Paul's Prayer for the Church

Ephesians 3:14-19 “14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

v.14) Connects to verse 1. In Paul’s original prayer, he gets diverted (like we all do) and goes off on a digression about the mystery of the church and the reconciliation that we have as saints to God - no matter what our background. He makes a digression into those things to emphasize the mystery of the revelation to him and to the Gentiles.

But now, he’s back at his original line of thought and and he’s praying (bowing his knees). So he restarts in verse 14 “for this reason”. So we must ask - for what reason? Why is Paul praying? Well - we will get more into it, but if we go back to the context of Chapter 2: Paul is in awe of all that God has done on our behalf. He recognizes that Christ is our peace, he recognizes that Christ is our substitutionary sacrifice. He recognizes that we are no longer strangers and aliens, but we are now members of the household of God. We are citizens of Heaven!

So - because of all of those things in Chapter 2 - Paul is overcome with the need to pray. He is inclined because of these things that Paul bows his knees to God.

I want to dive off into this matter of prayer for a little while tonight.

These verses always hit me before I bring them to you. And believe me - these hit me. These verses humbled me this week in a way that I hadn’t been humbled in a long time.

As I was studying this, I was blown away at the fact that Paul was this great expositor, this great teacher, this great inspired man of God, this great evangelist - and now he was in prison. And most people would assume that his ministry was done for while he was in prison. Most people would’ve assumed that Paul would’ve just sat down in the prison and seemed useless until God released him to the “important” work of his ministry.

But Paul still conducted his ministry while he was in prison. What could Paul do while in chains next to an imperial guard? He could pray.

They could chain him up, they can bind his hands, they could even sew his lips shut but they couldn’t keep his ministry from going on. Why? Prayer.

No matter what situation you or I am in - whether we be in a hospital bed unable to perform our normal duties - whether we be in a dungeon of emotions that are overcoming us - whether we be in a prison of ANY kind - the enemy can shut us in in all kinds of ways - but he CAN’T STOP US FROM PRAYING.

Do you realize that? No matter where you are or what you are doing - you can pray.

I remember the story of the little boy that drove his mom nuts with his humming all the time. He hummed all the time, and it was one of those days when his mom had enough lol. She told him if he hummed again, he was getting the “pow-wow” treatment. She told him to be quiet or else. So after a little while of silence, he said “I’m being quiet on the outside, but I’m humming on the inside”.

We can pray anytime, anywhere!

Is that not one of the most comforting truths to be found in the Word of God? No matter where you are or what prison you might be in - you can come into the presence of God with boldness and confidence as a child of God.

Ephesians Strengthened with Might (Eph. 3:16)

IN no part of Paul’s letters does he rise to a higher level than in his prayers, and none of his prayers are fuller of fervour than this wonderful series of petitions. They open out one into the other like some majestic suite of apartments in a great palace-temple, each leading into a loftier and more spacious hall, each drawing nearer the presence-chamber, until at last we stand there.

Paul is a Pastor at heart. And one of the essential ministries that Paul demonstrated in his life was this commitment to intercessory prayer.

This is where I was convicted this week. I sent the rest of the elders a confessional of sorts in the same way I’m telling you now.

Acts 6:4 “4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.””

I had to ask myself this week - do I devote myself as much to the first half of that verse as I do the last half of the verse? In other words, do I devote myself to prayer as much as I do studying the word, learning the context, and preparing my sermons? Honestly - the answer is no. I don’t devote as much effort to prayer as I do with the study of the Word.

I’m not trying to make this about me - but I’m probably not the only one in here who neglect prayer as a part of our Christian life.

When people would walk through the Metropolitan Tabernacle (as New Park Street Church became known), Spurgeon would take them to a basement prayer room where people were always on their knees interceding for the church. Then the pastor would declare, “Here is the powerhouse of this church. ”

My own prayer life - am I living like prayer matters?

What do we pray for? We can learn from Paul’s prayer here and what he prays for.

Outline: Paul is praying for 1. strength 2. depth 3. apprehension 4. fullness

Ephesians 3:15 “15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,”

The entire spiritual family whether heaven or earth residents

Ephesians 3:16 “16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,”

Strength! He prays here for strength. But you’ll notice what kind of strength he prays for. Not physical strength. He prays for spiritual strength.

How do we get spiritual strength? Ephesians 6:18 gives us a hint - “18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,”

The spiritual armor that Paul tells us here in the verses that precede this tell us about all the spiritual armor that we have to fight the enemy. But how do we assemble the armor that we have? It’s a spiritual armor so how do we put it on?

Prayer. We put the armor on with prayer.

How does the power come to us? Through the Spirit.