Last month we talked about prayer and I asked for your prayer requests. All of you impressed me in what you asked me to be praying for. Your hearts were directed toward other people and toward the needs of your ministries. Many people only think of themselves when asked for prayer requests. Thank you for having the heart of Jesus and having a heart for others!

Staying on this theme let us look at the Apostle Paul’s heart for one of the churches he started. Gal 4:19 tells us “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” Paul first prayed for them to be saved or born again. Now he is praying again for them to grow up into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. Paul “travailed” for them; which is a type of prayer that reminds us of a woman in the process of giving birth to a child. Travailing prayer is not necessarily emotional prayer or a particular form of prayer but simply prayer that gives birth to something. It is prayer that creates or brings forth into being. In Galatians Paul is praying for the bringing forth of maturity in the church. Prayer is Paul’s part the forming of the image of Jesus is God’s part. Only people can pray; only God can bring about the answer.

Notice Paul’s level of commitment in prayer; he prayed until the forming took place in the believer’s lives. This is not a prayer of faith where a disciple prays once and believes for the answer. Intercession is the commitment to pray until the answer arrives. It is the type of prayer where the one praying carries the sense of responsibility for the answer. There is no release from praying until the results arrive. This is a point where all of us need to improve. Consistency and perseverance are areas of our lives that deserve our attention. This month let us make it a point to be in prayer for one another that the character quality of perseverance will be worked on.

Another month we will look into what it means to have the image of Jesus “formed” in us.

Be blessed,

Jim Burbank