The First Charge

There are a lot of things I do in my Christian life that are important for a relationship with God. The apostle Paul gave many instructions to Timothy about carrying out the ministry Paul and God had commissioned Timothy to do. However I was surprised to find out that the very first thing Paul charged Timothy to do was to pray, and to pray for everyone.

In the Phillips version of the New Testament the following charge is given to Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:1:

“Here then is my charge: First, supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings should be made on behalf of all men . . .”

That’s the first thing Paul wants Timothy to do in his ministry to the church at Ephesus. Pray. The Message version says that Timothy should “Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.” Before doing anything else, Timothy was to pray every way he knew how. That includes the things mentioned in the Phillips version: supplications, prayers, intercessions, and let’s not forget, thanksgivings. I’m not sure what the difference is between supplications, prayers, and intercessions, but Paul wanted to emphasize that we need to be praying.

Before preaching, teaching, evangelism, encouraging, correcting, straightening out the church policies, Paul wanted Timothy to pray. There are lots of things I do in any given day to serve God, but am I praying? Am I praying first and foremost? Am I praying on behalf of all men? Am I praying for everyone I know? I think I’d have to answer, “No” to each of those questions. Prayer is not the first thing I do each day. It’s not even the first thing I do when I encounter a problem in my life. It’s not the first thing I do when God brings a friend or acquaintance to mind. I’m just not very good at praying for others (or myself).

I do try to pray for my kids each day. Fortunately I have a little book to help me focus on one aspect of their lives each day (today was having respect for authorities). But, I fail to pray for everyone I know. I need to be more purposeful in my prayer life. So my goal this week is to pray for everyone in my address book, and on my Facebook friends’ list at least once. That’s a big goal, but it would be obedient to God to put prayer first in my life as Paul commanded Timothy.