word of God prayer is part of our
spiritual armor.
·
Of all the wars that men
have fought our spiritual warfare is more important than any other, for we
fight for the honor of His name and for the kingdom.
·
Note the kinds of prayers
that he brings up that we can offer.
1.
Supplications: The idea of the Greek root word here according to Macarthur is, “to lack or to be deprived.” As men
we are to come to God with our needs. (This is esp. hard for men who are taught
that they are to be self-sufficient from day one.)
2.
Prayer-This is the most common usage for prayer and has the idea
according to Wiersbe that we are to see the
sacredness of who we are talking to. We are talking to the
king of the universe. The one who created us and knows us better than we know
ourselves.
3.
Intercessions: We are to be a people who will stand in
the gap for others. When we look at the context of these verses it is esp.
for us to stand in the gap and plead for the souls of men to come to the
Savior. We may intercede in many other ways for physical needs of others and so
forth but in this context it especially for those who need Christ.
4.
Thanksgiving-We should spend time with the Lord expressing
our gratitude for who He is and also for what He has done for
us. So often we see answers to prayer and we act like the 9 lepers who were
healed rather than the one who came back to thank him for the miracle that took
place.
2-In this passage
who are we to pray for? We are to pray for those who rule over us. What are we to pray for? We are to
pray that God will allow us to lead a peaceful and quiet life under their rule. That we might act godly and dignified in every
way. Lord no matter who rules over us help me to live godly and be earnest in
my walk before you and mankind. Verse 3 then tells us that this type of
lifestyle is pleasing in the sight of our Lord
3-7-Why is this
type of praying and lifestyle important? Because our Gods greatest desire is to
see men come to know Him and to come to the knowledge of the truth. This ransom for man can only be done through the one mediator
between God and Man and that is Christ Jesus.
8-So don’t
miss it in verse 8 when Paul uses the word desire again. We know that God desires or longs for men to come to know him in
the above verses. Yet now he tells us that He desires to see something else as
well. God longs to hear MEN pray. Men are to be the spiritual leaders of their
family. We are to be the ones who lead our families and our churches into
the warfare but we must do it through the power of prayer. (As men we would think it ghastly to allow our women and children
to go in our place in the front lines of a war. Yet, we think nothing of
allowing them to take the lead in prayer in the midst of the greatest war that
has ever taken place. O Men of God where are you?) We need women to pray, we
need their prayers to go with us. We have numerous examples of women who cried
out to God and God hears them but the vast amount of time in scripture when
people prayed it was the men who led the charge and this is what we will see in
our study on prayer.
How should we pray in this verse? Lifting holy
hands without anger or without quarreling. Not a specific posture necessarily
though we have examples of this being done constantly throughout the scripture.
Note the emphasis though of the attitude of the hands. They
are to be marked by holiness. We should be men who are
living an unpolluted life. We are to live a life that is marked by
Christ-likeness.
In our society we push the macho image on so
many levels. As men we are taught to stand and to fight. Paul though reminds us
that as believers we are to remember who our true foes are.” For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the cosmic powers over this present darkness against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:12 We should not be men who are known for our anger and
disputing or quarreling with other believers and especially with our mates for
He will not hear us. (I Peter 3:7 ) We
are called to holiness.
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