I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
Paul is writing to Timothy, a young leader he mentored, giving him practical guidance on how a local church should worship and function together. This verse opens a section on prayer and lands at the very top of Paul's list — "first of all" — signaling that prayer is not just one item among many but the foundation of everything else. The four words Paul uses — requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving — paint a comprehensive picture of a full prayer life: asking, communing, advocating for others, and expressing gratitude. Most striking is the scope: Paul says this should be done for everyone — not just your community, your tribe, or people who agree with you.
Lord, forgive me for the smallness of my prayers. You invite me to carry the whole world before you — not just my corner of it. Expand my heart to pray genuinely for people I disagree with, people I don't know, and people I've long forgotten. Teach me to start there. Amen.
"First of all." Not "also," not "don't forget to" — first. Paul is laying out how a community of faith should organize itself, and before he gets to structure, leadership, or doctrine, he says: pray for everyone. The word "everyone" is doing something quietly radical here. This letter was written inside the Roman Empire, where "everyone" included people in power who were actively persecuting Christians, people of entirely different religions, and people who would never walk through Timothy's door. The first act of Christian community, Paul insists, is to carry the weight of others in prayer — including others who are not carrying you. How often does your prayer list look like your social circle? Your people, your needs, your hopes? This verse doesn't shame that instinct — it expands it. What if prayer became the place where your world got genuinely bigger? Where you brought the name of the coworker who makes your days harder, the political leader you deeply disagree with, the neighbor whose name you still don't know? Prayer might be the one space where our instinct toward self-protection can loosen its grip — where you are invited to hold more than you naturally would. Start there. Start with everyone.
Paul lists four distinct types of prayer — requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving. What do you think distinguishes these from each other, and which do you practice most naturally or most rarely?
Why do you think Paul places prayer "first of all" before any other instruction about community life? What does that ordering reveal about what he believed prayer actually does?
"For everyone" is a wide and demanding net. Who in your life do you find it hardest to genuinely pray for, and what does that resistance tell you about where your heart is right now?
If your community consistently prayed for people outside your walls — leaders you oppose, strangers, even people who have hurt you — how do you think it would change the character of that community over time?
What would it look like for you to expand your prayer practice this week to include at least one person you would never normally think to bring before God?
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Matthew 6:9
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Ephesians 5:20
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
James 5:16
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:10
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Ephesians 6:18
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:4
And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
Jeremiah 29:7
Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
1 Peter 2:13
First of all, then, I urge that petitions (specific requests), prayers, intercessions (prayers for others) and thanksgivings be offered on behalf of all people,
AMP
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,
ESV
First of all, then, I urge that entreaties [and] prayers, petitions [and] thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,
NASB
Instructions on Worship I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—
NIV
Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,
NKJV
I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.
NLT
The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.
MSG