Do you struggle to pray with others? Last Sunday we were challenged to two things: first, to lead others in prayer, and, second, not to hinder the work of prayer. The text explicitly focused on the man’s role in spiritual leadership; however, the charge to not hinder prayer goes out to every Christian. How can I be a means for God to bring others into a healthier prayer life?
Thomas Chalmers (1780–1847), a Scottish pastor, wrote a now famous sermon: the expulsive power of a new affection (Crossway offers a modern edition of this little booklet). The sermon details how the new life in Christ makes us hunger for good and holy things while simultaneously convicts us for our fight against worldliness and the tangling webs of old passions and desires. The term expulsive is a fabulous word—affection for Christ will expel wicked desires. Chalmers convicts his hearers and readers, if you are stirred in the Spirit’s affection, then you will necessarily be confronted with desires that are contrary to Christ. But the Spirit will guide you and empower you to kill off those desires. This kind of expulsive power is made all the livelier through prayer. And what if more of the members around you are praying and experiencing this same kind of Spirit-led work? A prayer revival will change the community.
When Peter commands those early churches in 1 Peter 3:7 to do all they can not to hinder prayer, we ought to remember the care is ours as well. The opposite is our task—to compel others into a sincere, vibrant prayer life. An expulsive prayer life expels any hindrance from gaining a foothold or preventing prayer. To a spiritually revived believer, an accusation of hindering others ought to be unthinkable. Yet we all fail in this regard. Therefore, the starting place is cultivating a prayer life that includes intercession: praying for others. Do you pray for the hindrances of others to be expelled? Do you pray for the Spirit’s power to so work and saturate in others that they refuse to hinder themselves in spiritual growth?
Likewise, the expulsive power of the gospel should enrich our lives so that we recognize where we might hinder someone else in their prayer life. Unwholesome talk, negativity, gossip and slander, promotion of distractions and vulgarity, temptations like lust and gluttony, cheap fellowship that keeps conversations only about sports and weather or criticism and complaints, all such things have the power to hinder prayer—personal prayer or joined prayer. Recognizing these habits will help us to see how quickly we can pour cold water on the embers of another person’s spiritual life. Many of us can think of a time we had a great need, spiritual burden, temptation or sinful confession but we felt we could not bring it up to other Christians because we weren’t sure how they might respond. May we never give off the impression of hindering others to come to us for prayer!
Jesus Christ is our answer. He pours out His Spirit upon believers so to strengthen them, lead them in uncomfortable conversations, encourage and preserve them in spiritual health. The steps for our expulsive prayer life are many but spiritually enriching: Pray to the Lord to convict you of ways that distract others—that your eyes would be open. Pray to be useful for others—that the Lord would prepare you, give you the right Scripture at any moment, and to be approachable. Pray for the Lord to strengthen you and equip you that you would be able to correct other believers in a gracious and charitable way—that meetings and conversations would be conducive for healthy Christian fellowship. Pray the Lord would nourish His sheep with the good grass and protect them from malnourishing weeds.
The struggle to pray draws attention to the beautiful and supernatural work it truly is. Such work takes place in the very presence of the one who saved and drew us out of worldliness into the throne room of His sovereign grace. How is He using you to expel hindrances from other believers’ spiritual lives? How is He using you to enrich fellow believers in their spiritual health?
Pastor Chris
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