A Prayer Worth Praying

Scripture

Ephesians 1:17–23 KJV 1900

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Intro: When we think of prayer warriors we think of Moses praying for his people, David confessing his sins and seeking help, Elijah on Mt. Carmel calling down fire from heaven, or Daniel praying when it was against the law in a hostile land. But what about Paul? There are many prayers recorded from others, but few from him. Can such a great Christian exist without prayer? Tonight we enter his prayer closet.

Keep in mind that Paul wrote this letter and prayed this prayer from a Roman prison. Bound by chains...his liberty restricted, but his prayers could not be held down.

“If you are strangers to prayer you are strangers to power.” ~ Billy Sunday

Tonight with the Lord’s help, I would like for us to consider Paul’s approach to praying for people he cared about. Specifically looking at the content of his prayer.

First, let us consider that Paul desired for the People of Ephesus to know more of the Person of Christ found in verse 17.

I. Paul desired for the people of Ephesus to know more of the Person of Christ (Vs. 17)

a. Paul’s prayer began with the spiritual

b. know—intimate relationship

c. Key to all of life

d. Jack Wurm was walking along a beach in 1949 in the state of California when he happened upon a bottle with a message inside it. Jack was out of work, broke, and living on the streets. He decided to pull out the note in the bottle and much to his surprise he read the following words: “This is the last will and testament of Daisy Singer Alexander, the heiress to the Singer sewing machine fortune—To avoid confusion, I leave my entire estate to the lucky person who finds this bottle and to my attorney, Barry Cohen, share and share alike.”

When all was said and done, Jack Wurm pocketed over 6 million dollars in cash and Singer stock. He did nothing to deserve what he received—Salvation is the same!!

e. Paul understood that Prayer was the most important thing he could do for the people at Ephesus. He did not pray trivial things but rather he prayed for that which is eternal