God Is My Witness
"I'll pray for you" is the easiest way to pretend to care for someone. Instead of spending time with them, bringing them a meal, or doing something inconvenient, I can put the responsibility on God. I'm saying, "I'll ask God to take care of you" without wanting to do anything myself. Maybe turning "I'll pray for you" into a cliché is one reason we wonder if prayer works. We're saying we pray, but we often aren't.
What does it look like to serve God? When I served as a campus minister, the most convenient way to see if someone was serving God was to count the number of volunteer leaders. The more people on the "org chart," the more people were serving God. But when I served on a church's parking lot team, I rarely felt like I was serving God. It was usually boring and sweaty. Physically, I was doing a "Christian" thing. Spiritually, I wasn't necessarily drawing close to God. We know there can be the same gap in any kind of religious activity, whether it's singing a worship song, leading a Bible study, or preaching a sermon. When Paul says he serves God, he says he serves him with his spirit. He dedicates himself to God from the innermost part of his being. It's worship. The important thing isn't to do religious activities but for our spirits to serve God, whatever we are doing. Paul is motivated to proclaim the gospel because his life is already consecrated for God's purposes. Paul says he prays constantly for the churches in Rome, because he wants to visit them. But what does it mean to pray constantly? We know that Paul made tents, ate meals, and slept. He met with people, wrote letters, and dealt with the practicalities of traveling. We shouldn't think of this as if he prayed 100% of the seconds that he was awake (or that he was exaggerating his devotion to God). Rather, Paul is saying that in the context of his ongoing awareness of God, he often asked God when God would send him to Rome. (To learn more about what it means to pray, see our free Together course). But we know that Paul took his prayers seriously. He calls God as his witness. And God answered his prayers. Luke tells us "And so we came to Rome. Now the brothers and sisters from there had heard the news about us and had come to meet us as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with the soldier who guarded him" (Acts 28:14-16). The Roman Christians were eager to see him, and walked 30-40 miles to meet him. His prayers were not a performance but preparation for his actions.
What do you think when someone says, "I'll pray for you"?
Paul kept asking God to bring him to Rome. When he got there, he was a prisoner. Has God ever answered one of your prayers in a way you didn't expect?
Who's one person that God keeps prompting you to pray for? What would it look like to do something for them?
Ask God, "God, if it is your will, please make a way for me to spend time serving ____ this week."