PRAY SCRIPTURE | Part 1
A number of years ago, the Lord impressed me with praying for the men in my church using one of Paul’s prayers. I struggle with prayer: knowing what to pray, praying more specifically than “God bless Bob”, and in general having my mind wander all over the place. I found following and meditating on Paul’s example to be a real help which revolutionized (sounds too over the top, but I’ll leave it there until I find my thesaurus) how I prayed for others.
Ephesians 1:15-19a (NASB) “For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”
Paul is praying for believers in Ephesus, as indicated in the phrase “having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you”; the preface of his prayer. Contextually, I think we can follow Paul’s lead in utilizing his prayer for believers. Furthermore in 1 Corinthians 11:1, the Holy Spirit authorizes Paul to write “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”
At a simple level, following the example in Eph 1:16-17, a prayer could be “Thank you Lord for (person); for the faith he has in the Lord Jesus Christ and for his love for all the saints. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to (person) a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.”
As you pray and meditate on Paul’s words, you may find yourself pondering his choice of words. Sometimes, I’ll look at them and see which expressions are different than I would have expected. I’m sure that some of the word choices are based on a different cultural background and language, but still are worth examining. An initial couple of phrases that I had likely would not have used are “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ” and “Father of glory”.
One observation is that these two expressions pinpoint the member of the Trinity to whom the prayer is addressed, God the Father. Does it matter whether we pray to the Father, to Jesus Christ the Son, or to the Holy Spirit? Are there times when it is appropriate to address our prayers to an individual member of the Trinity?
The Greek word for glory is “doxa” and it occurs many times in both the Old and New Testaments. One verse that brings together “father” and “glory” that we are all familiar with is John 1:14 (speaking of Christ): “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” I don’t have a specific point to make, other than to glimpse another facet of “father of glory” as we consider Paul’s words and use them ourselves in prayer, sort of like turning a diamond (which in my case I don’t have) and getting a flash of light off another surface.