If you've been a Christian for any time,
I'm sure you've had the same experience I have in the {prayer request} arena -
you know, that time when you're in a group and the leader asks "what can we pray for?"
my co-worker's cousin has some medical issues.
my great-aunt fell and broke her hip.
my baby's not sleeping.
work is a lot right now.
Safe travels this weekend for my family.
y'all, I know that there's a time and a place for these kind of requests.
and I know there's a certain mystery in prayer...
a mystery that the God of this Universe,
the God of Angel Armies,
has chosen prayer as our way to fight that schemes of the Evil one...
the way to
enter His presence
to receive mercy and grace in our time of need.
I think it's partly the mystery around how-in-the-world prayer works
that makes us diminish the power of it,
ignore the purpose of it,
and lower the prevalence of prayer in our lives.
have you ever felt like
{al}l I'm doing is praying?
that is a lie straight from the Evil one
------------
early in the morning,
my coffee cup full,
my hard-cover full-sized notebook opens.
scrawled notes stare back at me.
my thoughts on ancient truths, I will my heart to absorb as much as it can,
whispering prayers as I humbly come before Him.
Opening my wide-margin, vintage floral Bible to Ephesians,
inspired words are about to challenge my own prayer life.
Paul, writing through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
prayers that God, the Father of all glory,
will give them wisdom
{an objective understanding, as in, factual knowledge}
and that God would reveal
{unveil, uncover}
knowledge of HIMSELF to the Ephesians church.
Paul prays that we would personally, intimately, know the God of the Universe.
in the still of the morning,
I got chills.
God will reveal Himself to us!
humbling to the core of my being.
Paul is praying that GOD would reveal Himself to these Ephesians believers,
that they would KNOW
- with a subjective understanding, a deep-down-in-their-heart kinda know -
the hope to which He has called them.
hope is our absolute certainty of victory in God.
Paul prays that
that they would KNOW the riches of His inheritance,
and KNOW the immeasurable greatness of His power -
that the SAME power God raised Christ from the dead is working in OUR lives.
That's what Paul was praying for.
That we would KNOW God HIMSELF better,
and that we would KNOW with all certainty, God is WORKING in our lives,
working in tremendous ways, and that we have ultimate victory in Christ.
{i can't think of any better thing for which to pray}.
because, you know?
as God is revealing His heart to me,
and I become certain of his power in my life,
that kind of trumps all other prayer requests.
Let's pray big, Biblical prayers for our friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. I wonder what would change in our churches, our families, our communities, if we begin to regularly pray that God would reveal more of Himself to each of us.
{That's a prayer I can't wait to see answered}.
--
You know how in the beginning of lots of Paul letters he says he "in his prayers"?
that could potentially be a reference to the Jewish custom of specific prayer times -
kind of like Daniel prayed specific times of the day.
Do you have a specific pattern, routine, habit
in which you're praying for your brothers and sisters in Christ?
Maybe set a reminder on your phone...pray while you're driving...pray in the shower. Go through your Facebook list and pray as you scroll.
just pray. Big, Biblical prayers. that we may KNOW HIM better.
to the praise of His Glory.
For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love[f] 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
Ephesians 1
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