19.05 | What Apostles Pray
Ephesians 1:1-2:10
‘I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him’
Ephesians 1:16-17
I loved being prayed for by John.
John was a big character in our church growing up. Funny, irreligious, generous, and deep. I grew up in a church that had been greatly impacted by the Vineyard movement, including an expectation that the Spirit would be at work in the prayer time after the talk, during the worship service. Being hungry for more of God’s work, I’d often go forwards and ask for prayer. And, where possible, I’d make for John.
Receiving prayer can be vulnerable. It brings your story to a person, and then you allow that person to articulate their desires for you, hopefully in interaction with the words of the Spirit. It is a meeting of what you want and what they hope for and what the Spirit is doing.
One of the things I loved about John’s prayer for me was this: he articulated desires for my life that were beyond that which I’d imagined. I brought him my hunger, and he articulated a longing for my life that was beyond and more beautiful than what I’d even started dreaming about. After years of faithful discipleship, he knew that the heart of the Father for me was more greatly expansive than I’d ever anticipated, and stretched my understanding of the heart of the Father through articulating these lovingly ambitious prayers over my life.
Today we’re starting Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. He’d planted this church in Ephesus, a major city of pagan worship and trade on the west coast of ancient Asia Minor. His time there had been of extraordinary impact. Paul spent two full years there, building and strengthening the church. So great was the invasion of the Kingdom of God into Ephesus, that pagans were burning their magical scrolls publicly, and people were carrying handkerchiefs from Paul to the sick, who became well just by touching these pieces of fabric. The social transformation was so radical, that those who made idols for the temples of the city eventually start to riot due to their waning business, because in this city the idols were being dethroned in favour of the exclusive Lordship of Jesus.1
As Paul writes to these people, in this city, with this backstory, he prays for them. Knowing all that has happened, he still shares his heart for what they can continue to become.
Look at what he prays.
He prays that their hearts would be enlightened by God so that they can see more truly, with wisdom and revelation and knowledge of God. He prays that they would know the magnitude and beauty of the hope to which they’re called, transforming their perspective to view all things in light of the eternal and enduring reign of Jesus. He prays that they may know the magnificence of their coming inheritance and the awesome magnitude of the power of God. And he prays knowing that that the Jesus who has established them is seated above every authority and power, in all glory, unto days unending. He has positioned us right there with Him.
Paul’s prayer gives us an invitation to a fresh hunger for our own growth, and the growth of those around us. It interrupts our tendency to only hoping for a measure of spirituality that is small and tame and safe. It intercepts our stagnancy and every place where we have settled for small. Paul’s prayer names a longing that your life, too, be engorged with holy fire, in the endless increase of the knowledge of the goodness, power, and impending glory of our Lord.
Reflect:
Compare your ambitions for your own spiritual growth with the prayer of Paul.
Compare your ambitions for the growth of those around you with the prayer of Paul.
Ask the Spirit to enlarge your heart and increase your vision.
Turn this to prayer.
Pray:
Father in heaven,
Where my vision has settled too small,
Enlarge it.
Where I have become comfortable with the security of a tepid faith,
Increase me.
Where I have dreamed too small for those around me,
Help me to see them as you do.
And so, Father, I pray,
Would you light up my eyes,
That I may see the extraordinary beauty to which you have called me.
Make me dazzling in hope,
And mighty in your power,
And deeply established in your love.
Establish your glory and your Way in me
Until I am ablaze with the flames of your Kingdom,
That my life may be a beacon of the life that is coming,
Unto the transformation of my city,
And the honour of my King.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
2 Samuel 20-21 | Psalm 66
You can read all this in Acts 19