What do we Pray?

I want to start this session by saying I was unsure of how to tackle this sermon. Not so much what it meant, but how to teach it. I had something laid out, and as I was going through it, it wasn’t right.

Enter Kyle.

He comes in and says, “Hey, got a minute? Let’s pray.” Literally as he was speaking to God about this message, I confidently felt God saying:

If Paul prays it and Scripture records it, then the church NEEDS it!

For Hearts Thankful for the Church

The first lesson we take from Paul’s prayer is that he was thankful for the Ephesian church, particularly for two things: they had faith in Jesus, and they loved the saints.

Faith in Jesus. What does Paul mean? First, remember what the author of Hebrews said: Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Did you catch that? Without faith it is impossible to please God. But, what exactly is faith? Simply put, it’s taking God at His word and responding accordingly.

If God says put your staff over the water and He will part the Red Sea, then faith sticks that staff out and watches the waters move.

If God says leave everything behind, your family and friends, and I’ll tell you when to stop, faith packs its bags and heads out the next day.

If God says confess Jesus as Lord and believe that I raised Him from the dead, faith says, “Jesus is Lord, and His resurrection changes my entire identity and direction in life.”

God speaks, faith responds.

Second, the church had “love toward all the saints.” Scripture is full of verses that teach us to love our neighbor. It starts in the OT when God says, Leviticus 19:18 “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” Jesus echoes this truth, noting it’s the second greatest commandment. Other NT writers like James picks up the mantle, calling it the law that governs the kingdom of God. It’s clear, believers love one another.

These two markers, faith in Jesus and love for one another, told Paul all he needed to know—these were genuine followers of Jesus. Therefore, he was utterly thankful for them. Out of a thankful heart, he prayed for them, remembered them in his prayers, constantly thanking God for them.

We need to be thankful for one another, for the church, for the bride of Christ, for brothers and sisters and the genuineness of their confession of faith and love for one another. We tend to treat the church as secondary, as optional, as something we like most of the time, but are we thankful for it? Are we thankful for the fact that the gospel was proclaimed and that our spiritual family responded to it, and that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who have committed to Christ and one another to grow in godliness? What struck me this morning—as messy as we can be, which we are, because we’re a family, are we utterly thankful for one another? Do we face such divisions and frustrations within the church, and even believer to believer, because we’ve lost our thankfulness? It’s mighty hard for division to grow in the soil of gratitude! The church, both the whole universal church and our local expression of it, need the thankful prayers of the saints. So, let’s pause and thank God for the church and for individual brothers and sisters in Christ.

For Minds Filled with the Knowledge of God

Paul’s prayer turns from thanksgiving to request, and as he bows before the Lord, he asks for the God of our Lord Jesus, the Father of glory, to give the church a Spirit of wisdom. Just as we saw the Triune God involved in our salvation, I believe we also see Him involved as we become more like Jesus. Let’s take the specifics of Paul’s request in turn to try and get our heads around it, then let’s think about why that’s necessary.

First, he prays for a Spirit of wisdom. Paul knows that if believers are going to live according to truth, they’re going to need spiritual wisdom. Remember, there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. You can have knowledge apart from wisdom. We might call it “head knowledge.” We know facts. We know ideas and concepts. That’s knowledge. On the other hand, you can have wisdom and very little knowledge as long as you put your knowledge to use. If you were to go to an assembly line, maybe all you know is put this gear here. You might be oblivious to every other part of the machine, but wisdom takes your knowledge and puts it to good use.

Paul asks for both. After praying for wisdom, he asks for a “revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes” of our “hearts enlightened.” Paul wants believers to know God and live a life based on who God is. You know what? That’s exactly what God’s Word does for us. As the Spirit opens our eyes, the Word teaches us what is true and right, unveiling right truth about God and His creation while correcting wrong belief about God and His creation, and it leads us to live well, correcting wrong behavior and encouraging righteousness in response to who God is.

The heart of Paul’s request is that believers would know God and live life based on their knowledge of Him.

This does not happen apart from the Spirit, and it is deeper than mere worldly knowledge. The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to change the people of God for the glory of God.

This knowledge primarily comes in three ways, according to Paul.

First, he wants the church to know the hope with which they’ve been called. Hope is the assurance of what we do not see, the reality of things we long for while waiting for it to be fully received. Our assurances of eternal life and the blessings and promise of God empower life today. What allows us to bear up under difficulty? Hope.

Second, he wants the church know the “riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints.” Paul wants the church to know that God values them so much, He makes us His own possession. One struggle that we all face from time to time, a struggle that the world wrestles with, is the question of worth. What is human life worth? Am I valued? Am I lovable? Here, Paul is settling the issue—God loves and desires you so much that He paid the price to redeem us, even while we were yet sinners.

Finally, he wants the church to know “the immeasurable greatness of His power.” Power is the controlling influence of God at work on behalf of believers. The ZECNT says, “Paul is not simply trying to teach these believers about the vastness of God’s power. He is convinced that this truth ultimately needs to be impressed upon their hearts by the Spirit.”

The truth is, the world is hostile to Christ and the Prince of this World hates all things pertaining to him—us, our faith, our church, our marriages and families, our mission, and even humanity as a whole, as his biggest desire is to kill, steal, and destroy. How will we ever stand firm against it all? By the resurrection power of God. Scripture shows that power working in a few different ways: giving strength and the ability to comprehend truth (Ro15:13), giving evidence of the presence of the Spirit (1 Co 4:20), giving us the ability to obey (2 Th 1:11), and providing us with everything we need for life and godliness (2 Pe 1:3).

Hope. Worth. Power. We need to know the Father so that we can understand that we have hope and worth and power to live this life. Let’s pause, and ask that God would grant just that—a Spirit of wisdom, that our eyes may be opened to understand that we have hope and worth and power to live for Jesus.

For Lives Strengthened by the Power of God

The last thing Paul mentions, in the middle of his prayer, he breaks into this definition of the power of God, and he says it’s primarily seen through the Son. Jesus has been raised from the dead, given eternal authority over all things, Jesus is victorious over all things, and as the head of the church, He fills it with all fullness.

I think what Paul is saying is best understood against the backdrop of Psalm 110. Briefly, this psalm teaches:

The Providential Reign of Christ (110:1–3): God the Father appoints the Son to reign at His right hand with absolute authority, promising that all enemies will be subdued and that His people will willingly join His victorious rule.

The Priestly Redemption of Christ (110:4): God permanently ordains the Son as an eternal priest after the order of Melchizedek, whose once-for-all sacrifice fully secures redemption and requires no successor.

The Prophetic Return of Christ (110:5–7): David foresees the Messiah’s return in power to judge the nations, destroy His enemies, and reign in final, victorious authority.

The Son reigns over all, fully and finally provides redemption for all who place their faith in Him, and will return to judge the quick, the dead, and all the sons of man, life everlasting for the redeemed, and eternal destruction for those who refuse to repent.

Until the day He returns, He is “head over all things to the church” and fills the church with “the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” The main idea is that Christ fills the church, and then works through the church to accomplish His will. Just like God’s presence filled the temple in the Old Testament, now Jesus fills the church, and as He fills the church, believers can be and do all that He desires the church to be and do. In this, we are reminded of this sobering truth: the church is utterly dependent on Christ.

Paul prayed it. Scripture preserves it. We need it.

So then, let us pause and pray that the omnipotent God who raised Christ, gave Him an eternal authority, made Him victorious over all enemies, and places Him as head of the church will now empower us to live according to His truth for the glory of God.