Praying Biblically in 2014 continues...

The power of the resurrected and reigning Christ is ours today!

~Eph. 1:15-23~

“In the same way that we give thanks to God when we recognize his quiet and effective work in our lives, so also we thank God when we hear of his work in others. … if we intend to imitate the prayers of Paul, we will be attentive to reports of the progress of the gospel, not only in circles immediately around us, but also from places we have never visited” (D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation. Baker, © 1992, pg. 171).

I.               Thanksgiving – vss. 15-16

a.     What is Paul pointing back to by using the phrase “for this reason” in vs. 15?

                                               i.     “every spiritual ____________” – vs. 3

                                             ii.     Our ______________ before the world began – vs. 4

                                            iii.     His God-ordained, joyful ____________ of us into his eternal family – vs. 5

                                            iv.     Our ______________ and _________________ of sins – vs. 7

                                              v.     Being marked by the ______ ________ - vs. 13-14.

                                            vi.     Are you a “Bryan Linn”?

b.    What are the other 2 elements that cause Paul to launch into Thanksgiving?

                                               i.     Whose faith can you give thanks to the Lord for, right now?

                                             ii.     What person, or people, or groups, or “saints” can you thank God for, for how they show love to others?

c.     Let us be like the angels who rejoice over even a single, repentant sinner (Luke 15:7, 10) Let’s pray…

II.              Intercession – vss. 17-23

a.     What does the structure or order of Paul’s prayer teach us?

                                               i.     How does Paul’s prayer of intercession in vs. 17 parallel his prayer of thanksgiving in vs. 16?

“Praise gives wings to our petitions. The more my heart is occupied with God’s goodness, the more thankful I am for the favors already bestowed on me, the more will my soul be stirred up in seeking further mercies, the more liberty shall I experience in making requests for them, and the more expectation shall I have to receive the same” (A.W. Pink, Gleanings From Paul, p. 75)

                                             ii.     If this is Paul’s example (“I keep asking,” also seen in 1 Thess. 5:17) and Jesus’ command (Lk. 11:5-10 and 18:1-8) what stops us?

Survey of hands:

b.     According to Psychologist David Myers, the following are the most common fears or phobias people have. How many of you fear…

                                               i.     Snakes, spiders and other creepy crawly things?

                                              ii.     High places?

                                            iii.     Being in a closed space?

                                            iv.     Storms, thunder and lighting?

                                              v.     Being alone in a house at night?

                                            vi.     Being in a crowd of people?

                                           vii.     Speaking in Public?

                                         viii.     How about toes? Just kidding, that wasn’t in Myer’s list, LOL. J

c.      The church in 1^st century Ephesus also had their own fears:

                                               i.     Ephesus = a place of religious pluralism - 50 different gods and goddesses were worshipped.

                                              ii.     Ephesus = the sacred home to the Artemis cult.

                                            iii.     People practiced magic, and believed that good and evil spirits were involved in every area of life. 

                                            iv.     End result of this religious pluralism? FEAR, life devoid of hope.

                                              v.     Thus, Paul wrote and prayed that they would have “an increased awareness of God’s power” (Zondy BBC) because of the spiritual battle they were in “against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (6:12).

d.     His intercessory prayer consists of what kind of requests?

                                               i.     ___________________ of God via wisdom and __________________, vs. 17.

1.     This isn’t “special information” that helps us win Bible Trivia Pursuit but rather knowledge that helps us go deeper in our relationship with Christ.

2.     “The heart of a person needs not merely more refined theological concepts, but the work of the Spirit integrating these with their perception and so restructuring their will and life” (M. Turner, New Bible Commentary, p. 1227).

                                              ii.     Spiritual __________________ à hope, vs. 18.

1.     Why was hope such a powerful prayer request for the Ephesians? For us today?

                                            iii.     God’s mighty __________, vss. 19-23.

1.     What key word is crucial for understanding Paul’s thought?

2.     The same power God used to raise Christ from the grave is the same “incomparably great power for us who believe!”

3.     The same power in Christ that allowed him to walk the earth in His resurrected body for 40 days appearing to “Peter, then to the 12, then to more than 500 of the brothers, then to James, then to all the apostles and to Paul” is the same “incomparably great power for us who believe!”

a.     If we could only grasp this truth, how our lives and world would be changed!!

“Note here what the apostle’s prayers were like. The fact that he prayed without ceasing to God was the result of his faith, the fact that he made mention of the churches while giving thanks and praying for them was the result of his love. God will certainly approve of such prayers because they are borne up to heaven on the wings of faith and love”

(Wolfgang Musculus, Commentary on Ephesians, Basel: Herwag, 1561. From The Reformation Commentary on Scripture: Galatians and Ephesians, IVP © 2011, pg. 265).