Salvation Summaries

This post is the second in a short series of posts on how to pray.  The first was Learning to Pray from Ephesians, Part 1. In this one, I will review Paul’s second prayer in Ephesians.

Prayer: Ephesians 3:14-21

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.

Observations:

• Paul prayed to God the Father rather than to Jesus or the Holy Spirit.  We know from the prior post that he prayed for believers.

• Paul knelt when he prayed as an act of submission to and reverence for God, and a seriousness in what he was about to say.  The Bible does not command us to kneel or bow our heads or close our eyes when we pray, and there are certainly times and occasions when we cannot do this. On the other hand, when we do have the opportunity to kneel, such as early in the morning or late at night when we are alone, we may want to try this to see if it causes us to adopt a more serious and reverent attitude in our prayer.

• In terms of context, the prayer follows Paul’s discussion of the mystery of Christ, where Gentiles can share in the same promise given to Jews and become equal with them in the body of Christ.  Also, it is right before chapters 4-6, which talk about how the Christians are to live. Paul might have had both in mind when he prayed this prayer.  Specifically, his prayer may have stemmed from the wonder of God’s secret plan in saving the Gentiles by grace too (3:14 seems to indicate this), and his desire to strengthen the believers so that they would live in a way that pleased God (4:1 seems to indicate this, as it starts with “Therefore” and then Paul urges them to live a life worthy of the calling they have received).

• Paul mentioned five requests in his prayer, which I’ve listed below, and I’ll elaborate on two (in order to keep the post from becoming too long).

1. 1. That God may strengthened them power in their inner being through His Spirit –
   2. That Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith
   3. That they may be able to comprehend the length, width, height and depth of God’s love
   4. That they may know Christ’s love, which is more valuable than knowledge
   5. That they may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Strengthen with power

Why did Paul pray that they be strengthened with power?

If you look up verses with the word “strengthened” and “power”,  you will see that believers need this to:

• live as a (Christian) should in terms of doing and saying good things (2 Thes 2:16-17)
• stand against evil desires and worldliness (James 4:6)
• help others, which glorifies God (1 Peter 4:11)
• be able (via courage, etc) to spread the good news (Acts 1:8) with boldness (1 Cor 2:3-5, 2 Tim 4:17)
• withstand trials (1 Thes 3:2-3), troubles (Phil 4:12-13) and persecution (2 Tim 1:8)
• be protected from the evil one or Satan (2 Thes 3:3)
• be blameless and holy in the presence of God the Father when Jesus returns (1 Thes 3:12-13)

If you look at the long list of do’s and don’ts that Paul mentions in chapters 4-6, it would appear that he had all of the above in mind when he prayed for the believers.

These are examples of requests we can incorporate into our prayers too as we pray for other believers.  For example, you could pray something like “God, strengthen X with power to live as a Christian should, to stand against evil desires, and to help others in order to glorify You.  Give X power to withstand trials, troubles and persecution; and protect X from the evil one.”

Dwell in heart

What does it mean for Jesus to dwell in a believer’s heart?

There are only two verses in the Bible with the words “dwell” and “hearts.”  One is in Ephesians 3 above, and the other is Colossians 3:16, which says “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” There are no verses with the words “dwell” and “heart.”  In terms of “dwell” and “you,” there are two applicable verses (John 5:37-38, Colossians 3:16), where one mentions the word of God and the other the word of Christ as dwelling in a person.  As a result, we have limited guidance from other verses to answer our question.

If you look up the Greek word for dwell (as used in this particular verse) in Strong’s Concordance, it refers to a divine power that dwells in one’s soul…to pervade, prompt or govern.  Further, if we look up dwell, pervade and govern in the Cambridge dictionary, you find the following:

• Dwell means to live in, reside, abide, etc.
• Pervade means to spread through all parts of something.
• Govern means to control (or have a controlling influence over something) or to manage (such as people).

Putting all of this together, we can answer the question as follows: When Jesus dwells in a believer’s heart, He lives within that person, pervades their heart (where heart includes one’s mind and inclinations) and has a controlling influence over what they say and do.

Now, if the above interpretation of “dwell” (in your heart) is true, let me ask you a question.  Are you allowing Jesus to dwell in your heart?  Have you adopted the attitude that Jesus, your Lord and Redeemer, owns you, and wants to work through you to accomplish God’s will (if you will let Him)?

Or, like that of most Christians (including me more often than not), do you acknowledge that the Holy Spirit resides within you (which He does once you are saved) and that Jesus technically does too, but you tend to live your life the way you want to and, for the most part, leave Him out of the picture?

If so, you have an opportunity now to change your mindset and resulting behavior.  I believe the easiest way to do this is to voluntarily surrender yourself when you awake each morning to be Jesus’ servant during the day; to seek His guidance on what He wants to accomplish in you; and to strive to do whatever He may plant within your mind to do.  In essence, you’d pray something like, “Jesus, I’m all yours today. Do within me whatever you want to do.  I’m your willing servant, and am so glad you saved me.”

How he ended his prayer

Paul ended his prayer with an acknowledgement of God’s power, ability and grace to do more than what we ask for, and how he deserves to receive glory from us.

He concluded with “Amen,” which means “so be it” or “may it be fulfilled.”

Guidelines on how to pray

• You can to pray to God the Father

• The Bible does not require you to pray in a certain position, though in this particular prayer of Paul’s he knelt before God. You might want to try this to see if it helps you adopt a more serious and reverent attitude when you pray.

• As in Paul’s first prayer (in Ephesians), his focus was on the spiritual growth and Christian life of believers rather than on what we most often pray about, which deals with physical, emotional or financial problems.  Because a believer’s spiritual condition is actually more important than these, you might want to try to focus more on that when you make your requests before God.

• You can conclude your prayer with “Amen.”

Sample Prayer

Dear Father,

(Recommended introduction from what was learned in Paul’s first prayer) I want to thank you for X, who is a believer in you.  Thank you for saving X and blessing X in so many ways.  You are a kind and gracious God. 

Father, I kneel before you with several requests. 

I pray that you strengthen X with power from your Holy Spirit so that X can (choose 1 or more of the following, whichever is relevant to the situation):

• live as a (Christian) should, or in a way that pleases You 
• stand against evil desires and worldliness
• help others, for this glorifies You
• be able to spread the good news with boldness
• withstand this trial, or recent troubles or persecution (whichever applies)
• be safe from the evil one or Satan
  
• be blameless and holy in the presence of You when Jesus returns

I humbly ask you to work in X’s mind to allow Jesus, X’s Lord and Redeemer, to fully dwell in X’s heart, and to influence everything X does and says so that it helps accomplish Your will. 

Oh, Father, may the power you give X serve to glorify You. Thank you for hearing my prayer.

Amen.