As we look at this passage we see Paul giving instructions to Timothy on how the church needs to conduct themselves. Apparently Timothy was experiencing a congregation that was losing their order and effectiveness, because both men and women members of the church were disobeying God's Word. Paul in this passage is trying to tell Timothy on how both men and women are to conduct themselves.
The first eight verses in this chapter revolve around men of the church need to be about prayer. I once heard this quote "Much prayer, much power! No prayer no power." Prayer was as much a part of the apostolic ministry as preaching the Word (Acts 6:4) I truly believe when a local church ceases to depend on prayer, God ceases to bless its ministry. True Christians pray in order to please God. This suggests that we must pray in the will of God, because it certainly does not please the Father when we pray selfishly (James 4:1-10, 1 John 5:14-15). I've heard it often said that the purpose of prayer is not to get man's will done in heaven, but to get God's will done on earth.
So what is Gods will: The salvation of lost souls for one thing. We can pray for "all men" because it is God's will that "all men" come to the knowledge of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. God loved the world (John 3:16) and Christ died for the whole world (1 John 2:2; 4:14). Jesus died on the cross that He might draw "all men" to salvation (John 12:32). We pray for "all" because Christ died for "all" and it is God's will that "all" be saved. We must give ourselves to God to be a part of His worldwide program to reach people before it is to late.
Some food for thought effective praying, then, demands that I be in a right relationship with God and with my fellow believers. Jesus taught the same truth (Mark 11:24-26). If we spent more time preparing to pray and getting our hearts right before God, our prayers would be more effective!! So what's stopping us from having an effective prayer life??
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