'Pray for me,' this is a request I hear very often, and no doubt you do too. In response, you either leave by simply saying 'okay,' or you stop to ask for a specific topic. In prayer the other day, I had to think of a rather unusual prayer request, that of Paul writing to the Ephesians and who, at the end of the letter, asks that they pray for him. And thinking about it reminded me once again of my admiration for the apostle Paul.
Indeed, in the sixth chapter of the letter to the Ephesians, Paul gave a prayer request to the church at Ephesus, and it is this: May God allow them to speak boldly and freely, to make known the mystery of the Gospel with boldness, and he added, 'as I ought.' And this is the heart of the matter. This 'as I ought' shows that for Paul there is an awareness that there is an established way in which things must be done, and he wishes that his life, his preaching, be in conformity with this 'pattern' of God, that he do 'as I ought.' To be and to do otherwise would be to miss the point.
Let's go even further.
This 'as I ought' actually occurs in every area of our lives, and what it corresponds to is determined by God and He alone holds the key. In matters of prayer as in matters of preaching, there is a 'as I ought'; it is the same for the study of God's Word, business life, family, relationships, work, etc. In other words, in the Christian life there is a way of being and a way of doing. And my version of Paul's prayer is 'Father, make me all that I ought to be, body, soul, and spirit.'
Ultimately we seek and desire many things, but the only thing that matters is to be and do as God has ordained and desires. You may not know all the details to ask for, or you may be the type to extrapolate to cover the void; but why not the next time you make a prayer request, ask 'that I may think, believe, speak, conduct myself, work, serve, worship, as I ought to do, (as God has ordained and desires).'
Selah!
