The Pastoral Prayer (OIF 08-09)
Ephesians 3:14-21
All Scripture Marker ESV: The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
Paul, The Transformed persecutor of Christians
Paul, The Preacher for Christ throughout the Roman Empire
Paul, The letter writer to young churches
Paul, The apostle to the Gentiles
Writes in Ephesians 3:14
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, (EPH 3:14-15, ESV)
When Paul thinks of all of the wisdom…and of the scope of God’s plan…He falls on his knees and prays.
He is the Pastor of many different churches, including the one in Ephesus.
All of these churches need his leadership.
And Paul sees God’s plan. Paul sees God’s wisdom. And what does Pastor Paul pray for?
He prays for the Ephesians and that they will receive five things:
1. That the Holy Spirit will give then strength.
2. That Christ will be at home in their heart.
3. That they will have deep roots.
4. They will have Power to understand.
5. That they will Experience the love of Christ.
And that is my pastoral prayer for you as well.
1. Strength is the first thing that Paul prays for.
Look in verse 16:
16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, (Eph 3:16, ESV)
Paul prays that the Holy Spirit will give them strength. What kind of strength?
Is it some kind of metaphysical inner strength that will help you survive on some remote FOB in Central Iraq?
No, he prays for spiritual strength, which comes from the Holy Spirit.
It is a similar pray that he prayed to the Colossians,
11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy,(Col 1:10-11, ESV)
But this strength is more powerful that simply our own strength.
In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Paul writes;
13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Php 4:13-14, ESV)
This is the strength that can help you do everything. It is strength that is not your own but from Christ Jesus.
It was this strength that the men in the book of Acts used when they spoke.
• In Acts 4:8 we see, Peter, who denied Christ on the night of the crucifixion, was filled with the Holy Spirit boldly preached the Gospel.
• In Acts 4:31,The believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and the building where they were meeting shook. What happened? They preached God’s message with boldness.
• In Acts 7:51, Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit when he was about to be killed and said And he said,
“Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”(Ac 7:56)
Boldly proclaiming the gospel.
• In Acts 11:24,Barnabas was a man full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. He boldly proclaimed the gospel.
Do you see a trend?
We are given strength to boldly proclaim the gospel.
But, it is not by our strength. It is Christ strength.
Roy Fish says “the Holy Spirit is to lift us to the level of Christ.”
And we are to use that strength to proclaim the gospel.
If our purpose in life is to glorify God, and the subsequently lead others to do it, the power is to declare his Glory to the world…in the face of opposition.
These passages were written to the churches. And the business of the Churches was to Glorify God.
And as they did that they proclaimed the risen savior.
So, Don’t be mistaken. We use Philippians 4:13 and all of the other strength verses for everything under the sun.
We see this in sports a lot. We just want his strength for our purposes.
But the purpose of that strength is to glorify God.
So Paul prays that they will be strengthened to declare God’s glory and to preach Christ to the lost.
2. Paul then prays that Christ will be at home in their heart.
The first part of Verse 17 says;
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (Eph 3:17, ESV)
The New Living Translations translates this portion of the verse, to read;
17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.
(Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. "Text edition"--Spine. (2nd ed.) (Eph 3:17). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.)
What does it mean to be at home? We hear people say “make yourself at home!”
Do we really mean that? Have you seen these people at home?
It means to act like you would as if you were at your own home.
Yikes! That really is a scary thought, someone coming into my house and acting as if it was there’s?
After some people, there would be nothing left!
All of the flower vases would be broken and the tables would be scratched.
All of the food would be eaten.
But, Paul prays for Christ will be more and more at home in their hearts.
Is that your prayer?
Is it your prayer that Jesus would make himself at home in your heart?
We need to allow Christ free reign over our house.
• Allow him to knock over some treasured vases.
• Allow him to Listen to your conversation.
• Allow him to Turn on the TV and see what you are watching.
• Allow him to Go through the refrigerator see what you are eating.
• Allow him to Listen to your music.
• Allow him to Go through our books and letters.
• Allow him to see the secret things that no one else sees.
• And to be able to feel free to make any changes that He would like to make himself more comfortable.
Is that your prayer?
It is a prayer of surrendering you life to him. Praying for him to come in a take charge of your life.
What in your life do you not want Christ to have control of?
We live in a very worldly environment. Our culture is saturated with things Not from Christ but from the devil, what do you need to get rid of so that Christ will feel at home in your heart.
The Bible says in Psalm 51:10:
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right2 spirit within me. (Ps 51:10)
It is that clean heart that Jesus feel at home in, just as all of us feel at home in a clean house.
So get out your broom, take out the trash, and ask Christ to make himself at home in your heart.
I pray that this prayer will be yours this morning.
3. Paul then prays that they will have deep roots.
Continuing with verse 17,
...that you, being rooted and grounded in love, (Eph 3:17b, ESV)
What does Paul mean by roots? He prays that their roots will go down deep into God’s soil.
I did a little study on roots to see exactly what Paul meant.
I found that roots have for purposes.
• They anchor the plant in the soil.
• They also absorb water and minerals that the plant needs to grow.
• Many roots store food for later use by the plant.
• Roots help prevent erosion of soil by wind and water.
So what does Paul mean by having deeper roots?
First, the deeper our roots go into God’s soil the stronger our anchor will be in the storm’s of life. We all have those storms.
But if our roots are deep, when temptation comes, when we are being persecuted for our faith, when troubles come to steer us away from our faith, we will stand.
The problem that we have in America is that we don’t take time to work the soil of god’s love so that our roots will grow.
What happens? We fall. And what is really just a small breeze turns out to be a hurricane in our lives.
We need to stay in the word of God and pray that we will grow out roots deep.
Second, we are to absorb our spiritual nourishment from God. We are to constantly study his word in praying so that we can absorb all that he has for us.
I have mentioned before about having a personal quiet time.
Do you have a morning devotional, where you meet with God, read the Bible, and pray?
You must water the roots. If not they will die away. Our spiritual life depends on spiritual nourishment.
Third, we are to store some nourishment for other times—that is why we memorize Scripture.
Psalm 119:11 says,
I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.(Ps 119:11)
We memorize Scripture so that we will not sin against God and we can call upon it later in times of need.
And forth, having deep roots in God’s soil prevents erosion of our spiritual life.
Having these deep roots prevents our strong walk with Christ from slipping away.
We must develop habits and routines that continually bring us back to Christ day after day, morning after morning, night after night.
Paul’s forth prayer is that the Ephesians will have the power to understand.
verse 18
may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, (Eph 3:18, ESV)
Paul wanted the Ephesians to understand the depth of God’s love.
He wanted them to know the forgiveness, peace, security, and hope that is a part of God’s love. And he says that all God’s people should know.
When Monica and I began dating, we were very excited about one another and when to tell others of the excitement and love we found.
We got married and our love continues to grow, and we still marvel at the love with found. And I want other couples to understand the depth of love that can be found in marriage.
And Paul is simply saying that he prays that we will all understand the depths of God’s love, like he has found. And this is much like me encouraging married couples to find a deeper relationship with your spouse.
But Paul continues with his fifth prayer, that the Ephesians will experience the love of Christ.
Verse 19
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:19, ESV)
You can understand the love of Christ without experiencing that love.
How do you experience the love of Christ?
First of all, you need to understand that God, in fact, does love you.
The Bible says
16 “For God so loved the world,9 that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (Jn 3:16, ESV)
But we are separated from God because of our sin.
Romans 3:23 says,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, .(Ro 3:23, ESV)
We have sinned against God. And we look at Romans 3:23 a lot because it is very direct, but what does the rest of the passage say?
Verse 24,
24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, (Ro 3:24, ESV)
But you have to accept this payment for your sin.
You have to accept this payment and surrender your life to Christ.
We don’t experience God’s love because we are sinners, separated from God’s love. But he loves you and invites you to come near.
But Christian, this whole passage in Ephesians is written to you.
So why does Paul pray that you will experience God’s love?
First of all because may of us don’t. We still continue to live in the world. And we live by the world’s standards.
We need to repent of those sins and come before a Holy God.
This morning we have heard the earnest prayer of Paul for the church at Ephesus:
1. That the Holy Spirit will give then strength.
2. That Christ will be at home in their heart.
3. That they will have deep roots.
4. They will have Power to understand.
5. That they will Experience the love of Christ.
Is that your prayer this morning? Christian, you need double check where you are in regard to these prayers.
Because they will help you do the mission of glorifying God.
Look with me now at verse 20,
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,(Eph 3:20, ESV)
For what? Look at verse 21,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph 3:21, ESV)
Let us Pray.
