Duty Calls

Have you ever met anyone who took the responsibility of prayer seriously? I mean really seriously. We are talking here of someone who suddenly stops doing everything because they realized they had forgotten to pray for a person. Or how about someone who refuses to do anything until the matter is brought before the Lord and a response received? Have you met someone who keeps a prayer journal, recording who they are praying for and why, just because they promised they would? Maybe you are someone like that. We all should be.

Apostle Paul was obviously a person like that. You should know that when Paul promised something it was as good as done. If he promised to pray for you, and even if he hadn't promised, and you were part of his team, praying for you took priority. Look at his opening to Timothy in the second letter:

I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. (2 Timothy 1:3)

With a clear conscience because Paul knew he was being faithful to his duties. Yes, Jesus gives us that clear conscience but we also know that we can disturb our own spirit when we neglect to be faithful to the tasks Jesus has given us. One of those tasks is to pray for people, especially those who are close to us or who we are responsible for, like our children. Are you praying for your family and friends every day?

If we realized the importance of prayer we would not dare neglect our duty to it. We wouldn't dare begin our day without it. We would never try to cram it into our day but would arrange our day to have undisturbed time to intercede for those who God has placed on our hearts, and we have put on our list. And we do what Paul did, we tell them about it.

There is not much else to say on this except: Just Do It! We can talk about prayer until the end of time but it doesn't do a thing if we are not engaged in the war with prayer. So let's get to it. Let's make prayer our top priority every day and the duty to pray for people something we dare not neglect.