1 Timothy 2:1-7

Four different words for prayer are grouped together. It is true that they are not to be sharply distinguished; nevertheless each has something to tell us of the way of prayer.

(i) The first is deesis ( Greek #1162 ), which we have translated request. It is not exclusively a religious word; it can be used of a request made either to a fellow-man or to God. But its fundamental idea is a sense of need. No one will make a request unless a sense of need has already wakened a desire. Prayer begins with a sense of need. It begins with the conviction that we cannot deal with life ourselves. That sense of human weakness is the basis of all approach to God.

"Let not conscience make you linger,

Nor of fitness fondly dream;

All the fitness he requireth

Is to feel your need of him."

(ii) The second is proseuche ( Greek #4335 ), which we have translated prayer. The basic difference between deesis ( Greek #1162 ) and proseuche ( Greek #4335 ) is that deesis ( Greek #1162 ) may be addressed either to man or God, but proseuche ( Greek #4335 ) is never used of anything else but approach to God. There are certain needs which only God can satisfy. There is a strength which he alone can give; a forgiveness which he alone can grant; a certainty which he alone can bestow. It may well be that our weakness haunts us because we so often take our needs to the wrong place.

(iii) The third is enteuxis ( Greek #1783 ), which we have translated petition. Of the three words this is the most interesting. It has a most interesting history. It is the noun from the verb entugchanein ( Greek #1793 ). This originally meant simply to meet, or to fall in with a person; it went on to mean to hold intimate conversation with a person; then it acquired a special meaning and meant to enter into a king's presence and to submit a petition to him. That tells us much about prayer. It tells us that the way to God stands open and that we have the right to bring our petitions to one who is a king.

"Thou art coming to a King;

Large petitions with thee bring;

For his grace and power are such,

None can ever ask too much."

It is impossible to ask too great a boon from this King.

(iv) The fourth is eucharistia ( Greek #2169 ), which we have translated thanksgiving. Prayer does not mean only asking God for things; it also means thanking God for things. For too many of us prayer is an exercise in complaint, when it should be an exercise in thanksgiving. Epictetus, not a Christian but a Stoic philosopher, used to say: "What can I, who am a little old lame man, do, except give praise to God?" We have the right to bring our needs to God; but we have also the duty of bringing our thanksgivings to him.