Paul consistently kept a divine perspective in his prayers. First of all, he kept the character of God in the forefront of his thinking. He also recognized those who were thriving spiritually, thanked God for them, and asked the Lord to build up the saints.
In the first chapter of Ephesians, Paul made four petitions, which still apply to believers today. First, he asked God to give the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so they—and we—may know him better. Paul wanted the Holy Spirit to—one—reveal to us the deeper truths of our relationship with Christ—two—to illuminate our minds with understanding, and—three—to give us the wisdom to apply what we learn. Finally, the apostle prayed the saints would experience the Spirit's supernatural power working in our lives. Paul's desire is that we would move from mere head knowledge to practical understanding. So, he asked the Lord to make that happen.
Paul recognized that when we deepen our comprehension of God, accept who we are in Christ, and encounter the indwelling Spirit's awesome power, we will be able to face whatever comes our way. Let's commit to offering these types of prayers to God on behalf of others.
Today's thoughts are taken directly from Dr Charles Stanley's Daily Devotional. To bookmark his devotional page go to this link: In Touch
This blog used to be solely about prayer. Indeed, back in the early days when my blog was on aol, I would write every day about what the bible has to say about prayer, dicusss my own prayer habits, and spend lots of time just praying in intercession for others... Dr Stanley's devotional this morning has motivated me to get back into the study of prayer because although I have read ephesians many times, I had not seen the first chapter through that perspective.
And right here God is just just verifying something I had already suspected: That I don't know very much...!
You know, the church background I grew up in really stressed rote memorization of standard prayers like the 'Our Father', and 'Hail Mary', prayers. I don't believe I had ever really heard another person pray a personal prayer to God until I was a senior in high school. That's crazy, isn't it...? But for the first 18 years of my life my family just prayed 'standard form prayers'.
Consequentially, I was a little bit intimidated by praying a personal prayer to God at first. It was kind of intimidating to be in the actual presence of the Creator of the Universe for the first few times and have a personal conversation with Him. I still don't know if I've got the hang of it...
Dear Heavenly Father,
Lord, I thank You for an awesome day yesterday. I thank You that You really have been opening my eyes lately to a closer relationship with You. Father, I know that to those who is given much then much is expected in return. I do want to give my all to You, Jesus.
I love You, Lord. I Thank You for the precious gift of Salvation. I thank You for my wife and my boys. And I will honor You by loving them and pouring out my life into them and giving You the thanks, praise, and glory every day for every good thing in my life.
And Lord I will even prasie You for the storms in life because I know they are there to mold and shape me and draw me closer to You.
Dear Jesus, thank You for prayer. And Thank You that you are a God that hears the prayers of Your people. You are an awesome God, a Mighty God...
Father God I give this day to You and I pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen.
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