God Wants Us To Pray Like The Apostle Paul - Part 2 Series

God Wants Us to Pray Like the Apostle Paul - Part 2

Ephesians 3:14-21

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Series: The Book of Ephesians

(Prepared April 19, 2024)

REVIEW:

*Today we will continue our study of Paul's wonderful prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21, and when it comes to prayer, this is some of the highest ground we can ever reach. God wants us to reach this high ground in our own prayer lives, and by God's grace, we can. God wants us to pray like the Apostle Paul.

*Last time we saw that God wants us to reach out to Him with humble reverence for the all-powerful, but merciful Heavenly Father that He is. The Bible calls this reverence "the fear of the Lord, and Paul's heart was full of this reverence when he prayed. We can see it in vs. 14-15 where Paul said, "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named."

*Paul showed proper, humble reverence to God by bowing down to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. But remember that what really matters is not the position of our body. It's the attitude of our hearts. People in the Bible sometimes prayed standing, sitting, kneeling, and face down on the ground. So the important thing is to pray with the humble, godly reverence that the Bible calls "the fear for the Lord."

*John Gill explained that "the fear of the Lord" is not a fear of punishment, of hell, wrath, and damnation. Instead this attitude in prayer knows God as a kind Heavenly Father. It knows the love, grace, and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, given through the cross, and received by everyone who will receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Godly fear is marked by humility, affection, devotion, love, and worship toward the Lord. (1)

*This humble, healthy fear of the Lord is one of the most important things that people need. The Bible stresses this truth many times. For example, Psalm 19:9 says, "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." Psalm 111:10 and Proverbs 9:10 both say, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

*Proverbs 16:6 is also a great example because it connects this humble, reverent fear of the Lord with God's merciful forgiveness and redemption. There the Word of the Lord says, "In mercy and truth atonement is provided for iniquity; and by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil."

*Psalm 130:1-4 also connects God's forgiveness with godly fear. There the Bible says:

1. Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD;

2. Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications.

3. If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

4. But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared.

*Humble reverent fear of the Lord is a good thing. It puts us on the right path in life. It doesn't hurt us. It helps us. Godly fear doesn't blot out the mercy of God. It helps us see how much we need His mercy. No wonder Paul reached out to our Heavenly Father with humble reverence, and Christians so should we!

*But we should also pray for more spiritual strength. This was Paul's request for the Ephesians in vs. 16 when he asked that the Heavenly Father "would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man."

*One of the main reasons why Paul prayed for their spiritual strength is because we all need more! Paul did during the long years of his 3 missionary journeys, and even more when he wrote this letter as a prisoner in Roman chains. Surely God answered those prayers and gave the Ephesians the same kind of strength Paul had in Philippians 4:13 where he joyfully declared, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!"

*In the summer of 1999, I got to take part in a "Day of Champions" in Tallulah. Bill Glass Ministries sponsored that soul-winning event at the Tallulah Correctional Center for Youth, and dozens of the inmates were saved.

*That day, we saw some awesome feats of strength performed by Keith Davis from the Power Team. Keith took a wooden baseball bat and pushed it against his thigh until it snapped like a toothpick. (I told Bobby Wilson I probably could have broken that bat . . . with my car!) Then Keith took a one-inch steel bar about 6 feet long, wrapped a rag around the center, put it in his mouth, and bent it into the shape of a "U." Keith then gave his Christian testimony, and he said, "My true sign of my strength is not my bench press. My true sign of strength is this." And he held up that broken bat in the shape of a cross.