The Apostle Paul concluded his first letter to the Thessalonians with a hope and a request: “May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. Brothers, pray for us.” (5:23-25)

He prayed for other believers and churches. To the Colossians, he wrote: “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints.” (1:3-4)

To the Thessalonians, he said: “To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him.” (1:11-12)

But catch his repeated appeal:

“Brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you.” (2 Thessalonians 3:1)

“Pray for us… desiring to act honorably in all things.” (Hebrews 13:18)

So I am asking you to please pray for us, particularly the leaders at Trinity. As you may know, we have been in the process of a lengthy effort to improve our structures and the division of labor in a rapidly growing church. Every ministry has grown, and every team is working to train up new leaders to help with the growth. As God is producing new believers and gathering new members to Trinity, it is our responsibility to care for them, as members of His household — we’re family.Our elders also have been working to fill out gaps in our strategic leadership, re-energize church planting, and prepare for the inevitable retirement of some of our founding leaders. As part of this larger effort, this next weekend we are spending an evening and the following morning on crystalizing our plans for discipleship. While we have habits, tools, and a culture that has been fruitful for many, (and this is an expression of some of my greatest weaknesses) we have lacked a clear, cohesive pathway for how someone would grow from their conversion to being a mature believer who would reproduce into the lives of others.

This is what we will be working on, and so I am asking, “Please pray for us.”

Please pray for humble spirits and teachable hearts. Ask the Spirit to open our eyes to His Word for our guiding principles, to bear His fruit of love in us toward the Lord, toward one another and especially toward the people of Trinity. Pray that the Lord would work supernaturally to unify us.

And pray that we would have the courage to face and aspire to the truth even as it may be costly or unpopular in our present culture.

And I take great comfort in Jesus’ promise in Luke 11: “I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (11:9-13)