The majority of our prayers are filled with specific requests. We pray for specific people, in specific situations, often going through specific illnesses. Nothing about this is wrong. We certainly should keep praying these ways. God hears and answers our specific prayers, and interceding like this is very biblical.
But in our desire for specificity, we can slowly become afraid of unspecific prayers. We can begin to think that unless we’re praying for something specific, then the prayer isn’t a great prayer, or that God won’t answer in concrete ways.
The biblical writers, however, didn’t think this way. In fact, many of the prayers in the Bible could even be described as vague prayers, and I think we could learn much from them.
Paul As an Example
Take for example Paul’s prayer to the Philippian church in Philippians 1. It’s a helpful example of a biblical, apostolic prayer because it’s short and sweet. Here’s his prayer for the Philippian church in full:
“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11)
What does Paul pray for the church? He prays for their love to abound with knowledge (v. 9). He prays they may better discern what is excellent and live purer lives (v. 10). And finally, he prayers they have abundant Christian fruit because of their righteousness in Christ—all for the glory of God (v. 11).
Are these specific requests? In one sense, yes. Love, knowledge, discernment, purity, fruit, God’s glory—these are all specific terms and requests. But in another sense, it’s quite a vague prayer, isn’t it? Think of it this way: If I were to pray for a church and just pray that it may have more love, knowledge, and Christian fruit, most people would not think of it as a specific prayer. Instead, it’d be seen as vague. A specific prayer would be praying for love between certain people or for wisdom in a certain situation. Praying merely for love, knowledge, and fruit in general seems vague. And, in our current Christian culture focused on specificity, most people would then think that it would be better to be more specific.
But Paul unabashedly prayed these seemingly vague prayers. And remember, Paul knew most of these churches. He didn’t pray this way because he didn’t have specifics to pray for. In this instance with the Philippians, he was the one who established the church and he certainly knew many people there (see Acts 16). So why does he pray this way?
Two Benefits of Vague Prayers
I think there’s at least two reasons—reasons why Paul prayed these types of prayers, and reasons why we should pray similarly.
1. They Allow Us to Focus on Overarching Christian Ideals
The first reason Paul (and other biblical writers) prayed like this is because their prayers focused on overarching Christian requests. Although Paul knew people by name and probably knew of specific situations, the non-situational, non-person-focused, non-specific prayers allowed him to focus instead on other overarching, all-embracing Christian realities they all desperately needed: such as more Christian love for God and others, more knowledge of God, a greater discernment of what is good and right, or (as he prayers in Ephesians) the ability to know Christ’s love better (Ephesians 3:17-19).
In other words, he didn’t avoid specifics because he didn’t know them or love them. Instead, he prayed for great, overarching realities he knew they would all need—regardless of their unique specifics.
And the same is true for us and our prayers. By praying less specific prayers and not spending all our time and energy on particular situations and persons, we can instead focus on overarching Christian ideals and needs.
2. They Leave Room for God to Apply as He Sees Fit
Which leads to the second reason for why Paul seemed to pray these non-specific prayers. Why did Paul feel free to pray this way in his letters? Because he believed that God would answer these non-specific prayers in however God saw fit. He knew God would answer his broad prayers, applying them specifically to people and situations.
For example, when Paul prayed for the church’s “love to abound more and more,” he believed God would answer that uniquely for each individual. Or when he prayed for them to be “filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ,” he knew God would personally do that in the church in a myriad of ways. By praying like this, Paul therefore is putting trust in his sovereign God, who he believes is able to answer these seemingly vague prayers in unseen, particular ways. His prayers are overarching, but he knows the applications will be specific.
Freedom in Praying Like This
So it is for us when we pray these sort of prayers. By praying like this, we’re able to focus more on overarching, deep Christian realities (such a prayers for love, joy, peace, trust, knowledge, fruit, etc.), and then trust that although we may not know exactly how these prayers will be answered, God does. He specifically applies our vague prayers.
Let us, then, not be afraid of vague, apostolic prayers. Let’s feel the freedom to pray for great, overarching Christian realities (such as love, joy, peace, knowledge, trust, and wisdom), and then trust that God will apply them as he sees fit—for ourselves and for others.
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See the follow up to this post: The Vague-Specific Prayer Spectrum.
