Paul’s Powerful Prayers (#4)

Philippians 1:8-11

One of the most needed, but most challenging things for Christians to do is to pray. Many believers find that it is easier to “do” something for the Lord than to sit quietly talking with the Lord. And yet, prayer is one of the greatest privileges God has afforded us as His children. Failing to pray means the forfeiture of many things God wants to do for us. The Apostle James writes:

You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. (James 4:2)

Not only does prayerlessness plague our spiritual lives, there is also the matter of praying ineffectively. When the disciples were with Jesus they asked Him specifically how to pray and Jesus gave them what is commonly called the Lord’s prayer. The prayer wasn’t intended to be quoted like some mindless chant, but it was given as a pattern (outline) for prayer. However, so many of the things we pray about today have little or nothing to do with what we are taught to pray about in scripture.

For instance, two recent surveys discovered some interesting (disturbing) facts about the prayer lives of Americans. These studies say that, “when Americans aren’t busy praying for themselves or their own needs — and most of them are — many are seeking divine intervention on behalf of a favorite sports team or the golden ticket in the lottery…About 13 percent of Americans say they pray for sports teams, compared with about one in five (21 percent) who say they have prayed to win the lottery…”

The studies go on to show that , “82 percent who pray typically pray about family or friends.” And, “equal numbers of Americans pray behind the wheel, either for a good parking space or not to get a speeding ticket.” Some people even “pray for someone’s relationship to end, someone to get fired or for someone else to fail.”

Should we be pouring our hearts out to God about the many things in our lives that concern us? The answer is obviously, “Yes!” But, if we expect to see more answers to prayer, then we have to start asking God for the things He says are important to Him and are revealed to us in scripture. We have to become less selfish in our prayers and more focused on God’s will than our own will.

Listen again to the words of James as he talks about why our prayers aren’t answered.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. (James 4:2-3 ESV)

I think most of us would have to plead guilty to the fact that sometimes our prayers are too much about our “pleasure,” more than His. But, listen to the promise the Apostle John gives about prayer.

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (1 John 5:14-15 ESV)

What I’ve been trying to do in this series of messages from Paul’s Powerful Prayers is give you a biblical understanding (i.e., “according to His will”) of some of the requests we know God delights to hear and wants to answer.

Thus far we’ve learned from Paul’s prayers to ask God for these specific things:

1. That believers may be strengthened with His power on the inner man. (Eph. 3:16)

2. That believers may be able to grasp the immensity of the love of God for them. (Eph. 3:17)

3. That believers would mature to the place of Christlikeness. (Eph. 3:19)

4. That God will enable believers to love others as they should. (1 Thess. 3:12-13)

5. That unbelievers will come to Christ for salvation and the nations of the earth hear the message of the Gospel. (Romans 10:1)

From Philippians 1:8-11 we add to this list a sixth thing that should be part of our prayers for ourselves and others.

Paul has already indicated that he prayed for the Philippians (1:3) and that he did so regularly (1:4). He fleshes out his prayer for them in 1:8-11 and it further helps us understand the things he considered important in prayer.

He first prayed that they would abound in “love” for one another (1:9). The “love” about which he speaks is the highest form of “love” (agape) that is expressed in selfless/sacrificial service to others. Paul speaks of this “love” again when he contrasts those who preach with envy/strife and those who preach with “love” (1:15-17). He later speaks of this “love” when he reminds the believers at Philippi that being united to Christ and each other brings them the comfort of His “love” (2:1). And, he says that we should demonstrate this Christlike “love” toward each other (2:2). Paul develops their understanding of this “love” by contrasting selfish ambition and vain conceit with selfless and sacrificial “love” to others (2:3-4), of which Christ is the ultimate example (2:5-11).

The issue here is service and the question is...how can I be most helpful? The question is not...how can I feel most useful? The goal is...how can I best glorify God by serving people? It is not...how can I feel most comfortable and appreciated while engaging in some acceptable form of Christian service?

However, “love” alone is not enough. Like a river flows between two banks, this “love” which Paul prays to increase, is bounded (guided) on either side by two very important truths. On one side it the boundary of “knowledge.” This particular word speaks of “complete or full knowledge” and it’s always used in the realm of moral and/or religious matters. In other words, Paul is praying that their love would increase and be guided by a mindful understanding of the Will and Word of God that ultimately informs how they live their lives.

As much as some would like for Christianity to be primarily about their feelings, the fact is that apart from “knowledge” and “depth of insight,” our feelings can lead us astray. Without these constraints, love very easily degenerates into mere sentimentality or into mindless pluralism that is too often confused with real love.

Part of what we do as followers of Christ is study His Word and Will so that we are as fully informed as possible. This guides our loving acts of service and deeds of kindness. Hosea said that the people of God in his day were being destroyed because they did not have the knowledge of God or His law (cf. Hosea 4:1, 6). Christianity is not just about how we feel. It’s about what and Whom we know, as well. It is this kind of growing knowledge that guides the choices and actions of our sacrificial love.

The boundary on the other side of love is “discernment.” Though this Greek word is only used here in the New Testament, it is found frequently in the LXX. And, notice that it’s not just “discernment” alone, it is “ALL discernment.” This discernment covers the broad gamut of our life experiences.

Discernment is the ability to make proper/good moral choices when there are a vast number of options from which to choose. It’s a “depth of insight” that guides you to the right things to say and/or do. And, it’s based or informed by the “knowledge” of God you have gained through His Word.

It’s these two qualities that Paul prayed would govern (guide) the growing and ever increasing “love” (for one another) he asks for them to experience. But, this “love” is not intended to be an end in itself in this passage. Paul wants this kind of informed, discerning love to lead to a specific action.

When love is informed by a deepening knowledge of God and a certain moral compass, Paul says that this will enable believers to “approve the things that are excellent.” Paul, though, isn’t speaking here about choosing between (“approve”)  what is good or evil. Here the idea is about making the best choice from among many otherwise good choices that are available to you. He wants them to be morally centered and biblically informed so that out of love they will be able to make the best possible choices and discern the things that really matter.

How many of our relationships (our own lives) would be better if they were characterized by selfless love that was informed by the knowledge of God and so morally centered that we were able to make the best of all choices out of a vast array of otherwise good choices available to us?

When our lives are characterized by these kinds of good choices motivated by love, Paul says three things result. First, we show ourselves to be “sincere” or without hidden agendas or pretentious motives. Our “selfless love” will be characterized by purity and free of any underlying hopes of selfish gain or return. It is truly a life that is pure inside and out!

The Greek word for “sincere” is used when taking a garment or cloth out into the bright sunlight to see if it is unsoiled and unstained. It’s the idea of holding up a piece of ancient pottery to the sunlight to see if there are any cracks or tiny holes. As we increase in love bounded by a growing knowledge of God and moral insight, we are able to serve others in “sincerity,” i.e., pure or free from vainglory and selfish ambition.

Second, we will be “without offense” toward others. An “offense” is any kind of stumbling block that causes a person to trip up and fall. By the choices we make, we can cause people to be hindered in their spiritual walk. Too many people point at professing believers that nearly cause them to walk away from Christ. As we grow in love, guided by knowledge and discernment, we make better choices that don’t become roadblocks for others, as well as our own lives.

Third, he says that these kinds of loving choices will be the “fruits of righteousness,” which God will reward at His coming. The “righteousness” of which he speaks refers to the good deeds, attitudes and actions prompted by love. The picture is of a tree laden with mature fruit ready to be picked, i.e., rewarded by God.

And, all of these matters should be done in light of the Second Coming of Christ. We aren’t to take lightly what Paul is praying about because we all have to stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ and give an account of our lives. That’s why Paul is asking that these things be fulfilled in believers' lives so that they may stand before Him with the confidence that He is pleased by the love they have expressed to others.

Ultimately, none of us can do these things on our own. Only as we are enabled by the power of Jesus Christ is it possible (“that comes through Jesus Christ”). The Gospel changes everything!! It not only brings us forgiveness, cleansing, freedom, eternal life, adoption, acceptance, etc. It is also the means by which all of the things for which Paul prayed can be accomplished in our lives. That’s why Paul is asking God to do these things and not the Philippian believers alone. Only the power of the Gospel can produce the kind of love Paul wants to see increased “more and more.”

Paul didn’t appeal to the Law or some set of rules to move the Philippians to wise choices and good decisions. He prayed for love to increase as their primary motivation because there is no greater motivation than love. What the law could not produce in them, God’s wise and insightful love would produce.

This passage from the ESV:

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)

Prayer #6: That believers will be motivated by love to make the best choices possible and be the best people possible.

Together On Mission

Romans 15:20-21

In Romans 15:20-21, Paul reveals to us his ministry philosophy for spreading the Gospel. He was called specifically to take this message to people (Gentiles) that had never known the “name” (15:20) of Jesus Christ. This does not mean that he never preached the Gospel where others had preached it before him. But, his primary focus (“aim”) was in opening new territories where he could spread the fame of Jesus Christ.

He notes two cities that marked the boundaries of his travels thus far in preaching Christ: Illyricum and Jerusalem. This was a territory of approximately 1400 miles that Paul had traversed in the course of fulfilling his calling. And, this wasn’t the end of what he hoped to do in reaching the unreached. He ultimately wanted to go to Spain (15:24, 28) to continue proclaiming Christ as Savior. Though we have no record in the book of Acts chronicling his travels to that region (Spain was the western limit of the Roman Empire and included all of the Iberian Peninsula), church tradition says he did, in fact, reach Spain after his first Roman imprisonment and possibly even went as far as Britain.

What we see in Paul’s words is that His unique calling was to take the Gospel to those that had little or no opportunity to hear it apart from his missionary endeavors. As was his custom, he usually travelled along main Roman roads (ex. Egnatian Way) to significant urban areas to win people to Christ and plant churches. Once people had been reached and churches organized, these new disciples of Christ assumed the responsibility of reaching outlying regions.

Paul explained his missionary efforts by referring to an Old Testament text (Isaiah 52:15) as support for the work he was doing among the Gentiles. This OT passage provided a clear foundation for his ministry philosophy and validated his efforts in reaching the Gentile world (those that did not “name” Christ). There is a good lesson for us to learn from Paul’s methods and that is to always base our major decisions on scriptures that affirm God’s will for our lives. Paul was not acting on a momentary whim or pragmatic speculation, but on a clearly defined purpose from God Himself.

Central to what Paul was doing in his missionary travels was preaching the Gospel of Christ and twice he mentions doing so (15:19, 20). There would need to be other aspects of the scripture explained so that new believers could grow in their faith. Nevertheless, Paul’s main objective was to proclaim the “Good News” about Jesus Christ. This serves as a reminder that at the heart of what we are to do as followers of Jesus is proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to do so “fully" (i.e., completely).

I thank God for those that are willing to be used by Him to plant churches in the United States. Even in our own region there are new church plants happening right now in local communities. It’s clear that there are areas, niche communities, and regions in the U.S. where the Gospel has yet to be heard and/or made available to those willing to listen. But, we desperately need some that will heed the call of God to take the Gospel to regions of the world where Christ is still unknown to most of the population that lives there.

Just to help you get a grasp of the desperate condition of the world we live in for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, consider these facts...

Let’s take the world’s population and shrink it down to a village of 100 people. By doing so, perhaps we can make sense of the dire needs that crush the global population. Hopefully, it will also move us to pray for people who, without Christ, have little hope, peace, joy, or opportunity for salvation.

In this village of 100 people, six of them (all U.S citizens) own 58% of the wealth. 74 of them own 39% of the wealth. And, 20 of them own the other 2%. If you have a bank account (with any amount of money in it) you are among the richest 30 people in this village. 18 people in this village struggle to live on $1 USD per day. 53 people in the village struggle to live on $2 USD per day. 20 people in the village are undernourished, 15 are overweight, and one will die of starvation by the end of the day. 20 people in this village have no clean drinking water. 56 of them have no access to sanitation, and 80 live in substandard housing. One person in the village has AIDS, and one has a university degree. Seven of them have computers, and 67 are completely illiterate. Sadly, 48 in this village cannot speak freely of their religious faith.

Another way to look at it...

• About 40 million people worldwide are living with the HIV virus...2/3 of them in Africa.
• There are more than 15 million children that have been left orphaned by the Aids epidemic.
• There are more than 35 million people that are right now displaced from their homes due to conflicts worldwide.
• Almost half the world lives on less than $3 per day.
• Of the 7 billion plus people on planet earth...more than 2 billion have NEVER (!!!) once heard the Gospel of Christ.

Now I ask you, where is the greatest need in the world and what are we going to do about it? Where are the pioneering missionaries like the Apostle Paul that say, “Let me go to the regions where no one else is preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ?”

One of my friends that took me under his wing during the very early days of my ministry was a man by the name of J.B. WIlliams. I loved to hear him preach because he was skilled in the original languages of scripture and always seemed to have a “nugget” of truth that you couldn’t get from just reading along the surface of the text. Dr. Williams had been a pioneer missionary to the Bariba tribe in Benin, West Africa. When he and his wife arrived there in 1946, they were greeted by thousands of pagan Bariba tribe members but only one known Christian. In Dr. Williams’ autobiography (God’s Leading Hand) he writes about the difficulties of adjusting to the Bariba culture, learning their language, and translating the Gospel of John into their language. After they left the field, he went on travelling the globe, raising funds for missionary endeavors and preaching to challenge God’s people to greater missionary endeavors.

Where are the J.B. WIlliams’ today that hear and answer the call to missions where people have rarely or never heard the name of Jesus?

This past Sunday evening our missionary guest shared about his call to Togo, West Africa, to serve as a church planter and medical doctor. In his presentation he shared a quote that caught my attention and I want to bring it to your attention again.

John Keith Falconer said, “I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light.”

Where is that willingness and openness among us to go on an adventure with God to the regions of the world where few, if any, have heard the Gospel?

The U.S. State Department presently lists a total of 194 countries, though that number reflects the political agenda of our nation. What if you had been born in one of those countries where poverty, oppression, war, disease, and famine prevailed? What if you were living in a place where there was no hope, no peace and no mention of the name of Jesus Christ? Wouldn’t you want someone to come and tell you the “Good News” about Him?

What if you lived where you didn’t have a Bible in your own language? According to the Wycliffe Bible Translators, about 98 million people speak languages where there is no known Scripture, and a further 81 million speak languages which need additional Bible translation work but where there are no current translation activities underway. Presently there are over 2,167 active Bible translation projects worldwide and work still needs to be done in a further 1,919 languages.

“And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation, but as it is written: ‘To whom He was not announced, they shall see; And those who have not heard shall understand.’” (Romans 15:20)

• Someone has to be willing to go!!
• Others must be willing to send those who are going!
• So, where do you fit into God’s worldwide mission?

Paul’s Powerful Prayers (#3)

Romans 10:1-4

Periodically, someone will ask me how they might reach a person they love with the Gospel of Christ. Their request comes out of a deep burden for the person that doesn’t know Jesus. We should all be grateful for people that don’t hoard their eternal life just for themselves, but want others to experience it, too.

Usually, when I’m asked a question like this, I share three or four things that anyone can do to show the love of Christ to an unsaved loved one or friend. But, the one thing I always emphasize to everybody that asks this question is the importance of constant and focused prayer to God for the salvation of the one needing Christ.

We find in Paul’s Powerful Prayers a demonstration that this was his practice, as well. In Romans 10:1, Paul writes,

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.”

Clearly, Paul considered prayer to be one of the most important things he could do in reaching his own countrymen for Christ. Of course, if you study his ministry carefully, you see that not only did he pray for people to be saved, he also brought them the message of the Gospel. But, prayer was essential to his message having a powerful impact on their lives.

Romans 9-11 deals with the issue of the nation of Israel and whether He has abandoned them and the promises He made to them. Paul argues that though God’s blessings are presently on His church, this did not violate or negate His commitment to His chosen people. In other words, God is not through with the Nation of Israel...in spite of their present unbelief.

Part of proving his thesis is found in his prayer to God for Israel to be saved. Though the people of Israel had stumbled spiritually (9:33), had sought to establish their own righteousness (10:3), and were guilty of unbelief (10:14), disobedience and obstinacy (10:21), God’s promises to them were still to be fulfilled.

Interestingly, in chapter nine Paul emphasizes the sovereignty of God in election (in choosing the nation of Israel) and in chapter ten he emphasizes human responsibility (why they have stumbled spiritually and He has established the church). At least five times (10:8, 11, 12, 16, 21) Paul lays their present, though temporary rejection by God, at the feet of the Nation of Israel because of their unbelief (human responsibility).

Theologians have long discussed how these two truths (divine sovereignty/human responsibility) work together, with most taking their ideas well beyond what the scripture teaches in defending their positions. For some reason, many people seem to believe that they can fully grasp all of the mind of God and are able to reason exactly how divine sovereignty and human responsibility may be reconciled with each other. Paul doesn’t make this mistake, but chooses to emphasize two equally important truths and leaves their reconciliation to God. Even though in chapter nine He is dealing with the sovereignty of God in election, he opens chapter 10 with a prayer begging God for the salvation of his fellow countrymen and places the responsibility on them to turn from their obstinacy and disbelief.

This prayer (10:1) serves as a model for how we should be praying for those that need to come to Christ and for the nations of the earth to hear the message of the Gospel.

His ultimate concern in this prayer is for the salvation of the people of Israel. To be “saved”  means to be rescued or delivered from some imminent danger. In the context of people’s lives and with eternity in view, the salvation of God is His rescuing people from the penalty of their sins. We are all sinners by birth, as well as by choice! Because God is righteous and holy, He cannot merely overlook our sins but must judge them justly. That means that every man living in this world is under the condemnation of God (John 3:18; Romans 6:23) and the only way to be delivered out from under it is through Jesus Christ.

I think many of the causes in which people are involved in our society are important and I’m thankful people are working to make a difference in these areas. But, if all we do is reform society and don’t also bring to them the transforming power of the Gospel, we have failed in our ultimate mission as believers and a church.

If you want to see the importance of this mission, just listen to how Paul’s prayer is described. It is his “heart’s desire” that people are delivered from the wrath to come for their sins against God. The “heart” sometimes points to the intellect, but here it more specifically points to his emotions. Listen to what he said in the opening verses of chapter 9 and hear the cry of Paul’s heart.

“I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.” (Romans 9:1-5)

This is a man so deeply burdened for his fellow Israelites that if surrendering his own salvation would bring his people to faith in Christ...he would be willing to do so (this is hypothetical in order to express the depth of his burden).

When is the last time we wept over someone’s eternal soul? When have we ever felt so burdened about a person’s eternal destiny that it weighed heavily on us with an aching inside that drove us to prayer for them?

Take a few minutes this week to look around where you live, work and play to see the people that need to know Jesus. Can you see that they are more than bodies? They are eternal souls that are either going to spend eternity with God or separated from Him. When Paul looked at his fellow countrymen, his heart ached within him and it drove him to pray to God on their behalf that they might be saved. And, his prayer was more than just a casual request to God. The Greek word translated “prayer” indicates petitions on their behalf, even to the place of pleading (begging) with God for their souls.

Remember, as this chapter points out, the problem is their own willfulness and stubbornness to remain in unbelief (human responsibility). But, Paul would not give up on them and prayed for them to come to faith in Christ just as he had done on the road to Damascus.

Paul’s prayer is proof that he did not consider their rejection as final or that they could not be saved because of divine sovereignty.

As I said earlier, one of the most important things you can do for a person that does not know Christ is to intercede on his behalf that God might continue working in his heart to draw him to Himself.

Here are some practical ideas of how to go about praying for those who do not know Christ.

1. Ask God to help you see people as He sees them.
2. Make friends with people that don’t know Christ with the intention of introducing them to Christ.
3. Always keep a list with you of those you are asking God to save.
4. Set specific times to pray just for the eternal souls of those without Christ.
5. Pray for areas of the world where we have missionaries and ask God to open hearts to the Gospel.
6. Pray for areas of the world where we don’t know any missionaries and ask God to open doors of possibility for missionaries.
7. Pray for God to give you opportunities every week to share His love story and that you will not miss those opportunities.

Paul's Powerful Prayers (#2)

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

I like the story about the husband and wife that were having a disagreement and she proceeded to tell him, “According to scripture, you have to love me as your wife. If you can’t do that, you have to love me as your sister in Christ. If you can’t do that, you have to love me as your neighbor. If you can’t do that, you have to love me as your enemy. But, one way or another, you have to love me.”

I think most of us can agree that at times it is difficult to love some people. By loving, I don’t mean having warm, fuzzy feelings about a person. I mean loving them in the biblical sense of the word...a self-sacrificing, self-giving love that is primarily characterized by actions more than feelings (1 Corinthians 13). It is a love that is modeled after Christ’s love for us that caused Him to leave Heaven’s glory to come to us that we might have God’s forgiveness and gift of eternal life.

In studying the prayers of the Apostle Paul we learn that one of the things he prayed for other believers was that they would “increase and abound” in love for one another (1 Thessalonians 3:9-11). That is a prayer worthy of praying on behalf of others when we are interceding for them, as well as for ourselves.

Paul had come to Thessalonica after a traumatic experience of persecution in Philippi (cf. Acts 16). In that city he was beaten and thrown into prison for preaching Christ, only to be miraculously delivered. This all resulted in the Philippian jailer and his family coming to faith in Christ.

Paul travelled from there to Thessalonica (Acts 17) and for at least three weeks (or more), reasoned and preached about Christ. Paul again met with stiff opposition and had to quickly leave the city. Because of his sudden departure, all that he wanted to accomplish in grounding these believers in the faith was not completed. As a result, the new believers and this young church weighed heavily on his heart and mind. He was concerned about them continuing with Christ in the face of their ever present opposition and persecution. He desperately wanted to get back to them to further the work God had begun in them and it is the reason he prayed so fervently (3:10) for them, as well.

Soon after leaving Thessalonica, Paul was so concerned about these young believers that he sent Timothy back to the city to check on them and gratefully, he returned to Paul with a positive report that they are continuing to follow Christ (1 Thessalonians 3:2). When he hears this report he rejoices (1:2; 2:13; 3:9) that they have been faithful to Christ. However, he also knows that there are still things “lacking” (needing further development) in their faith (3:10).

Paul prays earnestly that God will allow him the opportunity to return to them, though heretofore he has been hindered from doing so (2:18). And, it will be several years before he is able to return to Thessalonica in person. But, through Paul’s prayers, letters and love for them, he still seeks to confirm them in their faith and provide further spiritual grounding.

In addition to praying that God might allow him to return to Thessalonica, he also asks specifically that they will be filled to overflowing with love for one another and even for their persecutors (3:12b). He knows that people facing great trials need each other, as well as God’s help to not become bitter. The kind of love Paul is praying for them to experience transcends natural, human love and is only produced in the hearts of believers supernaturally by God (3:12a).

Love amongst the people of God is a primary identifier that distinguishes Jesus' disciples (John 13:35). It is not always easy to love some people, but God is the One that can enable us to do so.

Paul spoke about the kind of love that we should be demonstrating in 1 Corinthians 13. Each of the statements in this passage about love relate primarily to actions, not feelings. God wants us to be able to act in “loving ways,” even if when we don’t have “loving feelings” in our hearts.

Obviously, this kind of love can only happen as God enables us and that is why Paul is praying for these believers. He wants them to be able to show love to one another in spite of their present suffering...because they need each other. It is also the remedy for bitterness toward their persecutors.

It is in this environment of love among the brethren that we can be “established...blameless in holiness” (3:13). This holiness is not positional (once for all established at conversion), but progressive (always growing and developing in our spiritual journey) throughout our lives.

Ultimately, as we learn to love one another, we advance in holiness (practically speaking) and become prepared to stand before Christ at His coming as “blameless.” This is when we will hear the commendation of our Lord for having served Him well and for allowing Him to love others through us.

Bring your prayer life to a greater level of maturity by asking...

1. That believers may be strengthened with God’s power on the inner man. (Eph. 3:16)

2. That believers may better grasp the immensity of the love of God. (Eph. 3:17)

3. That believers would mature to the place of Christlikeness. (Eph. 3:19)

4. That God might enable believers to love others as they should. (1 Thess. 3:12-13)

Paul's Powerful Prayers (#1)

Ephesians 3:14-21

It’s important that we avail ourselves of the most wonderful privilege God has given us in opening the way for us to pray to Him. He stands ready to hear our requests and to answer according to His will.

The trouble for me is that I too often pray selfish and/or temporal prayers. I spend more time asking for things that matter today, than for ones that have eternal value. I think many of us do this and it is why in this series of messages we will be looking at Paul’s Powerful Prayers and learning how he prayed.

The first prayer we are studying is found in Ephesians 3:14-19. Paul has just finished speaking about how Christ brings Jews and Gentiles together into one body (the church) through Christ Jesus. All of the blessings of this new relationship we enjoy with one another is because of His magnanimous grace that redeems us from our sins and places us in Christ. “For this reason” or because of these special blessings, Paul says he prayed for the Ephesian believers that three specific things would be granted to them.

Each of the three things Paul asks of God is really a stepping stone to the next thing he asks. In other words, His third request is dependent on his second one. And, his second request is dependent on his first one. Consequently, the thing Paul wants God to grant to these believers more than anything else is that they would be “strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.”

The “inner man” is that part of us that is alive to God (cf. Ephesians 2:1) and constitutes our new nature received when we trusted Christ for salvation. This “inner man” delights in the Law of God (Romans 7:22) and is renewed every day (2 Corinthians 4:16). This strengthening for which he prays is the result of the Holy Spirit’s work in us and it is “according to the riches of His glory.”

When followers of Christ are strengthened by God’s indwelling Holy Spirit, Christ then “dwells” in their hearts. This does not mean that He takes up residence only at that time and in response to this request (Christ takes up residence the moment we become His children). It means that He is to be “at home” in our hearts as our Lord. We should want our lives such that Christ has freedom to enter any “room” of our hearts and to make Himself always welcome to assess our motives, thoughts and deeds.

The second request is that we would grasp the immensity of the love of God for us, though it is truly beyond total comprehension. Paul uses four directional words that have one definite article governing them. He wasn’t trying to use these four directions separately, as if to use one as distinct from the others. If he had done that it would have sounded something like: God’s love is wide enough to encompass every human being, long enough to stretch from eternity to eternity, deep enough to reach to the lowest hell, and high enough to take us into the very presence of God.

However, Paul’s purpose was to gather these four words into one statement, illustrating the vastness and immensity of God’s love for all mankind. Of course, this love has its highest display in the sacrifice of His Son on Calvary for our sins.

Even though Paul had repeatedly spoken of the saints in Ephesus as being “in Christ,” this particular request of Paul assumes that they still do not have a full appreciation of God’s love for them. Consequently, as Christ makes them strong through His indwelling presence, he desires for them to grasp just how much they have been loved by the Creator of the universe.

He makes one final request before breaking into a doxology of praise to God. He asks that they would be filled with the “fullness of God.” This is a difficult expression to explain because only Jesus is capable of being filled with all the fullness of God (cf. Colossians 1:19).

What Paul means here is that God’s fullness is the level up to which we should desire to be filled. No one achieves this in this life or even in the life to come. If we possessed ALL the fullness of God, then we would be God ourselves. This is a prayer asking that these believers come to a place of greater spiritual maturity in their lives.

When you read these three requests by Paul, you realize that he is asking a lot from God on their behalf. Can God do all these things? In a definitive way that is hard to explain in writing, Paul says, “YES!”

Ephesians 1:20 could be read like this: Now to Him that is able. Now to Him that is able to do. Now to Him that is able to do above. Now to Him that is able to do above all. Now to Him that is able to do above all that we ask. Now to Him that is able to do above all that we ask or think. Now to Him that is able to do above all that we ask or think exceedingly. Now to Him that is able to do above all that we ask or think...exceedingly abundantly.

Those final two words are the translation of a unique Greek word that is a superlative meaning “immeasurably more!” In other words, there is no difficulty with God granting these requests made by Paul because He can do immeasurably more than we can even ask or think.

He closes his prayer and doxology by reminding us that praise is to be given through Christ to God by the church. It’s important to notice two things from this passage in relationship to the church: 1. “With the saints” is the way we recognize the love of God. It does not say “by the saints,” as if to say, “by each individual saint separately.” This might seem like a small point, but Paul recognizes that it is impossible to fully recognize the immensity of God’s love when you live in isolation from other believers. Participation in the church opens your understanding of the greatest of God’s love as you see its operation in other people’s lives. 2. Praise to God is to be given, “in the church,” not just by individual church members. We certainly should praise God individually when we are alone. But, the request of Paul is that both Jews and Gentiles, who have been graciously made children of God and placed into Christ, lift their voices corporately in praise to Him. Neglecting God’s church hinders your ability to see the vast immensity of God’s love, as well as quiets the collective voice of His people in praise to Him.

Use these three requests to bring your prayer life to a greater level of maturity.

1. That believers may be strengthened with God’s power on the inner man.

2. That believers may better grasp the immensity of the love of God.

3. That believers would mature to the place of Christlikeness.