Imagine getting VIP tickets to the Super Bowl. After watching the game, you have access to the locker room, where you run into the winning quarterback. He puts his arm around your shoulder and walks you over to a quiet corner of the room. While his teammates are celebrating and giving interviews, the two of you have a 15-minute conversation and get to know each other a little. Would you feel special? Would you possibly tell that story to every single person you meet for the rest of your life?
Now imagine, that instead of a conversation with the Super Bowl MVP, you have the daily opportunity to talk to the creator of the universe. Do you take advantage of God’s open-door policy?
Prayer is an incredible privilege because it involves conversation with our heavenly Father. But, for many of us, there are times when it can seem more like a duty than a joy. If we reduce prayer to a routine process, it can deaden our time in talking with our Father in heaven.
Brush our teeth, turn out the lights, pray, go to sleep.
Sit down for dinner, pray, eat.
If prayer becomes a habit, it loses it’s special, miraculous nature. In Ephesians 3:16-21 Paul’s prayer demonstrates what a privilege prayer is …. “I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen”. Paul’s prayer inspires us with a greater comprehension of Christ’s love for us. It’s not a human level of love. It’s a love that is incomprehensibly wide and unfathomably deep.
Paul’s desire is for us to be so firmly rooted and grounded in the Lord’s truth that we will become controlled by it and filled up with the fullness of God. The most important battles take place inside us — in our minds, in our wills, and in our emotions. Paul wants to ensure that the power of the Holy Spirit will be at work in us, as He also encourages us to be strengthened with the Lord’s supernatural power.
When we welcome His authority, God can use us in meaningful ways, and what’s more, we will exhibit the life of Jesus in a fuller measure. Although physical and material needs are important, the apostle’s prayers more often focus on the spiritual welfare of others. May our heavenly Father bless you richly with His love, joy, peace, and patience as you seek His will through frequent, and earnest prayers.
In Christ,
Bill