Praying for the Spiritual Challenges We Face

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 air.

Though his breath vanished, his words echo into our hearts today. Not only did God hear them, but Paul wrote them down for the church to read in Ephesus. What’s more, we can read them and we are an answer to this very prayer!

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), when 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 of 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? 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 fruits of Paul's ministry, for instance, were not the result of his unparalleled efforts and skills but his efforts were rooted in prayer.

The church is not a conveyor belt that automatically manufactures mature followers of Christ. It’s a personal, intimate work that requires our prayerful participation. That’s why Paul ends this letter with a call to prayer, urging believers to pray just as he had done, for themselves and also for him (Eph 6:18-20).

Why was the prayer so important to Paul?

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 4:14)
• 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?

In addition to how we learn to pray in Eph 1:15-23, let’s gather some more lessons in prayer from Paul. Let’s learn how to better cooperate with God’s work in the church today. More than any elaborate programs and sophisticated strategies, faithful, biblical prayer equips us to experience and expand the glory of God in our generation.

Paul shows 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 corresponds to our prayers for one another (Eph 6:19-20).