Prayers of Paul Reading Plan- Day 4

       As a church family at Bethel Baptist church in Brookings, SD we are spending the next two weeks reading through most of the prayers of Paul.  Each day I will share my thoughts and reflections on here the day after the reading.  The encouragement was that we would read the assigned passages, write down some observations about what we read, and use those prayers to help us in our prayers that day.  Thursday's readings were 2 Corinthians 13:7-9, and Ephesians 1:15-23.  

2 Corinthians 13:7-9

But we pray to God that you may not do wrong- not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed.  For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.  For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong.  Your restoration is what we pray for."  

        Pray here gives a prayer for the believers in Corinth that is intermixed with his mission.  Paul, prays two things for the believers in Corinth.  He prays that they might not do wrong.  What is the wrong that he is praying against?  It is not fully known, but could probably summarize it simply to say that he is praying that hey continue to follow Jesus Christ in all areas of life.  Just before these verses Paul is telling them to test themselves to make sure that they are in Christ.  So Paul is praying that they would not drift and stop following Jesus Christ, but instead that they would remain in Christ.  After this initial prayer Paul goes on to say that he wants them to do this so that it will not seem like they have failed.  Paul's ministry has always been about proclaiming Christ and Him crucified and calling people to faith and repentance.  So were the believers in Corinth to cease believing in Christ Paul would see his ministry to them as a failure.  Paul adds that they are glad when he is weak and they are strong because he sees in the pouring out of himself the outcome he aims for in his ministry taking place in the strength of the believers in Corinth.  Concluding this prayer Paul says, I pray for your restoration.  Their restoration is based on Paul's primary motivation in ministry which is restoration to Jesus Christ.  We, like Paul, ought to be praying that those who are in Christ would do what is right, would remain in Christ, and wold be restored.  Spend time today praying that those who are in Christ would do what is right and would be restored.  

Ephesians 1:15-23, 

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 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, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.  And he put all things 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."  

       There is a lot in this prayer and if you have time I would encourage you to spend more than just a passing minute or two studying this passage and seeing all of what Paul is praying for here.  If you are interested you can listen to a sermon I gave on this passage here... http://www.bethelbaptistbrookings.org/#/sermons.  Once there click on "Launch the player" and  scroll down to March 1st, 2015 and you will find it there.  To hit on a couple aspects of this prayer here we first see that Paul is very concerned about their knowledge of God.  He asks that God would give them a Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.  This is one of the areas that from what I perceive where growth is needed.  We don't often put much of an emphasis on knowledge either in culture at large, or in our churches.  We focus a lot on experience, feelings, and if we focus on knowledge often times it is a focus on rote memory and not knowledge where what is known impacts the way we live our life.  So let's begin to pray for others, and ourselves, that we might grow in our knowledge of God.  A deep knowledge that impacts that way we live our lives day in and day out.  The other aspect of Paul's prayer here in Ephesians that I want to draw our attention to is his prayer that the believers would know the immeasurable greatness of God's power towards us who believe!  He goes on to explain that the power which is available to us who believe is the same power that brought Jesus Christ from the dead and seated him above all!  What a great and needed prayer.  Brothers and sisters in Christ might we know the power that is for us in Christ.  Might we experience that power more and might we believe in that power more.  Our fears, anxieties, and doubts would begin to fade away the more we believed in and experienced the immeasurable greatness of God's power towards us who believe!  Pray for that power for others, for you.  To be experienced, known, and trusted in.