This morning we continue our series, “Maximizing 2015 by God’s GREAT GRACE” by continuing to teach on prayer. Last week we closed out the week by looking at Ephesians 1:7-12. Today we will continue to learn from Paul’s letter as we seek to flow in the same vein.
The Apostle Paul, a man who spent years fighting against the cause of Christ, who had Christians killed and imprisoned, and who later accepted his call to serve the man (Jesus) he was fighting against, clearly understood grace. In a different letter Paul wrote, “Even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace” (Gal 1:15). In spite of everything he had done, Paul knew he was a product of God’s grace. So if anyone knew how to pray from a position of grace, it was Paul. Let’s see how Paul prayed for the believers at Ephesus.
This is Paul’s prayer: “I always pray to the great and glorious Father, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that he will give you the Spirit, who will let you know truths about God and help you understand them, so that you will know him better. I pray that God will open your minds to see his truth. Then you will know the hope that he has chosen us to have. You will know that the blessings God has promised his holy people are rich and glorious. And you will know that God’s power is very great for us who believe. It is the same as the mighty power he used to raise Christ from death and put him at his right side in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 1:15-20 ERV).
So what does this mean to you today? Let’s learn from the way Paul prayed.
1. Paul prayed for divine insight from the Holy Spirit.
a) Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesus to have to Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God.
b) Paul asked God to open their minds to see the truth of what He had already provided.
c) Paul was basically asking God to lead the believers, through His Holy Spirit, so they would know what to pray for and what to pursue.
d) For you this means that you should ask the Holy Spirit to lead you concerning your prayer life.
e) The Holy Spirit can tell you what to pray for… which is basically what God has already provided you by His grace.
2. Paul prayed that they would know the hope God had already chosen for them to have.
a) Paul was not praying for God to give them whatever they hoped for. No, Paul was praying that they would know the hope God had already provided for them, by His grace.
b) You can come up with things to ask God for and then hope He gives them to you, or you can ask God to reveal to you what is already yours, and then have FAITH to receive it.
c) If you don’t know God’s will concerning something, then the best you can do is hope or wish. But when you know God’s will, you can have faith – faith that accesses God’s grace.
3. Paul prayed that they would know the blessings God has promised His holy people are rich and glorious.
a) Paul wanted the believers to know how glorious God’s promises truly are.
b) When you get a revelation/understanding of God, of what He has done for you, and of what He plans to do through you life, you won’t be able to restrain your divine hope.
c) God is a good God and He wants to use you by His grace, because He’s good. Not because you earned it or deserve it.
4. Paul prayed that they would know God’s power is available to them.
a) Paul wanted the believers to know that God’s power is freely available to them – the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.
b) When you understand that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is freely available to you, it changes the way you see challenges, and it changes the way you pray.
5. Paul did not pray for God to give them whatever they wanted.
a) Paul was actually praying that they would want what God had already provided for them by grace.
b) When you pray you are not ordering God around and God is not serving you like a waiter. No, productive prayers are prayed that are prayed from a position of death-to-self. When you yield your will to God and you open your heart to receive all He has already provided you to have, you can then use your faith to access His grace, through prayer.
c) God has already made plans for you for 2015. Your job is to find out what those plans are, to submit/surrender to God’s will, and to then pray in faith to access God’s grace for His best to manifest in your life this year.
*** My prayer for you is that this year would be the best year of your life. But it will not come with more trying… it will come with more DYING! Dying to self is how you will access God’s GREAT GRACE in this season!
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for Your Great Grace towards me. I also thank You for teaching me to pray and to pray from a position of grace. I learn from the Apostle Paul. He did many things wrong, but he later acknowledged that You called him from his mother’s womb. Like Paul, I am a product of Your grace. I only am who I am by Your grace, and Your grace towards me shall not be in vain. I am determined to maximize the purpose and potential You placed IN me. To do so I will not pursue my will, but Yours. I will not waste my prayer time asking You for a laundry list of things I came up with. I will die to self, yield to the Holy Spirit, and allow Your Spirit, IN ME, to lead me to pray for what You have already given me. You made plans for me before the foundations of the world, and I now align my life with those plans. I pray in faith, to access Your grace, for what You have already planned for me to have, Praying this way, my prayers are effective, Your power is released in my life, You accomplish Your Kingdom plans and purposes for me, and I become the person I was born to be. None of me, all of You. This is my prayer, this is my charge, this is my life! So as I enter into this day, I ask You to speak through my vocal chords, to think through my mind, and to operate through my limbs, that Your very power would be seen and manifested in the earth through me! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper!
