Morning Message Text: Ephesians 3: 14-21
A Prayer for the Ephesians
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father,
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
18 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,
19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Morning Message:
When I started to think about today’s message on prayer, this is what first came to mind. I think that most people do one of two things when they pray, they either over complicate, or they over simplify it. Prayer should not be difficult for us, it should be like breathing: natural and unforced; a two-sided conversation. When we have breakfast with a friend, we don’t have to work hard to come up with the right words for conversation, we simply express our feelings and listen. Both talking and listening are important. You will find that if all you do is talk and never listen, your friends will start to avoid conversations with you, and if you only listen and never say a word, after a while that will become a very boring relationship.
I came across a story entitled, “The Empty Chair.” Let me read it to you.
When I think about the essence of prayer, I think about a man I met from my community. He tells of this encounter that marked him: There was an old man dying of cancer. The old man’s daughter asked this man from New Orleans to come and pray with her father. When he arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows. There was an empty chair beside his bed. “Would you mind closing the door?” Puzzled, he shut the door. “I’ve never told anyone this, not even my daughter,” said the man, “but all my life I have never known how to pray… I abandoned any attempt at prayer,” he continued, “until one day about four years ago, my best friend said to me, ‘Joe, prayer is a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Here’s what I suggest. Sit down on a chair, place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair. It’s not spooky, because He promised, “I’ll be with you always.” Then just speak to Him and listen in the same way you’re doing with me right now.’” “So, I tried it, and I’ve liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I’m careful, though. If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she’d either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm.” Maybe we should think about this.
Now, the man was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old guy to continue on his prayer journey. Two nights later, the daughter called to tell the man that her daddy had died that afternoon. “Did he seem to die in peace?” he asked. “Yes, when I left the house around 2:00, he called me over to his bedside, told me one of his corny jokes, and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him dead. But there was something strange — in fact, beyond strange, kind of weird. Just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on a chair beside his bed.”
Talking to Jesus. Listening to Jesus. Putting your head in His lap. That is the stuff of relationship! That is the very essence of prayer! That is knowing God!
At the end of this story, the author listed good scripture to pray – Ephesians 3: 14-21. I don’t believe in coincidence. When God gives me a story about prayer, and the next week puts the same scripture in front of me, then they must be meant to work together. This second prayer in Ephesians may well be the most glorious prayer in the New Testament apart from the prayers of our Lord. Paul addresses all three members of the Trinity in his request for inner strength. Inner strength is absolutely necessary to spiritual survival because the outer strength of humans is so fragile. Paul says, “For this reason I kneel before the Father.”
When Jews prayed, they normally stood upright with hands raised, but Paul’s bowed posture here tells us that this is no ordinary prayer; it is the prayer of someone kneeling like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Even now, kneeling before someone is considered a way to acknowledge that he or she is greater. Whether people kneel physically or only in their heart, they should come to the throne of grace with a spirit of submission and humility. There is a balance that must be struck in our prayers. We should be comfortable just talking with Jesus, but we also need to remember who He is and humble ourselves before Him.
Reading and praying the scriptures helps us to feel connected to God. God already knows what you want and need, he knows what you are going to ask for before you ask, but how can we know that what we are praying for matches God’s will? By following God’s word. For example: Paul prays for inward power, inward presence, inward perception, inward provision. When we talk with Jesus, what do we ask for? Even today when I prayed, I prayed for a lot of outward needs. That’s okay, but it is the inward requests that will strengthen our souls. We need spiritual strength to resist the evil that is all around us. We need God’s presence in our souls to guide us. We need the perception in our minds to make right decisions. The provision that we need is not just physical food but spiritual food.
Paul is asking God for something for the people of Ephesus that will sustain them in their faith for a lifetime. He wants them to fully grasp God’s love because, if you fully grasp God’s love, you will never turn away from him. Four dimensions of God’s love are described by Paul. He says, grasp how wide, reminding us that his arms reach around the globe. Jesus’ hands were stretched out for the whole world. It is long, reminding us that his love extends from eternity past to eternity future. It existed before the foundation of this world and will exist after this world’s end. It is high reaching to the very throne of God. Out of love Jesus came down from heaven and lifts up to his level anyone who chooses to believe, because no one can climb up to him. God’s love is deep, reminding us that his love addresses the deepest needs of the human heart. God loves sinners no matter who they are, what they have done, or where they have been.
Paul is praying for Christ to dwell in your hearts. Dwell means more than merely to live in a place; it means to settle down, move in, take up residence, and be at home. When God makes his home in the hearts of his people and the Holy Spirit fills them with his presence, they begin to understand the length, depth, width, and breadth of his love. I am always reminded of an old Billy Graham pamphlet entitled, “Your heart God’s home.” It talked about all of the different rooms in our hearts as parts of our lives, and asked the question, “Which room, what part of your life, are you keeping Jesus out of?” Talking with Jesus. An everyday conversation with your Savior will allow you to open your entire heart, your entire life, up to Jesus and allow him to completely move in and have complete control of your life.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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