Prayer
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My hope and desire is that the last message series of unplugged has caused you to create some margin in your life for rest and reflecting in the Lord.
The Lord has been leading us at Bridge of Faith toward a life of prayer. We strive to put emphasis on prayer but we are continually being urged for more and more prayer.
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.
16 I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit,
17 and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love,
19 and to know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—
21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Pray
I will never forget the day. My dad and mom were at work. We had a trampoline. Myself and a few of the neighbor kids were hanging out.
Our upstairs windows on the house could be opened up so that we could climb through and get out on the roof.
We were messing around on the trampoline and looked up at the roof at some point. We decided to move the trampoline closer to the roof. We would then go upstairs, climb through the window onto the roof, and jump off the roof onto the trampoline.
Everything was in place
I remember it was my turn to jump. I was about to exit the roof and here came my mom down the street coming home from work. She looked at the trampoline and looked at me on the roof and she had a look of shock/fear/anger on her face.
She pulled in and could not see me so I jumped. My mom was an xray tech. She saw lots of broken bones. She told us to quit and we did.
My mom was one of the most loving individuals I have ever met in my life. She loved everyone. She thought the best of everyone she met. She didn’t believe people had a bad bone in their body so to speak. She had a huge heart for others. she loved children, she loved animals, she loved the broken, she loved the lost. My mom really loved well.
Here in Ephesians we get a glimpse of Paul’s love for the Gentile believers at Ephesus. This love comes through in what some might think of as a nontraditional form.
Paul does one of the most loving things he could do for them. He is in Roman prison and he prays for them.
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father
Immediately we have to see what the reason is that he kneels before the Father.
8 This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of the Messiah,
9 and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things.
10 This is so God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens.
11 This is according to His eternal purpose accomplished in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord.
12 In Him we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.
13 So then I ask you not to be discouraged over my afflictions on your behalf, for they are your glory.
You can’t calculate the riches of the Messiah
God’s wisdom in multi-faceted bringing both Jews and Gentiles together in Him.
God’s eternal purpose is accomplished in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord
In Christ, we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.
In Christ, we have boldness and confident access to the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.
Is it not absolutely amazing that in Christ we access the Father. The Father loves us and through Christ we can pray and speak the the Father whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.
Imagine what would happen if we took this serious and did not take it for granted that through Christ we have access to the Father.
16 I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit,
I Pray
according to the riches of His glory
If I have a billion dollars and I give you $100, then I gave from my riches but if I give you a million dollars then I give according to my riches.
I pray he may grant you, according to the riches of His glory
to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit
Strength: be strong to overcome resistance
Power: Dynamic living power
inner man: Believers innermost beings
We are often in conflict with the inner man. Who we are on the inner most of our lives is often different then who we appear to be on the outside.
Paul prays
16 I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit,
That you might be strengthened to overcome resistance of the inner man according to the riches of His being God’s glory. May this strength come with dynamic living power in the inner most being of a man through His Spirit.
No doubt all of us face some struggles on the inner man. Some struggles that you are facing you are the only one in this room aware that you are going through these struggles and Paul is praying that you may be strengthened to overcome with dynamic living power in the inner most being.
17 and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love,
Dwell: That Christ might literally, “be at home in” your hearts through faith.
This idea of be at home in your hearts.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Seven: Get Your Hands on Your Wealth (Ephesians 3:14–21)
What Paul is praying for is a deeper experience between Christ and His people. He yearns for Christ to settle down and feel at home in their hearts—not a surface relationship, but an ever-deepening fellowship.
For Christ to dwell in your hearts, our hearts would be full of love, forgiveness, patience, kindness, gentleness, joy, peace, faithfulness and self-control. This would be always present in our lives.
17 and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love,
Rooted: Tree must get its roots deep into the soil for it to have nourishment and stability
The Christian must have his spiritual roots deep into the love of God.
First several years of watering my tomato plants, I was over watering. I needed to let my plants run deep into the ground to get established and find water deep. If I overwatered them, then the roots would just stay at surface level.
Firmly Established/Grounded: Architectural term; it refers to the foundations on which we build.
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love,
19 and to know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Seven: Get Your Hands on Your Wealth (Ephesians 3:14–21)
The English words “comprehend” and “apprehend” both stem from the Latin word prehendere which means “to grasp.” We say that a monkey has a “prehensile tail.” That is, its tail is able to grasp a tree limb and hold on. Our word comprehend carries the idea of mentally grasping something; while apprehend suggests laying hold of it for yourself. In other words, it is possible to understand something but not really make it your own. Paul’s concern is that we lay hold of the vast expanses of the love of God.
Oh that you would know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge. That you might experience the love of Jesus.
“I’ve experienced His presence in the deepest darkest hell that men can create… I have tested the promises of the Bible, and believe me, you can count on them.” Corrie Ten Boom
May the fullness of God fill you here on this Earth. May the Kingdom of God be realized in your life today.
Jesus Prayed
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
20 Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—
21 to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
My mom rounds the corner and spots me on top of that roof. The look on her face is one I can see today.
I smile because I see the love that my mother had for me in that moment.
Two things
My mom loved really well. Think of the most loving person in your life. Think about it. Now take their love and multiply that love more than you can calculate and you start to realize a small portion of the love of God for you.
God loves you and through Jesus you have direct access to Him.
New Testament Scholar Larry Hurtado, “To pray in Jesus name… means that we enter into Jesus’ status in God’s favor, and invoke Jesus’ standing with God.”
If God gave you everything you’ve prayed for in the last week, what would happen?
Richard Foster writes, “If we truely love people, we will desire for them far more than it is within our power to give them, and this will lead us to prayer. Intercession is a way of loving others… Intercessory prayer is selfless prayer, even self-giving prayer. In the ongoing work of the kingdom of God, nothing is more important than Intercessory prayer.”
So this morning we will begin to end things a little differently. We believe in prayer and we believe it is needed. The band comes up they are going to play instrumental only so that you have time to reflect and pray. Then they will begin to sing but we want to keep shaping the end of the service.