6a Praying to the Soverign God

Prayer uniquely captures the tension between God’s sovereignty and our responsibility to act. Jesus tells us that “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matt. 6:8), and James insists that “You do not have, because you do not ask” (Jas. 4:2). God is both personal (our Father) and transcendent (in heaven), and He carries out His sovereign work through personal means, particularly the prayers of His people. We must hold together the biblical truths that God is all-powerful and in total control and that we’re responsible to act in accord with His revealed will. When we do so, these truths give us remarkable confidence to pray and also direction for how to pray to the sovereign God and what sorts of things to ask for.

Over the next two weeks, we’ll see that Ephesians 1 highlights three facets of God’s sovereign work and serves as a model for praying to the sovereign, personal God. Paul’s prayer stimulates us to reflect deeply on God’s powerful work in raising Jesus from the dead and in transforming Christians from the inside out. We’ll also be challenged to pray that we might see foundational spiritual truths with enlightened eyes.

Ephesians 1:11–23 ESV

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. 15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Pray

The Christian discipline of prayer uniquely highlights the tension of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. Many affirm the slogan, “Prayer changes things,” insisting that God dynamically responds to the persistent, faith-filled prayers of His people. Indeed Scripture asserts, “You do not have, because you do not ask,” and, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (Jas. 4:2; 5:16). At the same time, Scripture presents God as absolutely sovereign.

We often toss around the term “God is Sovereign.” But what does that mean?

The Supreme Ruler

The Only Autonomous Being: Auto Self Nomos Law. Self Law. God is the only being who is not responsible to anything or anyone other than himself.

What are some of the example the Bible gives us for God’s sovereignty?

God removes and sets up kings, not even a lowly sparrow falls apart from His will, and He knows what we need before we even ask. Some people reason that, since God is sovereign and has already determined what He will do, prayer really changes things for the individual who through prayer learns to align himself or herself with God’s purposes. Thus the most theologically correct prayer is “not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). But this is a wrong application of the truth of God’s sovereignty, resulting in an approach to prayer that is more akin to Stoic philosophy than biblical Christianity. God is both transcendent and personal; He is utterly sovereign, and we are no less morally responsible creatures. These twin truths in Scripture, when rightly understood and held together, serve as powerful incentives to pray and ask direction for the manner in which we approach God.

How does the following statement from Matthew 6:9 “our Father in Heaven.” show this tension?

We pray to “our Father in heaven” (Matt. 6:9), a remarkable address that binds together an intimate, personal term “Father” with a stress on God’s sovereignty and transcendence (“in heaven”).

The solution may be stated briefly: the sovereign God works through personal means. The all-powerful, sovereign God invites—indeed demands—His people to participate in bringing about His glorious purposes through His chosen means, particularly our petitions. Thus, Paul’s praise to the sovereign God “all things according to the counsel of his will … to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:11,14) motivates him “for this reason” (v. 15) to petition this sovereign God to carry out His glorious purposes in the lives of these Ephesian believers.

Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1 highlights three aspects of God’s sovereignty and offers us a model for addressing the sovereign and personal God.

Verses 15 and 16 are transitional. What are these verses linking together?

First, Paul thanks God for His gracious intervention in believers’ lives. “For this reason” in verse 15 links Paul’s prayer that follows his praise in verses 3-14, which rehearse the gracious, sovereign work of God to the praise of His glory. The sovereign God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. He has chosen, predestined, and redeemed His people in Christ and has sealed us by the Spirit, who guarantees our heavenly inheritance. But how does Paul know that God has blessed the Ephesian church in this way? The apostle continues, “For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you” (1:15-16). The conversion and transformation of these believers offer specific evidence of God’s powerful, gracious work in their lives. Thus, when Paul praises and thanks God for His sovereign power and saving love, he has in mind the testimonies of people whose lives God has changed. He thinks of Onesiphorus, who often encouraged and helped Paul while he was in prison, even at great risk to his own reputation (see 2 Tim. 1:16-17). Paul considers God’s work in the lives of Trophimus and Tychicus, dear friends who traveled with him and on his behalf and served as faithful ministers.2 They probably grew up worshiping Artemis, the patron goddess of Ephesus, but then they believed the glorious gospel message that Paul preached and their lives began to change.

They found their identity in Christ, new love for other believers was ignited in their hearts, and they sacrificed comfort and security and risked persecution and marginalization to proclaim the gospel of Christ crucified and risen. Like Paul, we should give thanks to God for His sovereign, gracious work when people close to us believe in the Lord Jesus and show genuine love for the saints, and also when we hear similar reliable reports and testimonies from Christians in other places.