“How’s your prayer life?”

That’s a great question to ask if you want to stop men from talking.

For five years I had the privilege of traveling around the Middle East and Central Asia, helping national missionaries develop and improve their ministries. In getting to know them and what they were doing for ministry, I would ask them about their prayer life. That usually caused them to stop and give me a blank look. “No one has asked me that in a long time,” was the most common response. They would stop and think about it and many would respond, “It could be better!”

Last time I spoke about how the books of Andrew Murray really enriched my understanding of prayer and changed my prayer life. The most helpful change that reading those books brought about in my prayer life came as I considered his view of prayer as a ministry of intercession, not just petition or supplication as most of my prayers had been. As he wrote in the introduction of The Ministry of Intercession, “The truth that I have sought to enforce is that we have far too little conception of the place of intercession, as distinguished from prayer for ourselves, ought to have in the church and the Christian life. In intercession, our King upon the throne finds His highest glory; in it we will find our highest glory, too.” This change in attitude toward prayer as a ministry, not just as a spiritual discipline, has helped to bring more purpose and fervor to my prayer life.

The book goes on to detail the importance of intercession and practical suggestions of what to pray for and how to pray. I have incorporated many of these suggestions in my daily prayers. But of more importance, I now see intercessory prayer as a great ministry to which God has called me and all Christians (Eph. 6:18). It is a ministry that doesn’t need finances, other people, or other materials. It just needs the power of the Holy Spirit. There are many people, pastors, events, circumstances, and missionaries that need our intercession. There is no lack of needs of others that we can bring to God.

God still seeks intercessors (Isa. 62:6-7; Isa. 63:5; Ezek 22:30; John 15:16). There is a world filled with people perishing. There is a God of glory who longs to hear our prayers for them (Psalm 17:6) and longs to dispense His blessings on His children. I believe God would be pleased to see a great army of men and women to stand in the gap and be watchmen on the walls of the family, the community, and the nations. Will you see your time in prayer as a ministry of intercession?

David Timbie

Men, would you like to be part of a group of men praying for revival? To learn more, write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. He’ll send you a schedule of times to choose from.

And would you like to study prayer again? Would you like to see your prayer life grow? Sign up for “Parameters of Prayer” on the Ailbe Seminary website (Parameters of Prayer - The Ailbe Seminary). It’s free and you will have a Reader to go through it with you.