Striving in prayer

Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; 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. Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. – Romans 15.30-33

I want to look at this passage from a couple of angles. The first one, today, is Paul’s request that the church in Rome strive together in prayer for him.

I am not sure that I know a lot about this notion of ‘striving together in prayer.’ Only on a couple of occassions have I ever been involved in ‘striving in prayer.’ From my own experience it always seems to be times of last resort before we ‘strive together’ in prayer for something.

Jesus does talk about the importance of going into your prayer closet for quiet prayer between you and God, but we also see plenty of times when the church is gathered together for corporate prayer.

The word in this verse to describe prayer is ‘striving.’ The Greek word was used to describe combatants in a fight. It involves fighting with intensity. It was used of contestant in the Roman games.

How often have I fought in prayer for something? I can think of a handful, of times when I have gathered with others beleivers to fight a spiritual fight in prayer, but for the most part it is just take a few requests and pray for things that are soon forgotten.

When needs are there it is time to come together and fight the good fight in prayer. I recently gathered with a few other men for a James 5 ‘prayer of faith’ for healing. God did not heal immediately, but there was that sense of figthing together in our prayer.

How much do we really fight in prayer for others?