Prayers of Paul 03

Ephesians 1
15Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.

Paul prays for the believers in Ephesus with an earnest and fervent heart. First he prays that, through the gifts of wisdom and revelation, they will come to know God better. Wisdom, because they must be able to discern God’s voice; and revelation, because we can only know of God that which He chooses to reveal to us.

With their spiritual eyes opened through the gifts of wisdom and revelation, they will then be able to ‘see’ what God has given to them. Paul lists 3 things he wants them to realise that God has given to them: His calling, His inheritance and His power.

First, Paul prays that they would know “what is the hope of His calling.” Another version puts it this way, “you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.” We have been called by God. And if God has called us to do something or to be something, we can know beyond a shadow of doubt that He will make it possible. This is the hope of His calling—that anything He calls us to is possible even though it may seem impossible.

It is vital for us to maintain our hope. If faith is the assurance of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1), then when we lose hope, our faith is crippled. Imagine trying to pray in faith regarding something for which you have no hope. You can’t!

And remember, hope starts with vision, “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened.” And that vision comes through revelation from God.

Let’s pray that God would give us a revelation of Himself and that our eyes would be opened to the hope of His calling. Also, let’s pray for those who have lost hope:
« Those who’ve lost hope in their circumstances.
« Christians who’ve lost hope in their walk.
« Those who’ve lost hope for their nation.
« Those who’ve lost hope for themselves.
And if you are included in any of these categories, allow God to refresh your vision and restore your hope.

Prayers of Paul 02

Philemon 1:4-6
4I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, 5hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, 6that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

Romans 10:1
1Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.

Paul prays! He prays for believers in churches he planted like the Philippians as we saw last week; he prays for individual believers like Philemon; he prays for unsaved people groups like the Jews. As we continue looking at the prayers of Paul, I want to focus on his prayers for Philemon and his prayer for the Jews. Both of these prayers are expressions of Paul’s heart for evangelism.

Although Paul was known as an apostle to the Gentiles, he never lost his passion to see his own people, the Jews, come to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. He longed to see them freed from the burden of legalism and released from the trap of self-righteousness.

Paul also prays that Philemon will be effective in sharing his faith with others. According to Paul, the key to releasing Philemon’s evangelism potential is “the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in [him] in Christ Jesus.” In other words, when Philemon really understands all that he has as a result of following Christ, he will not be able to stop himself from sharing his faith. And he will be more effective in sharing because he will be able to testify first-hand about God’s goodness.

This week, let’s pray that love for the lost and our love for God would motivate us to share our faith effectively. Think of all we have in Christ and how many others need what we have. If God has put a burden on your heart for a particular people group, pray for them. It might be a particular community, city, tribe, or nation. As you pray, open your heart and mind to the possibility that God may have laid this group on your heart for another reason. Consider the possibility that He not only wants you to pray for them, but He has also chosen you to go and be His ambassador to them.

Prayers of Paul 01

Philippians 1:9-11
9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (NIV)

Paul prays for the Philippian church “so that [they] may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” Sounds good! I don’t think there are any of us that wouldn’t value that result. We expend lots of mental and emotional energy trying to decide what is best and trying to do the right thing.

But for what does Paul ask the Father that will produce these results in the lives of the Philippians? He prays that their love will overflow!

This suggests that maybe our approach may need some adjustment. Usually, if I’m honest, my motivation is to do the ‘right’ thing. But why am I so driven to do the ‘right’ thing? The answer, again if I’m honest, is one of two reasons…

1. I want to be seen to be doing the right thing by other people who will then be impressed with the fact that I’ve done the right thing. This selfishness and pride is fairly obvious and straightforward to repent of.

2. I want to be seen to be doing the right thing by God because I believe that God expects me to do the right thing. This sounds good at first, but beneath the surface lies the trap of trying to earn God’s favour through good (right) works.

Yes, God does want us to do the right thing, but for the right reason. And that reason is what Paul prays that the Philippian believers will have in abundance: Love. When their love abounds “more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,” then they will know what is the right thing to do, and they will do it motivated by love alone.

It begins and ends with love, not my feeble attempts to be good.

Spiritually Minded 09

We’ve seen that becoming spiritually-minded won’t happen automatically. It will require some effort on our part. Two things we need to do is first to keep a close watch on our minds, and second to include fasting and prayer as a discipline in our spiritual walk. This week, we will look at a third way that God has given us to ensure that His Spirit and our spirit are in control of our thoughts, attitudes, emotions, motivations & imagination.

BEING SPIRITUALLY-MINDED

A third thing we can do to remain spiritually-minded is to renew our minds by immersing ourselves in God’s Word. Romans 12:1-2 says, “1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” And Psalm 1 describes the blessings that result from meditating on God’s word day and night.

As we study the Bible, we must put ourselves ‘under’ God’s word. We must never presume to be ‘above’ God’s word. For a Christian the Bible is the highest authority. No one should ever pick and choose what he likes and dislikes in God’s word. I’ve even heard of one man who blots out in his Bible whatever he doesn’t like!

God’s word doesn’t change, but it has the power to change us if we allow it to have its rightful place in our lives. It helps us identify and repent of sin; understand and claim God’s promises to us; recognise and obey God’s commands; and discover and learn from the examples of people in the Bible.

We’ve already learned from the negative examples of a few carnally-minded people in the Bible, but there are many positive examples of spiritually minded people as well. Here are a few to get you started:
The Thessalonian Church, 1 Thessalonians 1
Stephen, Acts 6:8-10, 7:54-60
Philemon, Philemon 1:4-10
Lois, Eunice & Timothy, 2 Timothy 1: 3-7
Barnabas, Acts 11:22-25

I’ve heard the process of renewing our minds described as ‘spiritual breathing.’ We exhale the stale, suffocating air of sinful thoughts, attitudes, words and actions. Then we inhale the refreshing, invigorating air of God’s word. Daily study of the Bible is a necessity in order for us to be spiritually fit and healthy. This routine is not legalistic any more than it is legalistic to breathe or eat regularly. We can decide how to breathe and eat, but the important thing is to do so consistently. Likewise, we can decide how to study God’s word, as long as we do it often. They say it takes doing something consistently for 21 days to form a habit. Why not start today?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this series on being spiritually-minded. Next week I will be starting a series on the Prayers of Paul recorded in his epistles to the churches in the New Testament. I hope you’ll join me.