Praying for what St Paul prayed (2)
FOR INCREASED KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD
-- Eph. 1:17 (NIV) "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know Him better…."
-- Col. 9-10 "…we have not ceased to pray for you…that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord...increasing in the knowledge of God."
For Paul and for us, knowing God, personally and intimately, is the highest knowledge. This knowledge, at one level, can be found in reading the Bible, both Old and new Testaments. But the danger of this is that it becomes head knowledge where you have a lot of facts but not the feelings of intimacy that are important when you don’t understand!
Our prayers for our loved ones concerning knowledge of the Lord fall into a few areas.
First of all we pray for people to receive the saving knowledge of Jesus for our sins. This is the first and most important prayer for your loved ones who are not believers. This is our first and most important prayer for those who have not known Jesus’ love and forgiveness.
Secondly we pray for the knowledge of God where we experience a deeper intimacy with God. We need to know God, Jesus and the Spirit as a “person” where we gain that intimate knowledge about how they “tick”!
Thirdly, we pray for the knowledge of the Lord found through reading His Word, the Bible. We pray that people’s hearts and minds would be enlightened in the knowledge of the Truth.
Fourthly, we pray for the knowledge of God’s ways so that we may know the way to walk with Jesus especially when temptation comes along.
Fifthly we pray for revelation knowledge where we receive a “word” that comes from left field and opens us up to new possibilities and opportunities for us.
This type of praying for others and ourselves will give God the opportunity to amazing things in the lives whom we pray for and ourselves!
FOR INCREASED KNOWLEDGE Of HIS WILL:
-- Phil. 1:9-10 (NIV) "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best…."
-- Col. 1:9 "we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding...."
The heart of Jesus was to do the will of the Father. For he knew that in doing God’s will, his life and mission on earth would be the most fruitful. The discovered the will of God through His prayer life and his ability to listen to the inner voice of God.
There were only two places recorded where he heard the audible voice of God: His baptism and transfiguration. The rest of the time, he discovered God’s will through His spiritual listening.
He taught his disciples and us to pray Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!
It is not easy to know the will of God for our lives. We have blockages and perceptions that can stop us discerning the will of God. We fail to comprehend and embrace the big things that God wants to do in and through us.
But that should not stop us praying for knowledge of the will of God for our lives, our family and friends and our church leaders.
But it is important to know God’s will so that you may do it! It is important that we know as a church what is God’s will for us. There are many good things that we could do but what is the God thing!
Knowing God’s will and doing it brings many wonderful blessings to our life and our church’s life.
Seek the Lord about His will for you, your family members and our church. Share what the Lord has shown you with the appropriate people.
4.) FOR INCREASED KNOWLEDGE OF HIS LOVE:
-- Eph. 3:17b-19 (NIV) "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power…to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge…
For Paul, the most important thing for Him was God’s love for him. From his chequered past as a terrorist from the Sanhedrin to hunt down Christians to the apostle sent by God to the Gentiles to make Christians, his life was sustained by God’s love for him.
God’s love for him was the foundation of his life and determined everything he said and did. This knowledge of God’s love for him sustained him through all the beatings and trials and near death experiences that he endured to bring the gospel to people.
He wrote in Romans 8:38 that nothing could separate us from the love of God.
His prayer for the Ephesians that they would know intimately God’s love for them in the same way that Paul knew God’s love for himself.
For it is only this love that can sustain life. It is only this love that can endure all that life throws at people. It is only this love that can surround us and hold us when our world falls apart.
This love was more than an intellectual thought or a fuzzy feeling but something that went deep into his emotional being.
Our prayer for others including our loved ones is that they may know/experience this love.
Meditate on the passage from Ephesians and seek deeper revelation of God’s love. Ask God to fill you with this love. Like an addict, never be satisfied with a little but want more and more. Let this love be the fuel that sustains every aspect about your life.
INCREASED KNOWLEDGE OF THE RICHES WE HAVE:
-- Ephesians 1:18 "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know…what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…."
-- Philemon.1:6 (NIV) "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ."
We live in a world that defines riches in terms of money and property. We have the ten richest people list. At this moment Gina Reinhart who is worth billions of dollars is in an unhealthy legal stoush with her children over money.
For Paul our wealth is found not in money but in the Master. This can be summarised in the following:
- Forgiveness of sins. 1Peter 2:24, 1Peter 3:18.
- Right relationship with God. Accepted as a son/daughter of God the Father. Romans 5:1, 2 Corinthians 6:18.
- Separated from the old life of sin. Baptised into Christ. Put on Christ. Romans 6:1-14, Galatians 3:27.
- Baptised with the Holy Spirit. Becoming the temple of God. God’s presence in our lives. Acts 1:5, Acts 2:1-4, 1Corinthians 3:16, Hebrews 13:5,6, Exodus 33:14.
- Healing for our bodies. Matthew 8:16,17, James 5:14-16, 1Peter 2:24, Malachi 4:2, Psalms 107:20, Proverbs 4:20-22.
- Provision of all our needs, spiritual, mental, physical, material, financial. Philippians 4:19, Ruth 2:12, Malachi 3:10.
- Deliverance from evil. Colossians1:13, Luke 11:4, Luke 10:19, Matthew 16:17, 1 John 3:8, 1 John 4:4, 1John 2:13.
- Our work of service of worship, witness, caring, fellowship, discipleship, family and job/business. John 4:23, Acts 1:8, Matthew 25:35,36, 1Corinthians 11:24-26,
Matthew 28:19, Galatians 6:10, Ephesians 6:1-4, Ephesians 6:5-9.
We are greatly rich in heavenly terms. But note that God does not ignore our material needs!
Meditate on the above passages to appreciate your riches. Thank God for what you have in Christ. Pray for each area for yourself and others that God brings to mind.