We’re to be a household, even a stronghold, of prayer, and the officers of our congregations need to take the lead here. Prayer, public and congregational or private and individual, is not just a duty; it is a privilege. More than that, it is a means of grace.

The challenges that confront the congregations of Christ’s church in this world include deceivers and persecutors, sometimes with the cooperation of civil authorities. Regardless of the challenger or the tactics, the goal is the same: shut the church up or shut it down. With this in mind, Paul instructs Timothy and the congregation in his care on what their priority must be in 1 Tim 2:1-2a and why it must be what he prescribes in 2:2b-7. So far in 1 Tim 2:1-6, we’ve seen three reasons why all-inclusive prayer ought to be the church’s priority: Christ’s all-inclusive saving work (2:5-6), God’s all-inclusive saving will (2:3-4) and the church’s well-being (2:2b). Paul concludes by presenting the fourth and final reason for his “Prayer First” command in 2:7.

All-inclusive prayer ought also to be the church’s first priority because of Christ’s all-inclusive commission. Paul says, For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth (1 Tim 2:7). The dimensions of the church’s prayer are to be as comprehensive as the commission Christ gave to Paul and the other Apostles and, through them, to the church. Of Paul himself Christ said in Acts 9:15 that he was His chosen instrument to carry His name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel. Little wonder, then, that Paul circles back to his commission from Christ in 1 Tim 2:7 as a basis for the church’s priority: the scope of his commission was to dictate the scope of the church’s prayers.

Most of us will remember that Peter had a problem with the reach of his commission when the Lord told him—while praying no less (Acts 10:9)—to go and evangelize a Gentile, a Roman centurion, a man of authority. No fewer than three times God had to give Peter an object lesson for him to get His point that it was lawful for him, a Jew, to associate with and to visit a Gentile, particularly to bring him the good news. How many object lessons will we have to have before we get the point that in the Great Commission God is telling us, even when challenged and even in prayer, that it is lawful for us, as “the Israel of God” in Christ (Gal 6:16; 3:29), to associate with and to visit “Gentiles” to bring them the gospel?

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