For The Purpose Of Prayer

⏱️ 8 minutes.

Hey fellow servants of our Lord and Christ,

Today let’s look at Peter’s advice to enhance our prayer life:

The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sound thinking and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. — 1 Peter 4:7

If there’s one thing consistent in Peter’s teachings, it is his awareness of the end times. Time and time again, he reminds the church that we are in the end times. In his second epistle, he goes as far as to talk about the events of the end times when the current earth and heavens will be destroyed in an implosion of intense heat:

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be found out. — 2 Peter 3:10

Such insistence on the urgency of these last days is seen in the verse we’re looking at today, as Peter begins the verse with the phrase “the end of all things is at hand.” This is to grab his readers’ attention to the reality that these days we are living in are the end times, the times long prophesied when the heavens and the earth will pass away, and the day of the Lord will come when God will judge us all.

Having awakened them to this reality of the times and the seasons, he then turns his attention to proclaiming to them how they should set their priorities in these last times.

The one thing that he asks these Christian exiles to focus on is prayer. This exhortation comes right after Peter reminds his audience of the gospel, reminding them that the wrath of God is real, that they were saved by grace, and that they need not continue in the passions of this world, and finally, that there is still impending judgment that is to come to the whole world:

In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, maligning you, but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. — 1 Peter 4:4-5

Following this, he then reminds them to focus on prayer. This could as well be Peter taking a cue from our Lord Jesus from that incident in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus insisted for them to keep watch and pray so as not to fall into temptation:

Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. — Mark 14:38

Peter, having lived this out since the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord, feeds this same truth to the sojourners, reminding them that having been called into sanctification, they ought to focus faithfully in prayer so as to escape temptation that will become a hindrance for them.

Having said this, it’s rather fascinating how Peter prescribes two very specific elements to an effective prayer life:

1. Be Of Sound Thinking.

Peter tells his audience that they should be of sound thinking for the purpose of prayer. Here, the word that Peter uses for “sound thinking” refers to: “in one’s right mind” or “to be temperate, discreet, self-controlled.”

This is rather contrary to the religious practices of the day, especially among the false religions in Asia Minor and other places that Peter was writing to. Such cultures involved a disconnecting of the mind for the purpose of worship. Such worshipers of false gods would go as far as getting drunk with wine to enter a higher level of spirituality while being driven by frantic emotionalism. This is actually what leads to Paul’s instruction to the Ephesians:

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, — Ephesians 5:18

Just like Peter, Paul was drawing a stark contrast between true religion and false religion, where false religion has an emphasis on disconnecting the mind to enter a higher realm of emotionality and spirituality, the true religion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ insists on being of sound thinking and being filled with the Holy Spirit, for God created us with minds with which to reason and think and have self-control as the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

This echoes Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians about exercising the gift of speaking in tongues:

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. — 1 Corinthians 14:14-15

Paul insists that the heart of worship is not about neglecting thought but rather embracing it. Paul’s message to the Corinthians is that as they pray and as they sing, they should not at all leave any room for unfruitfulness, but rather engage both the spirit and the mind so that they know exactly what it is they are saying to God.

Therefore, as Peter tells the Christians scattered across the land for fear of persecution to be of sound thinking for the purpose of prayer, he’s telling them to avoid the wicked practices of false religion which would insist on them disconnecting their thinking members. Instead, practice true religion which is consistent with thought and logic and faith.

In other words, Peter says in order to have an effective prayer life in these last days where false religion is running amok, Christians need to be of sound thinking and avoid at all costs any false religious practices of disengaging the mind to attain some kind of higher spirituality. Our God is one of sound thinking; everything He does makes sense, it’s logical, even the very creation through which His eternal power and divine nature are made known to us, is logical and orderly, He’s a God of order.

For God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. — 1 Corinthians 14:33

2. Be Of Sober Spirit.

In this second element that would enhance the believer’s prayer life, Peter says believers should be of sober spirit.

Being of sober spirit refers to having a very clear and central focus. In this case, the believer needs to be focused on Christ.

This explains why immediately before this, Peter reminds them of the gospel. This is not because they hadn’t heard of the gospel before; obviously, as Christians, they must have heard the gospel to be saved.

It should be understood that the gospel message is not just for the unbelievers. It is common today to hear professing Christians rebelling against preaching that is packed with the presentation of the gospel. They claim that kind of preaching is for the unbelievers. They say that kind of preaching is for the young Christians. They say the matured Christians need not hear the gospel message.

However, this could not be further from the truth. In the Bible, specifically in the New Testament epistles, we find the gospel being preached to believers again and again. The reason for this is because the gospel is not only useful for the unbeliever’s conversion to the faith, but more importantly, the gospel is useful for the believer to continually be reminded of the grace of God that saved them from the kingdom of darkness and transferred them over to the kingdom of God’s Son. (Colossians 1:13)

Being sober in spirit for the purpose of prayer is the believer consistently being reminded of the one thing that they need to focus on in life in light of all the distractions that life offers. One commentator puts it this way:

It reminds the Christian that he is a citizen of heaven only sojourning on earth. — John MacArthur.

Thus, in order to have an enhanced prayer life, our lives need to redirect our attention from the cares of this world and refocus on our upward call. We need to completely focus on God.

Let’s recap:

In order to have a rich prayer life, we need to be of sound thinking: that is, our minds need to be engaged, we need not succumb to emotionalism and practices of false religion that want us to shut down our minds.
In order to have a rich prayer life, we need to be of sober spirit: that is, we need to forego the cares of this world and hold our calling in Christ to the highest esteem.