Praying with Power

Ephesians 3:14-21

Announcements

Connect with us

Youth night next Friday

Summer camp sign-ups

Evangelism challenge

Next Wednesday

INTRODUCTION

Imagine somebody could put all your prayers from the last seven days on a screen.

What would we see?

“God, help me pass this test.”

“God, help us win tonight.”

“God, please let my parents be in a good mood when I get home.”

“God, please let my teacher forget about the homework that I definitely forgot about.”

We laugh, but most of us have prayed something like that. And we should bring everyday concerns to God. He cares about what is happening in our lives.

But consider this question:

If God answered every prayer you prayed this week, how much would you have grown spiritually?

Would you love Jesus more? Would you be more willing to obey him? Would you have greater courage to share the gospel? Would somebody else be strengthened in their faith?

Or would your week simply have been easier?

It is natural to ask God to change our circumstances. Paul teaches us to ask God to change us within those circumstances.

In this passage, Paul prays for believers to experience the strength of the Holy Spirit, understand the love of Christ, and grow into the fullness of life God intends for them.

That is a prayer we need to learn to pray.

CONTEXT OF THE PASSAGE

Throughout Ephesians, Paul has been explaining what God has done for us through Jesus.

In chapter 1, we saw the blessings believers have in Christ: adoption, redemption, forgiveness, and the promise of our inheritance.

In chapter 2, we learned that we were spiritually dead, but God made us alive with Christ. We are saved by grace through faith. Then Paul explained that Jesus brings believing Jews and Gentiles together into one people.

In our last passage, Ephesians 3:1–13, we saw Paul’s calling to proclaim that good news. Gentiles share in God’s promises through Christ.

Paul begins chapter 3 with a thought that he resumes in verse 14. After explaining his ministry, he returns to prayer.

He has told these believers what belongs to them in Christ. Now he prays that those truths will shape their lives.

Remember where Paul is as he writes: he is a prisoner. Yet this prayer focuses on the spiritual strength of other believers.

Paul’s circumstances are restricted, but his confidence in God is not.

Read Ephesians 3:14–21 from the CSB.

1. PRAY FOR HUMILITY — EPHESIANS 3:14–15

Context

Paul begins by describing his posture before the Father: he kneels.

Before we consider what Paul asks, we need to notice how he approaches God.

Our first point is an application of Paul’s example. Paul does not explicitly ask for humility in these verses. He demonstrates humility as he prays, and we should ask God to develop that same dependence in us.

Exposition

Kneeling expresses reverence, submission, and need.

Paul is an apostle. He has preached the gospel, planted churches, and endured suffering for Jesus. But when he comes before God, he comes as someone who needs help.

His ministry experience has not made him self-sufficient.

Paul knows he cannot produce spiritual growth in these believers through his own ability. He can teach them the truth, but God must work in their hearts.

That is a lesson for all of us. We cannot manufacture spiritual transformation through determination alone.

You can decide to change your behavior. You can set goals and establish habits. Those things can be useful. But you cannot make yourself spiritually alive, and you cannot mature as a Christian independently of God.

Prayer begins with admitting that we need the One we are approaching.

Kneeling is not the only acceptable physical posture for prayer. Scripture describes people praying in different positions. What matters is that our hearts are bowed before God.

You can be on your knees and still be proud. You can be standing in a school hallway and be completely dependent on him.

Paul also tells us whom he approaches: the Father.

In Ephesians 2:18, Paul has already explained that through Jesus, believers have access to the Father by one Spirit. Our access is a gift of grace.

We do not have to impress God into listening. Through Christ, we come as his children.

Verse 15 emphasizes the Father’s greatness and authority as the one from whom every family in heaven and on earth receives its name. Our heavenly Father is the source of creaturely existence and the one to whom all are accountable.

The God we approach is both worthy of reverence and welcoming to his children.

Supporting Scripture

In Luke 18:9–14, Jesus describes two men praying. The Pharisee lists his accomplishments and compares himself favorably with others. The tax collector acknowledges his sin and asks for mercy. Jesus commends the humble man.

The difference is not that one man needs grace and the other does not. The difference is that one recognizes his need.

Illustration

Think about trying to carry every grocery bag into the house in one trip.

You have bags hanging from both arms. One finger has turned purple. The milk is slipping. You are trying to close the car door with your foot.

Somebody asks, “Do you need help?”

And you say, “No, I’ve got it.”

You clearly do not have it. But apparently making two trips would be a personal defeat.

We can approach life the same way.

We are overwhelmed by temptation, stress, anger, insecurity, or conflict. Yet we keep saying, “I’ve got it.”

Prayer is where we stop pretending.

It is where we say, “Father, I need your help. I cannot carry this faithfully in my own strength.”

Application

Where are you trying to live independently of God?

Maybe you keep returning to the same sin, but you have never honestly asked God for help or invited a mature believer to walk with you.

A humble prayer begins with an honest admission: “Father, I need you.”

Transition: Once Paul bows before the Father, he asks for something deeper than an easier week. He asks God to strengthen these believers from within.

2. PRAY FOR THE FULLNESS OF GOD’S POWER AND LOVE — EPHESIANS 3:16–19

Context

Paul is praying for people who already belong to Jesus.

In Ephesians 1:13–14, he explained that they had believed the gospel and been sealed with the Holy Spirit.

He is praying for their growth: that their daily experience would increasingly reflect what God has already made true of them in Christ.

Notice the movement of the prayer: strength through the Spirit, Christ dwelling in their hearts through faith, deeper understanding of Christ’s love, and fullness in God.

Exposition

Ask for strength in your inner life.

In verse 16, Paul asks the Father to strengthen them through his Spirit in their inner being, according to the riches of his glory.

The source of strength is God himself. Paul’s confidence rests in God’s resources.

The inner person is where we think, desire, trust, and make decisions. It is the part of your life that other people cannot always see.

You can look fine on the outside and be struggling deeply inside.

You can know when to stand during worship, know the right answers in small group, and know how to look engaged while your heart is far from God.

Paul prays for God to work there.

He asks for the kind of strength that enables you to obey when temptation is strong, forgive when you have been hurt, and remain faithful when following Jesus is difficult.

Ask for Christ to shape your whole life.

In verse 17, Paul connects this strengthening with Christ dwelling in their hearts through faith.

Because he is speaking to believers, Paul is not implying that Jesus has been absent from their lives until now. He is asking that Christ’s presence would increasingly govern and shape them as they trust him.

Following Jesus reaches into every part of life: relationships, entertainment, ambitions, private habits, and the way we treat people.

We sometimes want Jesus to comfort us while keeping certain areas of life closed to his authority.

But growth involves trusting him with the whole house.

Ask to understand how deeply Christ loves you.

Paul describes believers as rooted and firmly established in love.

The language gives us two pictures: a plant with deep roots and a building with a secure foundation.

Your spiritual life needs a foundation that can bear weight.

Popularity cannot carry that weight. Neither can athletic ability, appearance, grades, or the approval of another person. Those things can change quickly.

Christ’s love gives believers a secure place to stand.

Paul prays that they will understand the vast dimensions of that love. He wants them to grasp something so great that they will never exhaust it.

You can truly know Christ’s love while spending your entire life discovering more of its depth.

Notice also that this understanding happens with the other saints. Christian growth takes place within the people of God.

We learn about Christ’s love as we study Scripture together, hear one another’s testimonies, receive care, forgive each other, and walk through suffering together.

Ask to grow toward God’s fullness.

Verse 19 brings the request to its climax: Paul wants believers to be filled with all the fullness of God.

This does not mean that we become God or possess his unlimited attributes. It describes a life increasingly filled and shaped by God’s presence and character.

Paul is praying for spiritual maturity—a people whose lives reflect the God who has saved them.

Supporting Scripture

And Colossians 2:6–7 “So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.”

 calls believers to continue walking in Christ, rooted and built up in him. The Christian life continues through the same dependence with which it began.

Illustration — Even LeBron Needs Help

Think about LeBron James. Whether you think he or Michael Jordan is the greatest, we can agree that LeBron knows a little something about basketball.

If anybody could say, “I know what I’m doing. I don’t need help,” you might expect it to be him.

Yet LeBron has spent years working with his longtime trainer, Mike Mancias. Behind what people see on the court is ongoing preparation, training, and recovery.

His talent has never eliminated his need for help.

Now think about us spiritually.

We want stronger faith. We want courage to stand up for Jesus. We want the strength to resist temptation. But sometimes we approach those things as though we should be able to figure them out ourselves.

Paul knows we need help. That is why he prays for the Father to strengthen believers through the Holy Spirit in their inner being.

If an exceptional athlete recognizes his need for help to grow physically, how much more should we recognize our need for God to grow spiritually?

And God does more than a trainer can do. A trainer can give instructions and encouragement, but the Holy Spirit works within us, shaping our desires and strengthening us to obey.

We respond by opening God’s Word, praying, putting his teaching into practice, and receiving encouragement and correction from other believers.

And we do all of this knowing that, in Christ, we are already loved. We are not trying to perform well enough to earn a place in God’s family.

We grow because we belong to him, and we depend on the strength he supplies.

So instead of simply saying, “I need to try harder,” begin praying, “Father, strengthen me through your Spirit. Help me understand Christ’s love and trust you enough to obey.”

Application

What would happen if you began praying for your inner life as consistently as you pray about your circumstances?

Alongside “Help me pass this test,” pray, “Help me work honestly and trust you with the result.”

Alongside “Help this friendship,” pray, “Make me patient, truthful, and willing to forgive.”

And pray this way for your friends.

You can pray for their games, grades, and family situations. Also pray that they will know Jesus more deeply, stand firm under pressure, and grow in holiness.

As you pray, respond to the means God gives for growth. Open his Word. Participate in the church. Confess sin. Act on what he teaches you.

Pray for a heart strengthened by the Spirit, settled in Christ’s love, and increasingly shaped by God.

Transition: Paul has asked for something enormous. How can weak people become spiritually mature? How can anxious people become secure in Christ’s love? His confidence rests in the power of the God who hears.

3. PRAY WITH GREAT EXPECTATIONS — EPHESIANS 3:20–21

Context

Paul closes this prayer with praise.

After asking God to strengthen and mature his people, Paul celebrates God’s ability to accomplish more than they could ask or imagine.

These verses conclude the first major section of Ephesians. In chapter 4, Paul will begin explaining how believers should live in light of everything God has done.

Before those instructions come, Paul directs our attention to the power that makes obedience possible.

Exposition

Expect God to be able.

Paul’s confidence begins with God’s ability.

We tend to measure what could happen by the resources we can see.

“I have tried before.”

“My friend has never seemed interested.”

“I am too nervous.”

“Our group is too small.”

Those limitations may be real. But they do not define the limits of God’s power.

God is able to do far beyond what we can request or conceive.

That does not mean every idea we have is a promise from him. Paul is not offering a guarantee that God will fulfill our preferred version of success.

The context is a prayer for inward strength, deeper love, and spiritual fullness.

We should expect God to be able to transform lives in ways we cannot produce ourselves.

Remember that his power is already at work.

Paul connects God’s ability with his power at work in believers.

Earlier, in Ephesians 1:19–20, Paul connected God’s power toward believers with the power displayed in raising Jesus from the dead.

The God who raised Jesus is able to sustain and transform his people.

Sometimes that transformation is dramatic. Sometimes it becomes visible through ordinary obedience over time.

A student begins telling the truth even when it costs them.

Someone asks for forgiveness without making excuses.

A believer keeps trusting God through grief.

A person who has been silent about Jesus begins speaking with courage and love.

We should recognize God’s power in those changes, too.

Expect the outcome to serve God’s glory.

Verse 21 identifies the goal: glory to God in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations.

The prayer ends with God receiving praise.

That helps us examine our expectations.

Do we want God to work so people will notice us? Do we want a successful ministry mainly because it would make us feel important?

Or do we want people to see the goodness and greatness of Jesus?

Paul’s vision also reaches beyond the present moment. He looks toward God’s glory throughout generations.

Your faithfulness today can serve people whose stories you may never fully know. God sees further than we do.

Supporting Scripture

In 1 John 5:14–15, confidence in prayer is connected to asking according to God’s will. We pray boldly while submitting our desires to his wisdom.

In Luke 22:42, Jesus models that submission in Gethsemane. He brings his request honestly to the Father and yields himself to the Father’s will.

Great faith does not require us to pretend we know exactly what God will do.

And in 2 Corinthians 12:7–10, Paul asks for a painful affliction to be removed. God answers by promising sufficient grace and displaying his power through Paul’s weakness.

Sometimes God changes the circumstance. Sometimes he supplies strength to remain faithful within it. His power is sufficient in both.

Illustration

Imagine a student who has a friend they want to invite to church.

Before ever asking, they have already decided what will happen.

“They will say no.”

“They will think I am weird.”

“They would never be interested in Jesus.”

So they remain silent.

Then that student begins praying:

“God, help my friend understand the gospel. Give me courage. Open an opportunity for a conversation.”

The friend might accept the invitation. They might decline. They might ask a question the student does not expect. A conversation might develop weeks later.

The student cannot control the result. But they can pray with confidence in God and then take the next faithful step.

God may be doing more than either person can see.

Great expectations allow us to obey without requiring advance knowledge of the outcome.

Application

Where have you stopped praying because you have decided nothing can change?

Is there someone you have stopped praying for?

Is there an area of sin you have accepted as permanent?

Have you assumed God cannot use you because you are young, nervous, or inexperienced?

Bring those things before the Father again.

Ask boldly for salvation, growth, reconciliation, courage, and wisdom. Submit the outcome and timing to him.

Then act faithfully.

If you are praying for opportunities to share the gospel, be ready to speak.

If you are praying for victory over sin, take the steps of obedience God has already shown you.

If you are praying for deeper Christian friendships, make the effort to encourage and serve someone.

Great expectations rest in God’s ability, submit to God’s wisdom, and seek God’s glory.

CONCLUSION

Think again about that question from the beginning:

If God answered every prayer you prayed this week, how much would you have grown spiritually?

Paul invites us to enlarge our prayers.

Pray for humility: “Father, I need you. Teach me to depend on you.”

Pray for the fullness of God’s power and love: “Strengthen me inwardly. Help me understand Christ’s love. Shape every part of my life.”

Pray with great expectations: “You are able to do more than I can imagine. Work according to your wisdom and receive the glory.”

The power of prayer rests in the God who hears us.

And our access to him comes through Jesus.

Ephesians 2 reminds us that we were dead in sin. We could not earn our way into God’s family. But Jesus died for sinners and rose again. Through faith in him, we receive forgiveness and access to the Father.

If you have never trusted Jesus, turn from your sin and place your faith in him. You do not have to make yourself worthy before coming. You come because you need his grace.

If you already belong to Christ, consider one area you need to bring honestly before the Father today.

One place where you have been proud.

One place where you need strength.

One person or situation you have stopped praying about.

Bring it to him.

Bow before the Father. Ask for his power and love. Trust him with what comes next.

Paul kneels before the Father. What does his posture communicate? What would it look like to have a humble heart when you pray?

In verses 16-19 what is Paul asking God to do inside these believers? How does that compare with simply asking God to make their lives easier?

Paul wants believers to understand Christ’s love together with other Christians. How can our group help one another experience and understand that love?

In verses 20-21 what do these verses teach us about God’s ability and the purpose of his work in our lives?

What is one request you need to bring to God with renewed trust? What faithful step could you take this week as you pray?