At CCC, we have recently been studying the book of Ephesians and more specifically this past week we studied the second prayer in this book (3:14-21). I was talking with one of my good friends last night, who recently professed faith in Christ, and he said when he read this prayer it brought tears to his eyes. He so longed to pray more consistently and more faithfully. He was so amazed by the beauty of this prayer. In this prayer Paul asks God to strengthen his people with power in the inner man so that Christ might be at home in their hearts. He also prays that they would be able to comprehend the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. He closes with praise to God because he can and will do more than we could ask or imagine so that he might be glorified in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever.
Prayer is a discipline that is often neglected in my life because I think I am too busy to pray. It is an act of unbelief and it reveals that I trust in myself rather than in our great God. So often, I feel like I accomplish more when I study the bible than when I pray. Paul reveals a two-fold ministry of teaching and prayer. He understood that we do not just need teaching but we need God’s power to enable us to appropriate what is taught. I hope this week that we will all spend time studying and sharing what we have learned, but also that we would ask our father to empower us to live it out by faith. We must pray the wonderful truths into the lives of one another for it is the Spirit of God who empowers and strengthens us to accomplish his will.