American Reformation Church Prayer Journal 34
ARC Prayer Meeting
It is hard to miss the emphasis the Bible places on the importance of prayer. It’s almost on every page. Both Testaments highlight its Kingdom value. Prayer honors God. It benefits the saints and it impacts the world. Lately, however, my interest in prayer has shifted to see the impact of prayer in redemptive history.
As you may recall recently, we looked at a historic prayer recorded in a missionary tract that sought the Lord to expand His Kingdom in the New World back in 1659. We covered John Knox’s prayer life and how it brought fear into a tyrannical queen’s heart, Mary, Queen of the Scots. We looked at the prayers of John Wesley that revived England and the intercession of Jonathan Edwards that helped to fuel the First Great Awakening.
For this week’s brief teaching, we are going to investigate a prayer uttered by an early Church Father, St Clement of Rome (1st century -101 AD). When studying the early Church Fathers it is fascinating to discover their approach to God and their perspective concerning the needs of their generation nearly two thousand years ago.
Clement prayed, “We beseech You, Master, to be our helper and protector. Save the afflicted among us; have mercy on the lowly; Raise up the fallen; appear to the needy; heal the ungodly; Restore the wanderers of Your people; Feed the hungry; ransom our prisoners; Raise up the sick; comfort the faint-hearted.”
The content of the prayer reveals the sign of the times. It appears to be a time of struggle, suffering, and persecution and in response Clement beseeches the Lord for aid and help during those trying times. He has a heart to pray for God’s people and those outside of saving faith, “Heal the ungodly.”
It is interesting to note that he addressed the Lord as Master. Have any of you ever addressed the Lord with that title? Most would not think of doing that today. Most would not want to relate to God as Master, since that would make us who believe His slaves. Perhaps, Clement was familiar with the book of Romans. The Apostle Paul used slavery as one of his many illustrations to define our relationship with God. He stated, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness” (Romans 6:16). Regardless, if that was his thinking or not, it is interesting to note the level of humility expressed by Clement as he prayed.
When it comes to one of the most famous admonishments to pray in the Old Testament, Moses recorded, “If my people called by My name shall humble themselves and pray.”
