• Ephesians 3:14-21 (NIV)
[14] For this reason I kneel before the Father, [15] from whom his whole 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 saints, 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.
INTRODUCTION:
This morning we continue with ALL IN THE FAMILY—The family that prays together stays together. Since our focus is on prayer; I thought I would start out with a couple of family prayers that will make you laugh.
A little boy was spending the night at grandma and grandpa’s house. Kneeling beside his bed with his grandparents he softly said his prayers; "Dear God, please bless Mummy and Daddy and all the family. Thank you for letting me stay with grandma and grandpa tonight bless them and please give us all a good night’s sleep." Suddenly he looked up and shouted, "And dear God please don’t forget to give me a bicycle for my birthday!!"
"There is no need to shout like that," said his grandmother. "God isn’t deaf."
"No," said the little boy, "but Grandpa is. I want to be sure he heard me too."
One more for fun:
Johnny had been misbehaving and was sent to his room. After a while he emerged and informed his mother that he had thought it over like she said and then said a prayer.
Mother was quite please that he had learned his lesson so quickly and had prayed like she told him to. She said, "That’s good; if you ask God to help you not misbehave, He will help you."
Johnny said, "Oh, I didn’t ask Him to help me not misbehave, I asked Him to help you put up with me."
The family that prays together stays together. This morning we are going to look at six characteristics of Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians that we can apply to our families: Humility, Name, Provision, Home, Integrity and Abundance.
I. Family Humility
• Ephesians 3:14 (NIV)
For this reason I kneel before the Father.
1. Paul makes his prayer from a position of humility. Paul kneels in prayer.
a) I know we can pray in all kinds of ways. We can sit together around a dinner table. The kids can lie in their beds at night. We can stand. The physical posture is not as important as the condition of our hearts.
• James 4:6 (NIV)
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
b) Only as we humble ourselves before the Lord will we be in a position to receive anything from Him. If we want to be in a position that God will hear us we must humble ourselves.
• 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)
if my people . . . will humble themselves and pray . . . then will I hear from heaven.
c) What is on the inside will find expression in what we do and say. If I have humbled myself, then I will at times kneel before God. I’ll be honest; I probably don’t kneel in prayer enough. Maybe it’s because of our schedules; kneeling in prayer takes more time than ‘praying on the go.’ Perhaps we need to rethink our position of prayer and take the time to kneel before the Lord individually and as a family.
• Psalm 95:6 (NIV)
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
d) Kneeling before God is a way of acknowledging who He is. He is the Lord our Maker. We are only servants, bags of dust into which He has breathed the breath of life. We need to humble ourselves.
2. Why is humility important?
a) If we have a hard time humbling ourselves before God, how do we ever expect to humble ourselves before others within our family?
• 1 Peter 3:8 (NIV)
Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.
b) If we are going to live the kind of life God expects it begins with our relationship with God and then to our family. We need to be willing to humble ourselves—husbands and wives, parents and children, and yes even within the sibling rivalries too.
3. The family that prays together says together because they share a family humility and second:
II. Family Name
• Ephesians 3:14-15 (NIV)
[14] For this reason I kneel before the Father, [15] from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
1. We are more than a church we are family.
a) You might be here with the last name of Owens, Butto, or Williams; you might even just be s Smith or a Jones, but you have an identity that is greater than a family sir-name. You are a part of the family of God. With God as our Father we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.
• . . . Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
b) Paul began each of his letters to the churches he wrote to in a similar way; to Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossi and Thessalonica Paul greeted them with the grace and peace of God OUR FATHER. We are members of God’s family and thus have a common family name.
2. Within our families we share a relationship with each other that goes beyond family ties.
a) My children are not just my sons and daughters; Susie is not just my wife. My parents are more than just mom and dad. Nieces and nephews, grandmas and grandpas, in Christ my family members are also brothers and sisters in Christ.
b) Our relationship as family will only last a lifetime, but our relationships as brothers and sisters in Christ will last FOREVER! I want to know that all my children, and one day my children’s children are all present and accounted for when we get to heaven. I don’t want family members to be left behind and excluded from God’s forever family. I want my family to share God’s family name. We may be Ebies but above all we are Christians.
c. As families we have no greater prayer that we can pray together than that those whom we love will be included IN CHRIST.
3. The family that prays together says together because they share a family humility, a family name and third:
III. Family Provision
1. One of the simplest and most natural times to pray together as a family is around the dinner table.
a) As a family we ought to thank God for how he has provided for us from day to day.
• Matthew 6:11 (NIV)
Give us today our daily bread.
b) As a family we should pray together that God will meet our physical needs.
• John 15:7 (NIV)
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
c) We can ask God to meet all our needs. Jesus said ask for what ever you wish and it will be given to you. However, don’t overlook the prerequisite. We can have the assurance that we will receive whatever we ask for IF WE REMAIN IN HIM. Don’t be afraid to ask God to meet your physical needs. He is Jehovah-Jireh, the God who provides!
d) However, we need to remember that our needs go beyond the physical; our needs are greater than just temporary things. We need to also ask God to meet needs that are eternal.
2. Pray together as a family for God to meet your spiritual needs.
• Ephesians 3:16 (NIV)
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.
a) Paul recognized the need to ask God to help the believers at Ephesus to be strong in their inner being through the power of the Spirit. It was to the Ephesians that Paul said we don’t struggle against people but against spiritual forces in heavenly places.
• Matthew 6:13 (NIV)
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
b) I’m thankful that I can pray and ask God to forgive me for my sins. But don’t just pray that God will forgive you. ASK GOD TO DELIVER YOU FROM EVIL, to keep you from entering into sin in the first place. As a family, pray for each other that God will lead and direct their steps and that the Lord will strengthen them to overcome every temptation.
3. The family that prays together says together because they share a family humility, a family name, a family provision and fourth:
IV. Family Home
• Ephesians 3:16-17 (NIV)
[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.
1. God’s home is within our hearts.
a) God does not dwell in churches made with bricks and mortar or buildings made with two-by-fours and lumber. God lives within our hearts.
• 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV)
[19] Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
b) God lives in YOU! Have you welcomed God into your heart? Or have you made your heart an uncomfortable place for God to live? Have you pushed God out of the residence He has chosen for Himself? Notice what Paul says next to the Corinthians.
You are not your own; [20] you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
c) We have been purchased by the blood of Jesus. We don’t belong to ourselves to live anyway we want; we belong to God. Welcome God to His home; honor God with how you live.
• John 14:23 (NIV)
Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
2. IS GOD AT HOME WITHIN YOUR FAMILY?
a) Someone said, “You only hurt the ones you love.” What is the spiritual climate within your house? Are relationships between family members strained? Is there bitterness and unforgiveness? These things not only make us not want to come home, but they don’t make God feel at home with us either.
b) Make your prayer that God’s presence will be at home within your family, that His peace and presence will fill your home because He has filled your lives.
3. The family that prays together says together because they share a family humility, a family name, a family provision, a family home and fifth:
V. Family Integrity
• Ephesians 3:17-19 (NIV)
[17] . . . And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, [18] may have power, together with all the saints, 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.
1. Our integrity or character as a family is based upon one word: LOVE.
a) Look again at what Paul has prayed for. He asks that we would be ROOTED and ESTABLISHED in love. And why does Paul pray this? Why should we make it our prayer that our family be rooted and established in love? It is as our love finds its full expression to God and the people around us that we can GRASP HOW GREAT CHRIST’S LOVE FOR US IS!
ILLUSTRATION: I have often said that Susie is one of the greatest expressions of love and forgiveness God has ever given to me. She forgave me before we were married when I turned my back on her, after I betrayed her and broke her heart she decided to love me and forgive me. If she can do that then how much more can God love and forgive me? Her love has helped to root and establish me in God’s love and in turn has caused me to begin to grasp how great God’s love for me really is.
b) Do you struggle to understand how much God loves you? Begin to give love to others unselfishly. Begin to receive love from your family and others. As you are rooted and established in love you will understand more and more how much God really loves you.
c) LOVE IS A VERB! Love is active!
• 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV)
[4] Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. [5] It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. [6] Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. [7] It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
[8] Love never fails.
2. Love gives us integrity because LOVE NEVER FAILS!
a) No family is perfect. We all make mistakes. But you show me a family that loves each other and I will show you a family with integrity, a family you can trust. Look again at Paul’s prayer.
• Ephesians 3:19 (NIV)
and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
b) It is through our love for each other—an active love that goes beyond our feelings, a love that surpasses knowledge—through love we are filled with the FULLNESS OF GOD. You are never more like God than when you love each other.
• 1 Peter 4:8 (NIV)
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
c) It is love that will hold us together and keep our families from being divided. It is love that will strengthen a family to stick together no matter what. No family is perfect, but love covers a multitude of sins. Pray as a family for God to increase your love for each other, to grow more and more in love.
3. The family that prays together says together because they share a family humility, a family name, a family provision, a family home, family integrity and finally:
VI. Family Abundance
• Ephesians 3:14-21 (NIV)
[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.
1. The sky is the limit for our families. God can and will do more than we can ever imagine.
ILLUSTRATION: Our family enjoys watching “Extreme Makeover—Home Edition.” They do more than just build incredible houses for people. They share family stories. They tell the story of families who have gone through all kinds of unimaginable difficulties but have stayed together. They wake a family up on Monday morning and then send them off on a dream vacation. Then at the end of the week they bring the family back to their new home. The anticipation is intense; “Driver move that bus!” Each time a family stands in awe of what has been done for them as they see their new home for the first time. Each time Ty and the gang always find a way to do more than the family could ever have imagined.
a) God can do an extreme makeover of your family too.
b) If you could have anything you could imagine for your family relationships what would it be? God can give that to you AND MORE!
2. Pray as a family and ask God for BIG THINGS—ask for the impossible, and then watch as God answers your prayers in greater ways than you could imagine.
The family that prays together stays together because they have a:
Family Humility
Family Name
Family Provision
Family Home
Family Integrity
Family Abundance
