Page 48 - Ephesians

“For this reason I, too, having heard of the faith in the Lord
Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the
saints, do not cease giving thanks for you while making
mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom
and of revelation of the knowledge of Him. I pray that the
eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know
what is the hope of His calling; what are the riches of the
glory of His inheritance in the saints and what is the
surpassing greatness of His power upon all of us who
believe. These are accordance to the working of the strength
of His might which He brought about in Christ when He
raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in
the heavenly place far above all rule and authority and power
and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this
age but in the one to come. And He put all things to
subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over all
things to the Church which is His body, the fullness of Him
Who fills all in all.”

What a prayer! Let me outline how I’d like to look at it. First I’d
like to suggest how to study the “Prison prayers” of Paul. There
are four prison prayers. Ephesians 1:15-23 , Ephesians 3:1-19,
Philippians 1:3-11 and Colossians 1:3-12. Studying these will
answer this question. “How can I effectively pray for other
Christians?” I believe every child of God, should measure their
prayer life by these prayers. I did that to mine, and wouldn’t you
know it, I flunked!

Most of our prayers, are incredibly superficial. We seek to
change physical, or environmental situations. But Paul’s prayers
get down to the source of the problem. Down to the false
foundations. If we’re going to pray for each other, let’s pray with
God’s inspiration (“inspire” literally means, “to breathe in”). Let’s
pray, as God teaches us to pray. How wonderful would it be, if
you prayed for me, as Paul prayed for the Ephesians. If I prayed
for you, as Paul prayed for the Ephesians. It’s not grocery list
praying, “Bless the missionaries, provide a jeep, a computer, etc,
etc“ We will find the “life changing” principle of prayer in verse 17,