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. Rom. 15:30

Do you know what it means to strive in prayer? Surely it means more than mouthing a few words to God. Surely it means more than simply checking off one of the spiritual disciplines for the day. But what does it mean?

I think, first and foremost, it denotes an earnestness in our address to God. It means that we mean what we are asking for. It means seeking, and asking, and knocking at heaven's door.

It also denotes perseverance in prayer. Those who strive in prayer obey our Lord's words when he taught a parable to the effect that men ought always to pray and not to faint (Lk. 18:1). Have you ever prayed to the point where you thought you might faint? Like Jacob wrestling the angel, striving in prayer means that we don't give up but keep at it till we obtain the blessing.

It further denotes desperateness in prayer. Those who strive with God know they have nowhere else to turn. They will not give up on God because only the resources of heaven will give them the help they truly need.

And it must also denote faith in prayer. No one is going to strive in prayer who thinks that God doesn't hear or that God doesn't care. Those who strive know that they have a high priest in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has made the throne of God into a throne of mercy, and therefore they come boldly to it to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Brothers and sisters, let us have this earnest, persevering, desperate faith in the living God through Christ and so strive in prayer.