What do we Pray? (Pt.II)

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“We cannot all argue, but we can all pray; we cannot all be leaders, but we can all be pleaders; we cannot all be mighty in rhetoric, but we can all be prevalent in prayer. I would sooner see you eloquent with God than with men.” - C.H. Spurgeon

Ephesians 3:14-21 is Paul’s second major prayer in this book. When we looked at his prayer at the end of chapter 1, we said, “If Paul prays it and Scripture records it, then the church NEEDS it!”

The same holds true here. So, much like before, we’re going to search the Scripture and then seek God in prayer.

This prayer unfolds like a ladder—each request builds on the one before it. Spiritual strength leads to deeper surrender, deeper surrender leads to deeper awareness of Christ’s love, and knowing His love leads to spiritual fullness. Then the cycle begins again.

Let’s dig in so we can deepen our prayer lives this morning.

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Pray for spiritual strength

Paul humbly bows before God to pray for the church. Notice that he calls out to the Father, from whom every family…is named. This has to do with identity. Who we are comes from God, no one and nothing else.

When it comes to living out who we are called to be as followers of Jesus, we can’t forget that it truly depends on God. It’s grace that saves us. It’s grace that sustains us. Even the good deeds we walk in, those things He’s prepared for us to do, He is still the One at work both to will and to do them (Phil 2:13)! So, it is no wonder that Paul prays first for spiritual strength.

This is not a “strengthen my hands for battle prayer.” This is a, “I can do nothing apart from you” (John 15:5; Phil.4:13) prayer for strength. This is a confession that even the mystery of the gospel is too deep for us to comprehend on our own (1 Cor 1:18). Even knowing the love of Christ is too much for us if we don’t have His help (v.19). In verse 17, Paul prays that Christ would dwell in us. This is a prayer that we will dwell richly in Christ, because we only live and move and have our being in Him (Acts 17:28).

As we pause, first admit your weakness.

Next, ask for God’s strength that we may:

Tread the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Withstand the temptations of the enemy.

Run with perseverance the race marked before us, remaining faithful to Jesus daily.

Pray for a deep faith

When I say faith, notice what Paul means by that: Christ dwelling in our hearts. Now, this is more than the Spirit sealing us at salvation. We’re not adding to that. And, Paul will circle around to this idea again in chapter 5—one of my favorite verses about living the Christian life. But, we’ll give a little foretaste here.

Robert Munger wrote a book in 1954 called My Heart Christ’s Home. This book details how Jesus takes up residence in the heart of the believer.

He calls the mind the library of the home. When Jesus comes into the library, He looks at the books on the shelf. He finds all types of worthless things…trashy novels and idolatrous magazines…false worldviews and encyclopedias and webpages that paint Him in a blasphemous light, and He begins to clean house and replace the fiction with nonfiction and autobiography.

He moves into the dining room, the room of appetite. He notices that we’ve developed a taste for the sinful desires as we’ve feasted at the world’s table for too long. We’ve become gluttonous on materialism and lust. He begins to teach us proper nutrition, to desire love and humility and meekness, self-sacrifice and generosity.

Into the living room where fellowship takes place. There He finds friendship with the world, noticing that we’d rather fit in than stand out, and He calls us to embrace holiness.

Into the closets next. What hidden sins He uncovers?! So, He begins the process of cleaning them out.

As Jesus moves through the “home” of our lives, He’s cleaning every corner to make Himself a glorious home. This is what Paul is getting at: Jesus being at home in every corner of our lives as we seek to become more like Him and surrender more of our lives every single day.

As we pause to pray, ask for a deep faith that results in deeper levels of surrender to Jesus. If there is a thought that’s ungodly, if there’s a desire that’s sinful, if there’s a closet harboring secret sin, invite Christ in to do the clean-up and walk in whatever He calls you to surrender.

Pray for the ability to know and comprehend Christ’s love

As we are strengthened spiritually by God, we walk in surrender, allowing Christ more and more access into our lives. As He moves in an inspects each room and each closet and every space in between, we begin to marvel at the fact that He loves us.

I think we sometimes miss how important it is that we are named by God and loved by Christ.

In life, and some of you guys have this figured out, and some of you are still searching for this truth. I think this question of identity and love lies at the heart of so many struggles. You’re asking yourself, “Who am I?” And, you’re following that question up with, “What will people think if they see the real me?”

This is a struggle we carry with us throughout life.

Teenagers wonder who they are in an ultra-self-aware way that terrifies them.

Middle-aged adults chase success and/or reinvention trying to prove who they are, falling prey to the lie that value comes by keeping up with the Joneses.

Retirees wonder who they are without productivity.

Widows question their identity apart from their spouse.

Listen…

Knowing who you are in God and knowing and comprehending the love of Christ are essential in keeping us grounded as human beings. We won’t be able to handle this life if we aren’t assured of the love of God and the fact that we are dear and precious to Him.

And just how big is this love that He has for us? How wide? How deep and how long? I love the picture painted in the hymn “The Love Of God.” Written in 1917 by Fredrick Lehman, he says:

“The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell;

He goes on to say,

“Could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made, were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill and ev’ry man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the oceans dry; nor could the scroll contain the whole, tho' stretched from sky to sky.”

Refrain: “O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure: the saints’ and angels’ song!

How big is the love of God? One scholar said,

“It reaches low enough to touch the most wretched sinners and high enough to reconcile them to a holy God.”

Oh that we would have the spiritual strength to walk in deeper surrender to Christ and know fully His immeasurable love for us in order that we would stop letting lesser loves be the lords of our lives.

Let us pray, and ask God to search your heart in order that He could reveal to you the depths of His love.

Pray to be filled with God’s fullness

This is the end…the final goal of spiritual strength and deep faith and knowing the love of Christ: to be filled with all His fullness. Carson says that Paul wants them to “be all that God wants them to be…spiritually mature.”

Again, we will dig a little deeper into the filling of God when we get to chapter 5, and most of you have heard be talk about the idea of being filled by the Spirit at one time or another.

For now, we need to understand this: we will live lives of holiness and righteousness in direct proportion to how fully the Spirit of God fills and controls us. If our goal is to become more like Jesus every day, then being filled with the Spirit is essential.

Jesus is the perfect picture of a life fully yielded to the Father. In Him, the fullness of God dwelled completely (Colossians 1:19 “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,”). He obeyed perfectly, surrendered perfectly, and pleased the Father perfectly.

Bottom line: the more the Spirit of God fills and controls our lives, the more we will become like Jesus in holiness, obedience, and righteousness. Jesus perfectly modeled what a life fully yielded to God looks like, and now the Spirit works in us to shape us into His image.

Let us pray, and plead with Christ to fill you with all the fullness of God, that you might become more like Jesus every day.

Sometimes it can feel like you’re just spinning your wheels in the christian life, and you’re wondering if you’re actually anything like Jesus at all. Part of that struggle is spiritual warfare. But, Paul assures us that Christ is absolutely able to do this in us, and He does it for His glory. Notice the final refrain, verses 20-21 (Ephesians 3:20–21 “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”)

Can He make even the vilest of sinners become more and more like Jesus? Absolutely. He can…and I believe He WILL…do abundantly more than all we can ask or even imagine.

How can I be so confident? Because it’s His name on the line. Notice the last verse: “to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus!” When He answers this prayer, He puts His glory on display, and He is more than capable of doing it.

As we close, let’s praise and thank Him already for the work He has done, but fully confident of the work He will do as well!

PRAY FOR SCOTT