How To Be A Prayer Warrior
Ephesians 3:16-19
Primary Purpose: To teach the people the importance of being a intercessor
Back in 1993, I got sick with pneumonia. I was so wore out I would get short of breath talking on the phone. I remember a lady named Ruth who called me. She asked me how I was and then asked if she could pray for me.
What made Ruth remarkable was that she was a very sick person herself with congestive heart failure and other problems. She knew she was going to die soon. But, she still was focused on other people and praying for them. She did in fact pass away later that year.
I can remember she just started praying fo rme over the phone. She had a way of praying that was powerful and unique. I felt like I had just bene ushered into God’s presence. I remember thinking, Lord teach me to pray like that.
Sometimes we are guilty in ministry of telling people what they should do, but then not how to do it. We have been stressing prayer lately and now I want to get into specifics. I want to talk to you about how to be a prayer warrior. I want to talk to you about being a intercessor for others. To do that, we will look at one of Paul’s prayers in Ephesians 3:16-19 to get an idea of what he prayed for others about.
In Ephesians 3:16-19, we see Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus. Ephesus was a very large and diverse population that was primarily a sea port. It was located on the coast of the Aegean Sea. From there trade ships would come from places far and near, Egypt, Africa, Spain, Cyprus, Rome and many other cultures. It was also a place known for it’s temples to Diane and for sorcery and black magic. It was also a church that Paul deeply loved and cared about.
In Acts 19, the Bible tells us the Paul set up a school in Ephesus where he spent more than 2 years teaching in a rented lecture hall. From Ephesus preachers would be sent out to reach the rest of Asia. He starts off his prayer by saying that he is kneeling before the Father. He prays that God would give to them out of His glorious riches vs.16.
Paul expected for God to give out of his glorious riches. Paul expected God to do great things and prayed God sized prayers. Curtis Vaughan has said about this, “Let us learn from Paul’s inspired prayer that we can never strain the resources of God. He does not give grudgingly nor in meager portions, as if he were afraid he might exhaust his wealth. He gives according to the measure of his infinite fullness.” John Newton was once it this way:
“Thou art coming to a king;
Large petitions with Thee bring;
For His grace and power are such,
None can ever ask too much.”
This may be why Paul later says in verse 20 that God is able “to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” We will never be able to overwhelm God with a request or task that He cannot manage. Let’s pray big prayers for each other. This is the kind of prayers Paul prayed for others. God’s ability is infinitely greater than our ability to ask. God simply doesn’t have limits, boundaries or needs or questions.
Here in verse 16-19, we see at least 4 phrases that share with us Paul’s hearts desire for the believers there.
1. He prayed they would be strengthen with power vs.16. The evidence that God was at work was self evident among the early believers. They were bold in sharing their faith, there was evidence of a changed life, they were united in love and purpose, they were fruitful. God’s Word was evident in a fruitfulness in the believers lives. God doesn’t desire for us to live shallow Christian lives devoid of purpose or power. We should pray for each other that God’s power would be evident in our lives.
He is specifically praying that they would be strengthened in their inner being. He isn’t talking about just physical strength, but strength at the core of who they are. He wants Christ to dwell in their hearts. The word dwell there is the word KATIOKEO in the greek it means to settle down in a dwelling, to dwell fixedly in a place, permanence. In other words, he is praying that Christ would find a fixed place in your heart and be at home there, to have the run of the place. This means there isn’t a area of your heart that you don’t allow Christ to be at home at. A lot of people will give Jesus some of their heart, but hold back certain areas that he doesn’t want them to mess with. They don’t surrender all of their hearts to Him. Paul is praying that they would be completely surrendered to Him.
2. That they would be rooted and grounded in love for each other vs.17. These words emphasized the desire of Paul that they would be well grounded and firmly established. It is established in love for each other. We should never forget that it is Christ’s command in John 15:12,17 that we love each other “just as I have loved you”. The believers in the early church had this kind of love for each other, it is possible. Scripture warns us that in the last days, “most people’s love will grow cold” due to wickedness. The evidence that we belong to Him is that we love each other. This is why John said, “let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:7 Paul thought it so important that he said that any action or words without love was meaningless 1 Cor 13.
When I think about what Paul meant by being rooted I think about a stump I dug up in our front yard years ago. The tree was diseased and needed to come up. So, I cut most of it down and dug around the base to pull it up. Directly under the stump was a large tap root that went straight down. It held the stump in place even though most of the other roots were gone. That tap root is there for times of drought. When all the moisture is gone from the top soil, that root will still be pulled moisture up from well under the soil. That helps it survive times of trouble. When I think about what Paul meant by being rooted in love, I think about that root.
3. That they might comprehend the love of God vs.18. This is a bit of a stretch for us to understand because he says that we might understand the width, the length the height and depth of the love of God. This is impossible because God’s love is infinite, but to the extent that we are able to we should be ever growing in this area taking in as much as we are able. We are to be ever growing in our knowledge of this area, not stagnant, but always moving ahead. This knowledge is life-changing. You cannot remain the same in the light of this love. This love goes beyond knowledge itself.
4. That we might be full or complete in our faith vs.19. We should pray for each other that we might be mature in our knowledge and in daily living. This is what Paul prayed for the Colossians about in Col 1:10 when he prayed that they would be filled with knowledge and spiritual wisdom and understanding that they might live a life pleasing to God.
To be filled to the fullness of God is a bit of a paradox also. It is impossible for the finite to be filled with what is infinite. We cannot experience the fullness of God. Curtis Vaughan says about this that “Paul request that the believer be filled means he is requesting that their whole being may be filled with God’s presence and power, so that there shall be no room for more-like the teacup on the seashore filled to overflowing with the swelling water of the vast ocean.” Ephesians, a commentary by Curtis Vaughan, pg.83.
God wants us to intercede for each other with God sized prayers. We should pray for more than just the physical health, but the spiritual health and vitality of others. We should pray that they would achieve a great love for others and for God. That they would be people of integrity and mature in their walk with the Lord.
