Another Way to Pray for Christians

Ephesians 3:14-21  

Let’s step into the prayer life of Paul – in prison.

Can you picture him in a stone, cold prison in Rome? Morning sunlight streams into his cell, illuminating the dusty air with hazy light. Though he is chained at the ankle or wrist (or both) to a Roman soldier, he “bows his knees” on the hard pavement floor, strewn with scattered straw, and begins to pray. His words, spoken with a warm steady breath, cause soft bursts of vapor that evaporate into the chilly air.

Though his breath vanishes quickly, his words linger on. Not only did God hear them and cherish them forever, but Paul wrote them down for the church to read in Ephesus. What’s more, we can read them today, as well. And we are an answer to his prayer today!

This isn’t the first time Paul lets us listen to his prayers.

He’s already done this at the end of the first chapter (Eph 1:15-23). In that first prayer, he asked for the believers to understand the full scope of their power in Christ. Now he continues this prayer, asking for them to put this power in Christ into practice.

Why did Paul record two of his prayers for the Christians in Ephesus? Was he showing off his spiritual insights or showcasing his spiritual discipline? No. He was giving us an example of prayer. He was showing that whatever God is doing through the church today occurs in concert with the prayers of his people.

The church is not a conveyor belt that automatically manufactures Christians. It’s a personal, intimate work that requires our prayerful participation. That’s why Paul ends this entire letter with a call to prayer, urging believers to pray just as he had done.

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Eph 6:18). With these words, Paul not only begins his letter with two prayers of his own, but he ends his letter with a resounding call for all believers to pray for one another just as he has done.

Paul was so persuaded of the need to pray that he urged the believers at Ephesus to pray for his own spiritual success as well (Eph 6:19). Even though he was an apostle, he didn’t take his spiritual and ministry progress for granted (Eph 6:20). He too needed prayer.

Why was the prayer that Paul promoted so important?

If God had chosen believers in eternity past (and he did) and if God’s grace is the complete cause of our salvation (and it is), and if Christ has already broken down the wall of separation between Jew and Gentile (and he has), then what is there to pray about? Hasn’t God already blessed us with all possible spiritual blessings in Christ?

Faithful, insightful prayer is necessary because Christ has forged a new and unexpected union between Jews and Gentiles as one “new person.” Though astounding in many respects, the working out of this union in real-time would encounter many challenges in the first century, just as it continues to face today.

These challenges include:

• persecution from unbelievers (Acts 18:21-34)
• the need for believers to comprehend difficult spiritual concepts (Eph 1:17-19)
• engrained cultural differences and animosity (Eph 2:11-13)
• aberrant, deceptive doctrines (Eph 3:14)
• a remaining fleshly nature that still tempts us to sin (Eph 4:17-32; 5:3-4)
• spiritual opposition from demonic forces (Eph 6:10-12).

This broad array of difficulties requires more than ordinary willpower and teamwork to overcome; it requires insightful, regular prayer for the extraordinary power of God.

How did Paul pray and how should we pray for each other today?

Without reviewing how Paul has already prayed in Eph 1:15-23, let’s take from him some more lessons in prayer. Let’s learn how to better cooperate with the mind-boggling work of building and strengthening God’s church in the world today. More than any elaborate programs and sophisticated strategies, faithful, biblical prayer equips us to grow the glory of God in our generation.

As we look at his prayer, remember that Paul is showing us how to pray for one another, not necessarily for ourselves. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pray this way for ourselves, but we should definitely pray this way for one another. No member of the church is self-sufficient. Our spiritual progress is tied to our prayers for one another (Eph 6:19-20).

Speak to God as the Father of an eternal, global family. (3:14-15)

When Paul prayed, he verbalized and visualized God as a Father (Eph 3:14). By doing this, he followed what Christ taught his twelve disciples, the first apostles of the church. He said, “In this manner, therefore, pray, ‘Our Father in heaven’” (Matt 6:9).

Paul took this perspective of God as Father to heart, calling him ‘Father’ seven other times (eight total) in this letter alone.

• “Grace to you and peace from God our Father” (Eph 1:2) 
• “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:3)
• “That … the Father of glory may give you the spirit of wisdom” (Eph 1:17)
• “We both have access by one Spirit to the Father” (Eph 2:18)
• “There is … one God and Father of all” (Eph 4:6)
• “Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father” (Eph 5:20)
• “Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father” (Eph 6:23)

By speaking to God this way, Paul was not approaching God as a mean and hateful being, like a king who might demand your execution if you come into his courtroom unannounced or if you say something to him in the wrong way.

He also was not approaching God as an abstract, impersonal force. He approached him as a personal, loving being who cares for his people like a father cares for his children. God is a personal being, not an impersonal force, and not a philosophical idea or ideal.

Best of all, Paul was not approaching God as a Father just like any human father. As Jesus taught us, God is far better than even the best human father. He said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matt 7:11).

Paul spoke to God knowing God loved him, wanted Paul to come to him in prayer, and intended to answer Paul’s prayer if was asking for good things in line with his will. The things Paul prayed about here were definitely good things that were in line with God’s will!

Now by praying to God as Father, Paul had something else in mind – the family over which and of which God was (is) a Father (“from whom the whole family,” Eph 3:15). He even highlights this with a little wordplay. See if you can hear the p’s, t’s, and r’s and for yourself. Paul says that God is the pater (“father”) of the patria (the “father of the family”).

By saying “whole” family, Paul refers to the inclusion of people from all nations of the world and indicates that it’s a very large family, not a small one. In fact, it’s a multinational, international family. God is not the patron deity or father of one nation only, he’s a Father for people from all nations of the world, for anyone who turns to Christ as God and Savior.

This family is eternal and spiritual in nature (“in heaven and earth”).

This description most likely refers to the fact that when believers die and leave this earth, they enter into God’s presence for eternity and are included in God’s family forever. So, by calling God Father, Paul highlights the close family relationship that all believers share together as members of God’s household.

Though God is sovereign over all people of the world, believers enjoy a special, close relationship with him by which we may speak to him “freely and without fear” because he is our Father (Eph 2:18; 3:12). So, when we speak to God as the Father of our eternal, global family, what are some of the “good things” we should ask from him?

We should ask him to increase our inner spiritual strength. (3:16-17a)

Of Paul’s three requests, he prayed first for increased spiritual strength for the believers at Ephesus (3:16-17a). He viewed God’s own abundant glory as the supreme, all-powerful Creator God as the source of this strength (“according to the riches of his glory”). From this, we see there is no end to this power supply, the storehouse (or warehouse) of his supernatural enabling available for us today. A commentator, Clinton Arnold, says, “God possesses extraordinary might, which he is able and willing to impart to his people.”[1]

We can’t access this spiritual strength through physical efforts or political means. We must receive it directly from God, by the help of the Holy Spirit. By this means, Paul asked God to strengthen his people with nothing less than God’s own divine power.

Though this power would enable believers to withstand spiritual foes, Paul focused his request on our inner selves (“in your hearts”). For Christ to “dwell in your hearts through faith” refers not to regeneration, but to increasing surrender to Christ as Lord.

If regeneration portrays Christ as “moving in” to our hearts (our innermost being), then Paul here refers to Christ as “settling in” or “making himself at home” more and more by expanding his influence over a believer’s thoughts and actions.

This increasing surrender of all aspects of our thoughts, feelings, desires, and choices to Christ requires faith (“by faith”). We must relinquish increasing control over our lives to Christ, like the rooms in a house. The goal here is that there would be no area or compartment of our lives over which he does not have complete access and control.

The challenge in mind as Paul prays this prayer is not just that believers would overcome external obstacles to the growth of the church (like persecution, false teaching, and demonic influences), but that believers would overcome their own personal, inner obstacles and resistance to Christ’s lordship over their lives.

Though Paul prayed for this to happen in the hearts of the Ephesian believers, he was confident and optimistic that it would occur, that God would answer his prayer. Why? Because they had already been rooted and grounded in Christ. These are passive statements in Greek that refer to something that has already occurred to them in the past because God did it. God had already “established their roots” and “poured their foundation” in his love the moment they turned to Christ for salvation.

We should ask him to expand our understanding of Christ’s love. (3:17b-19a)

This was the second request (the next “good thing”) Paul asked his heavenly Father for on behalf of the believers in Ephesus. We know this because of the little word that. “That he would grant you” is the first occurrence and request (Eph 3:16), “that you may be able” is the second occurrence and request (Eph 3:17-18), and “that you may be filled” is the third occurrence and request (Eph 3:19). (Also note that “being rooted and grounded” goes with the first request and the second that goes with “comprehending.”)

At first glance, this second request may seem like a repetition of Paul’s request for their spiritual comprehension in his first prayer (Eph 1:15-23). In that first prayer, though, he requested for them to grow in their understanding of God’s calling and power, which he has prayed for them to put into action in this second prayer already.

Now he prays for them to grow in their understanding of God’s love. Paul wanted believers at Ephesus to comprehend (καταλαμβάνομαι means “to process information, understand, grasp) a four-dimensional concept, which is the love of Christ for them. Paul wanted all believers (“with all the saints”), not just those in Ephesus, to grasp the vastness of Christ’s love for them and “to know” his love in a deeper, more personal way. The word know speaks of knowledge that comes from experience. Paul wanted the believers to know Christ’s love in ways that affected their experience, not just in an academic, mental way.

We shouldn’t get too philosophical or metaphysical when we think about the four dimensions that Paul describes here. There’s no science-fiction here! He’s not describing Christ’s love in a scientific, measurable way. Instead, he is describing it in an immeasurable way, a way that defies exact, academic description. After all, if we could measure the love of Christ, then it would be limited, wouldn’t it? And Paul makes his point crystal clear when he says that this love “surpasses” or “goes beyond” our knowledge (Eph 3:19).

Though he conceded that we would never understand Christ’s love completely, he prayed that God would strengthen them to comprehend it as much as possible. We have so much farther to go in experiencing and understanding Christ’s love for us! Your regeneration and conversion were just the beginning. Yet Christ’s love for us is so vast that we must depend on God’s vast supply of strength to even begin to comprehend it. It takes the greatness of God’s grace towards us to comprehend the greatness of Christ’s love for us.

We should ask him for a greater family resemblance. (3:19)

Finally, Paul offered one more request to God for the Ephesian Christians, “that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” This was a prayer for their spiritual maturity (3:19b). He was asking that the believers in Ephesus would go beyond “being” children of God to “becoming” children like their God. He was praying for an increased family resemblance, for the goodness of Christ to characterize their lives more and more.

This request is the climax of the previous two. Paul prayed that increased strength and comprehension would bring increased maturity. “That you may be filled with all the fullness of God” refers to believers reaching the full, God-given potential of what both God created and called them to be – to be like Christ.

Is that how we’re praying for one another today? Are we speaking to God as our Father, asking him to increase our strength and expand our understanding of Christ’s love for us so that we become more like him? If we’re not sure how to pray for one another (beyond general health and blessing), then we should pray this way. When we do, we are praying in perfect cooperation and harmony with what God is doing through the church today.

So, let’s not just pray for these things. Let’s also …

Praise God for what he is doing through the church. (3:20-21)

Paul closed his prayer with an announcement of praise to God. He didn’t get up from his knees in that damp prison cell doubting if God had heard him or wondering what God would do. He knew that his loving Father in heaven had heard every word and would do – even was already doing – what he requested. He knew he was praying for God’s will! And he neither feared nor doubted the outcome of his prayer for at least three reasons.

• First, he knew God was able to fulfill his request. “Now to him who is able” (Eph 3:20).
• Second, he knew God was able to do far more than he, Paul, had not only asked but was able to conceive. He said, “Exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph 3:20). God’s intentions were greater than Paul’s requests for the believers.
• Third, he knew God was already at work in the believers' lives to bring these changes about, an allusion perhaps to the Spirit’s empowerment (cf. Eph 3:16). Though God desires our prayers and works in response to them, he does not depend on them. Instead, the effectiveness of our prayers relies upon the non-stop work that God is doing in the church – even in our lives, moving, motivating, and enabling us to pray.

As a result, Paul confessed his belief that God deserved and would receive praise in this current age (the church age, from Pentecost to the rapture) and also forever in eternity. According to Harold Hoehner, “glory” here “refers to God’s splendor, power, and radiance.”[2]  Most importantly, this glory would be evident both in (ἐν) the church and in (ἐν) Christ in tandem, demonstrating the close, intimate union of Christ with the church, our shared mission in God’s special program of the ages.

As we put into practice the kind of praying that Paul exemplifies, we must keep a crucial perspective in mind – that this prayer concludes the first half of this letter.^[3] A commentator, Wallace, calls it “the hinge prayer” that introduces the second half.^[4] It’s like a bridge from the first half to the next.

While the first half of the letter reveals the nature of God’s high calling for believers (Eph 1:1-3:21), the second half lays out a series of practical expectations for believers to follow as a result of this calling (Eph 4:1-6:9). The first half gives us the doctrinal foundation and theological perspective, then the second half gives us the practical application for how this teaching should shape and transform the way we live. In many ways, as the Ephesian believers (and believers throughout this church age) put into practice what the second half of this letter says, then Paul’s prayer in Eph 3:15-21 would be answered.

The radical shift in attitude and lifestyle that the second half of this letter urges reveals what it looks like to let Christ “settle into our hearts,” to “comprehend the love of Christ,” and to become more like God. That’s why many themes of this prayer appear throughout the second half of this letter, which we will explore in future sermons.

Consider Eph 5:1-2, for instance. “Be imitators of God as dear children” (Eph 5:1). See the resemblance to “being filled with all the fullness of God?” (Eph 3:19)? Then, “Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Eph 5:2). See the resemblance with “knowing the love of Christ” (Eph 3:19)?

Living the Christian life requires more than an outward reformation.

God must intervene radically in our lives regularly, empowering us to persevere through intimidating challenges, spurred onward by a deeper awareness of his love. What’s special about all this is how we can be a part of this happening through prayer.

This week, can we try to build a habit? Can we try to pray this way each day for a week? Speak to God as our Father, ask him to increase our strength, and expand our understanding of his love for us so that we will become more like him.

Let’s lift our eyes above our COVID19 issues and focus our prayers on the great and glorious things God is doing and desires to do through our church. Don’t forget to finish your prayers with praise, giving God the glory.

In the “prison cells” of our “self-isolation” (not really!), let’s be part of what God is doing in the church today through the kind of prayer that Paul prayed for the Ephesians from his isolation in a prison cell at Rome. No amount of self-isolation or social distancing can keep us from praying like this for one another.

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[1] Arnold, Ephesians, 209.

[2] Hoehner, Ephesians, Kindle loc. 10196.

[3] Thielman, Ephesians, 224.

[4] Wallace, 13.2.7.b.2.