How To Pray To Get Rich Series

How to Pray to Get Rich

EPHESIANS 3:14-21

It takes a special person to work in a bank, or for Brink’s, or to be employed at Fort Knox. To always be around wealth.

I can remember as a child going to Denver and visiting the Denver Mint.

Money everywhere, piles of coins, pages of bills in all denominations. To a little kid you wonder why you couldn’t walk out of there with your pockets full.

· As we come this last passage in the first half of the book of Ephesians. Paul has taken us on a journey describing our riches in Christ: For this reason/cause

1) Being a Christian means being a part of God’s family the church

2) The church was planned by God before the world was made

3) The church includes all: Jews & Gentiles made one in Christ

4) Heaven’s riches are available to every member.

· Verses 14-21 are a final prayer by Paul in which he prays that we might take possession of the riches that we have taught in these three chapters.

1) It is nice to know truths and memorize verses but Paul’s heart was that these truths become part of who we are.

Martin Luther: In 1540 he had an assistant and friend named Friedrich Myconius. Friedrich had become sick and was on his deathbed and wrote Luther a farewell letter.

Luther immediately sent a reply, ‘I command you in the name of God to live because I still have need of you in the work of reforming the church…the Lord will never let me hear that you are dead but will permit you to survive me. For this I am praying because I seek only to glorify the name of God’.

Fredriech, who had already lost the ability to speak, did soon recovered and lived an additional six more years but then did die TWO MONTHS AFTER LUTHER HIMSELF HAD DIED.

There is power in prayer, ‘The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much’.

Paul’s first prayer in 1:18-22 was for ENIGHTENMENT but his pray is for ENABLEMENT.

SIDENOTE: Important that we take note of how important prayer was to Paul, Jesus, Apostles, ‘We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word of God’.

1) DEVOTE: become one with, adhere to, be glued to

· FOUR REQUESTS BY PAUL (14) For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father.

Not a Jew’s normal prayer posture. Common to Christians today but Jews would stand and pray.

1) Abraham STOOD before the Lord.

2) Story Jesus told about Pharisee/Publican they STOOD before the Lord.

3) Today, Jews at Wailing Wall stand rocking back and forth

This posture demonstrates the great extent of Paul’s concern in prayer that this be answered by God. Intense desire that the church become all that it should be in God’s grace.

1) Jesus knelt in the Garden and even Solomon knelt before God as he petitioned for all of Israel.

· See in verse 15 and the first half of 16 that Paul is not asking for anything that is not rightfully ours as members of God’s family.

(15) the Father, from Whom every family in heaven and on earth derives it’s name, (16) that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory,

1) Ask based on the fact that we are part of a family that stretched through two dimensions

2) Ask based on the fact that our Father is rich in glory.

3) Ask based on the magnitude of His wealth

‘According to His riches’. Not out of His riches.

If I walked up to a Billionaire and asked for $5 that would be out of his riches. But if I asked for $1 million that would be ‘according to’.

Paul is praying that we would be bold enough to believe and ask God according to His riches.

Story about a man who was returning home from work one night and passed a stretch limosene on the side of the road.

The man stopped and offered to help with the problem.

After he got the vehicle running the chauffer said the occupant would like to give him a reward for his help.

The man refused saying that he did not stop for the reward.

The chauffer relayed the message and came back and said that the occupant of the limo would just like his name and address so he could send some flowers to his wife as a thank you.

Some days later the flowers came with a card that read,

‘Thank you for you kind help, your home mortgage is now paid in full’ signed Donald Trump’

Flowers would have been ‘out of’ but ‘home mortgage’ was ‘according to’.

REQUEST #1: STRENGTH (16) ..to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; (17) So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;