We Need More Corporate Prayer: A Critical Exegesis of 1 Timothy 2:1-7

What is the most pressing need of the church today? If Paul, observing false teachers within the church, experiencing persecution from outside of it and, all the while, desiring to be about the business of spreading the message of Christ to Gentiles, is able to write “First of all, then, I urge that prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people…”, then we need to take notice. Mounce comments “It is not so much that prayer for all peoples is the first on the list but that it is the most important on this list.” Jesus said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer” (Matt. 21:13) and yet we would be hard pressed to find many churches where the name fits. The church needs desperately to recover the practice of corporate prayer.