Prayer of a matured Christian (prayers of Apostle Paul)
A. Why prayer
Praying for each other is important; in fact it carries more value than just encouraging words. We could then become the source for that single moment but praying takes the person we intercede for to the Eternal Source.
Prayer calls up to the Highest Heavens to impart Heavenly wisdom and revelation of Christ (we can’t truly reveal Christ in all His fullness, Jesus has to do that Himself as He did to Paul on the road to Damascus) . It’s Christ the Savior who supplies all the necessities of those who trust Him, and give them all blessings in the richest abundance. Prayer leads us to seek the Blessor Himself rather than for the blessing.
B. The Model Prayer
Matt
5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.[b] 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words
1. Pray is breath to a Christian, if prayer-less than graceless.
2. Religiosity (true that only the religious pray) in prayer condemns us to both vain-glory and vain-repetitions.
- Vain-glory: if our prayer is liken to working for a reward, what value then is it? Prayer is of grace, not of debt.
- Vain-repetition: What merit can there be in begging? If God doesn’t give what we ask, it’s time we learn that we have to trust Him that we don’t need it. Even in prayer we learn to abandon ourselves to the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. It takes a renewal of our minds (Rom 12:2) to God as such.
C. Contents of Mature Prayer
These are key prayers Paul made for the Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, and let’s extract the essence and depth of his prayers that reached the Throne of God.
Key points:
1. The Father – deepening relationship
- The biggest breakthrough in prayer is that God being our Heavenly Father. The Father figure of God is the key to providence, protection, forgiveness, hope, love, etc. From Whom we receive the vs. 18 ‘…the glory of our inheritance…’
- We then live lives thankful to our Heavenly Father because He truly is our all in all. The deep sense of gratitude must rise from our hearts for by His grace we are saved (Eph 2:8,9). We come before the Throne of God not as demanding children, but with the truth that we wholly belong to Him. For without His grace we will be enemies of God, condemned to eternal death.
- Our inheritance is the
- Jesus in His ministry on earth always depended on the Father. John 10:37,38
37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe[d] that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”
- As Jesus was one with the Father, we too should pray that we have the renewed mind and transplanted heart from God.
- Our Christian walk should be as Enoch walked that careful to live to please the God whom he loved. The experience of being in deepening relationship with the Heavenly Father became Heavenly for Enoch finally.
Eph 1:17, Eph 3:14-16,
2. Wisdom imparted
- The Word of God is the Wisdom for us to live by, Josh 1:8
- The Word of God is a double edged sword (machaira: short knife for close combat or cutting up flesh), Heb 4:12. God’s Word has the power to convince powerfully, converts powerfully and comforts powerfully).
- No better revelation of Christ than through the Holy Scriptures. After all it’s authored by the God Himself and has great profit for us. 2 Tim 3:16
Eph 1:17, 18,
3. Deeply rooted, strengthened and founded
- Roots are underground, unseen but yet it determines the life above ground where it’s visible. There are shallow roots and there are deep ones, which one will survive the storm? Roots get the nutrients from good soil. Matt 6:6 is about the secret prayer life that we MUST have first that the external will yield it’s evidence, not the contrary.
- Our own strength will fail, His strength is powerful to carry us through all circumstances with patience and long suffering with nothing less than going through them all with joy. Strength to endure to the end comes being loyal, perfect, complete, secure, peaceful in heart to God. 2 Chron 16:9
Eph 3:17,
4. Fruition
- Fruit of God’s control over our lives. ‘…His power toward us…’ Often we want to experience God’s power through us toward others, the reverse is what God wants to do. True fruits are then yielded as in Gal 5:22,23 are dealing God has over our lives to produce.
- God wants to harvest the fruits from our lives that brings Him the glory and good pleasure, as our Father in Heaven.
Eph 1:19, Eph 3:21, Phil 1:6, Phil 1:1,
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Eph 1:15
Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding[c] being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Eph 3:14
For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,[c] 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Phil 1:3
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
Phil 1:9
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
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