The next section of Ephesians Chapter 3,  verses 14-21, is a prayer Paul wrote to them.  Today we are focusing on verses 14-19 and I have chosen the New Living Translation for ease in understanding.  His prayer is an excellent model of what to pray for fellow believers.  As you read, listen for Paul’s heartfelt desires for them and their relationship with God.

¹⁴ When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, ¹⁵ the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. ¹⁶ I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources with he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. ¹⁷ Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. ¹⁸ And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. ¹⁹ May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Paul makes it clear from the beginning that he is praying to the living God who created heaven and earth, remember they were surrounded by a very pagan society that worshiped man made idols.   Paul knows God is omnipotent and the source of a believer’s strength.  He wants them to grow and develop in faith.  He wants them to realize who God is and the power of His love for them.  Paul feels if they come to know the God of all power and love, they will have lives that are filled and transformed.  Because Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, we have the privilege and obligation to intercede on behalf of other believers.

What about you?  What do you pray for your fellow believers?  Do you pray for their growth and knowledge of God,  and that they will experience the fullness of His love? If you’ve never prayed like that- give it a try.  Choose a friend and pray for their growth in faith, their knowledge of God to increase as they study His Word, their prayer life to expand, that they would experience and understand the depth of God’s love for them….. God desires that we lift one another up in prayer.  James 5:16b  ” The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”  Seek to be a clean vessel through your own confession of sins,  then pray earnestly on behalf of other believers.  Remember Romans 12:12 “Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.”

Linda