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. Romans 15:30
Prayer works! A university student was exercised to challenge his atheist professor who loved to mock those who believed in prayer. Each year, the professor did a little ceremony where he would ask any Christians in the classroom to pray that a bottle of water he would drop on the floor would not break. Every year the bottle would break. This particular time (the last time he tried it), the professor had asked if anyone would pray, and a young Christian stood. He did not tell the professor that he had stayed on his knees most of the night praying for courage to stand and challenge the professor. With a mocking laugh, the professor held the bottle high, shouted ‘Amen!’, and dropped the bottle. Instead of landing on the floor, the bottle landed on the toe of the professor’s shoe, and rolled away into the far corner of the room. The bottle didn’t break, but the professor’s toe did, and he limped painfully and red-faced out of the classroom while the rest of the students applauded the Christian. Prayer works! But it takes work.
In our text, Paul speaks about needing the prayer support of the Christians in Rome. He is not asking for them to simply include his name in the list of folks they recite in their daily rituals; he wants, and needs, much more than that. He has a difficult journey to make, and he will be facing many powerful enemies who want him dead. Only God can preserve him and give him the strength and guidance to complete his mission. He urges the Roman saints to strive with him in prayer. He has in mind the type of prayer we read of in James 5:16: ‘The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much’. Striving refers to real effort and deep commitment. It involves entering the presence of God and pleading with Him to bless. Some Christians even effectively involve fasting as part of their prayer life, to enhance their own commitment and intensity. Striving is an all-out effort that often involves sweat and tears. And it works.
Paul makes two appeals to the Romans as he asks for their prayers. First, he asks that they pray ‘for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake’. Paul is not going on his mission to Jerusalem for his own sake, but for that of his Lord. That is a good thing for us to remember in our prayers. If we are asking for the glory of our Lord, we can surely be more fervent in our asking. Secondly, Paul tells them to pray ‘for the love of the Spirit’. Do we love the Holy Spirit, His work, His intercession, and His power? It is only through the Holy Spirit that we can access the throne of God. And it is through the Holy Spirit that God grants us our prayers.
Prayer works. But it works best when we work at it. Really work at it. – Jim MacIntosh