What do we need?

“How should we pray for people in need?”  This may seem like a simple question:  just pray that God would meet their needs.  Pray that the sick will get well, the unemployed find work, the estranged be reconciled, the downcast be comforted, travelers be safe, etc.

Of course, those are good prayers—like asking for “daily bread.”  But there are other angles to consider.  Like what is a “need,” and when might it be beyond us to grasp what our greatest needs are?  And which types of human needs does God consider to be most urgent?

A good way to approach these questions is to examine the prayers recorded in inspired Scripture:  how do model prayers prompt us to form our petitions to the Lord?  And what needs do they address?

Take, for example, the two bold prayers in Ephesians (see also my Jan. 28 blog post on these passages).  In 1:15-23 Paul calls upon God to open the eyes of the Ephesian believers’ hearts to see—to grasp—their grand hope of an eternal inheritance, and to comprehend the magnitude of God’s saving power in Christ.

And in 3:14-21 Paul blows the prayer roof off, calling on the Father to grant deep spiritual strengthening of his people’s souls, to create in them a wide-eyed wonder at the infinite proportions of Jesus’ love, and to fill their spirits to the brim with “all the fullness of God.”  God is able to do this, and even more—far beyond all we imagine!

And all of that to meet our needs.  So, notice how these prayers focus on spiritual needs: the soul-necessity to love and trust Christ, and to be filled and led by God’s Spirit; the requirement to have your mind and heart fixed on the glory of the Lord.  That is our greatest need.  To be safe and well-fed, yet yawn at Jesus Christ is to be deeply, perhaps even eternally, “in need” and unwell!

What’s more, God sometimes leaves our physical needs unmet, such as Paul’s need for relief from a thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7-10), or James’s need to remain alive (Acts 12:1-5).  And remember, Paul prayed for the Ephesians from prison! (3:1; 4:1; 6:20).  He had, and we have, a greater need than to be free, or safe, or comfortable:  we need to know and love Christ—that’s what matters most!