Prayers for God's People: Power to Love

Prayer for God’s People

As we start the new year, I want to help Branchline and her people to be the best we can be.

This series is based on biblical prayers for various people. It makes sense that we should strive to become what Godly people hope and pray that we will become.

Some of you have chosen prayer to be a larger part of your life in 2022. I anticipate bringing some biblical truth long with practical applications that will help your prayers and your life in the coming year.

The best way to deepen our prayer life is to pray.

Practice makes Progress

Today, we’ll look at one of Paul’s prayers for the believers in Ephesus.

But first, a couple helps for our prayer life from people in the Bible. These are lessons we can learn along the way. Then we’ll examine Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus to draw out some points that we can incorporate into our lives.

1. Pray in a Different Posture

There are many postures in prayer. None of them is the only way to pray. You may experience something different when you try praying in different positions.

Standing

Mark 11:25 NIV

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

Kneeling (IL: Germany 1977…praying with a men’s group who had cushions in a hutch for this purpose.)

Ephesians 3:14 NIV

For this reason I kneel before the Father,

I saw the new film “Greyhound” a couple weeks ago. It’s the story of a navy captain who leads a flotilla of merchant ships across the North Atlantic during WWII. The movie opens with him kneeling at his bunk, a prayer book in his hands, quietly reading the daily prayers.

We don’t kneel much anymore. it has been replaced by sitting. Sitting isn’t inferior, but it is different.

Prostrate

Matthew 26:39 NIV

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Lying down (one of my favorites)

Psalm 63:6 NIV

On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.

Sitting

1 Kings 18:42 NIV

So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.

Head Bowed

Genesis 24:26 ESV

The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord

Eyes Open

John 17:1 NIV

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

In my own journey with prayer I’ve been blessed to pray with people who pray differently than me. Some are eyes open people. At first, it kind of freaks you out as you look around the room and find someone looking back. But you get used to it.

I no longer find extended prayer on my knees to be easy. But a good cushion is a Godsend.

2. Describe God as you begin

“Our Father, who is in heaven, holy is your name.”

and in our text here...

Ephesians 3:14–15 NIV

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

Paul wants to tell us something about the family of God. And it relates to his prayer.

What does it mean to call God, the Father?

I have two kids - and they couldn’t be more different in many ways. And I love both of them completely.

And now, I learn from them and our relationship has grown to be more interdependent.

I go to my son-in-law, Alex, for insights into technology and computer automation.

I go to my daughter, Erin, for encouragement and for her depth of thinking on various topics.

My son, JD, is a storyteller and an artist. I love to talk about a wide array of topics.

My daughter-in-law, Stephanie, is one of the most well-connected person I’ve ever known. And she excels in thinking, leading, and relationships.

Interestingly, they’ve all become more concerned about mom and dad in the last couple of years. They want to get us all together to talk about what retirement looks like for us. They want to help us to think through some of the things we might face and how to prepare for them as a family. That takes some team-work and I’m so glad that I’ve raised kids who know intuitively to think with clarity and compassion.

Transition:

I don’t know all of what Paul was thinking about when he used the family illustration, but we’ll find some clues in the next section.

3. Pray for God’s Power in Your Life

Ephesians 3:16–19 NIV

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Power for Christ to indwell us.

we should be completely at home with Christ. Or rather, Christ should be completely at home in our lives.

Without the indwelling Spirit of God, we would be unable to contain the power of God.

IL: In one of my favorite movies, the hunt for Red October, there is a scene in the missile room on a nuclear submarine. In this scene the main character takes a gun in order to find a saboteur. But he is cautioned that the missile room isn’t well suited for gun play. Good advice.

In essence, the movie points out that the incredible power of a nuclear missile needs some impressive containment.

So too with us. Without additional internal strengthening, we couldn’t contain the presence of the God of the Universe.

I don’t know how this works. I just know that it must work.

Power to know his love.

we cannot know his full love without gaining the perspective of the whole family of Christ.

“together with all the Lord’s holy people...”

We will never know the full love of God unless we enter into one another’s lives and experience their understanding of God’s love.

My time with people with drug and alcohol addictions gave me more love for them and a greater understanding of God’s love for me.

Spending time with pastors around the world has given me a broad perspective on what it means to be a shepherd here.

Teaching in a non-denominational seminary has taught me the value of various streams of Christianity. I’ve come to appreciate my brothers and sisters more because of it.

Being in a men’s group for 24 years has taught me more about God and his love than most other things.

Obviously, I’m not espousing that everyone’s view of Christ is right. Even Paul limits it to those in the family of God. So, we’re not talking about heresy.

Jesus is fully God - he wasn’t just a great teacher with a new take on morality.

Jesus is fully human - he took on our flesh and walked among us. And lives today in a glorified human body - as will those who are his followers.

You’ll gain a better view of God’s love if you get to know people who have been adopted.

You’ll know God’s love better if you befriend people who once were citizens of a different nation but now are US citizens.

You’ll understand mercy if you spend time with people who wrestle with addictions.

You’ll comprehend the depth of God’s revelation if you learn from someone who takes Bible study seriously.

This may surprise you, but I know really good people, who have a high view of Scripture and great spiritual maturity who have different politics than I do.

Friends, until we humble ourselves and admit that we don’t fully grasp God’s love, and seek out conversations with others in the family, we’ll never grow to the mature person God longs for us to be.

Admit that you don’t know it all.

Seek conversations with people who see God differently.

Grow into a fuller picture of God.

Grow into a better You.

Power to be filled with the fullness of God.

When we live out and experience a love that is beyond our own limited viewpoint, we begin to enter into a special place.

We understand how completely we are loved by God.

We will never really comprehend and feel the love of God if we spend our lives pretending to be someone we are not.

If I only show the good parts of me to God, I am lying and only allowing myself to be loved for part of me, not all of me. To know the fullness of God’s love, I need to embrace the sinful parts of me and own them. Confess them. And in prostrate prayer, we are known and loved without conditions.

When we experience the grace of God in the depths of our sinfulness, something else happens. We become more grace-giving towards others. Their sin becomes less important and is now a reason to shower them with grace.

Conclusion

Ephesians 3:21 NIV

21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

We bring Glory to God when we experience his love and power in our lives and share it with others.