Ephesians 3:14-21 Prayer Priorities

Observation: Something typical about Paul's prayers for his fellow Christians is that he prays less for their outward circumstances than for their inward, spiritual state of being. This prayer in Ephesians 3 is a good example. Rather than healing, Providence, justice or any outward thing, Paul prays for inner strength, for the indwelling of Christ in his readers' hearts, and for the power to comprehend the scope of God's surpassing love.

Application: I rarely pray for people's spiritual state. I tend to be pretty practical. When someone is facing a crisis, I tend to ask God for material help. Same thing for the situations facing my community, the country and God's creation. I tend to think in terms of a measurable result I would like to see.

What I learn from Paul's prayer is that, while it isn't wrong to pray about outward things, we often underestimate God's ability to affect change in and through our inward state. For all my praying for divine intervention in the world, I rarely ask for divine intervention in my own heart and in the hearts of people I care about. And frankly, I think that's because I underestimate what God can do through me, and through other faithful folks, through the power of love. Ephesians says God grants more than we can imagine. Maybe it's time to start imagining the power of not just "let there be peace on Earth" but also "let it begin with me."

Prayer: God, I pray for all reading this, that their inner being would be strengthened. That your son Jesus would dwell in their hearts through faith. And that they would begin to comprehend the incomprehensible: how much you love them. Amen.