Enough

 September 3, 2024

\“praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—” —Ephesians 6:18 

For me, one of the hardest parts of prayer is found in these last four words—“for all the saints.” I have a prayer list that’s all dog-eared and worn. It has all your names on it, along with little notes to remind me what each of you need. Linda’s list is much more detailed than mine; she’s a much better pray-er than I. 

Here’s my problem: I know a lot of people, but I don’t know specific needs many of them have. I know generalities about my Cuban brothers and sisters, and of my friends Tsoogii and Tsengel in Mongolia, but I don’t know for them the day to day kinds of things we pray for you. This is where Paul’s words in Ephesians 1:16, 1 Thessalonians 1:2, and Philemon 1:4 are helpful to me.

In these three letters, Paul speaks of “making mention” of his readers in his prayers. I take this to mean he didn’t know all the details that would have informed his prayers so they could be specific. Instead, he simply remembered them by name before the Lord, knowing that God knows the details that are unknown to Paul. And if God knows, that’s enough.