By Not Known
If you were granted a wish before the throne of the richest and most powerful monarch on earth, what would you ask for? To ask for something too small will not commensurate with the ability of the king to grant your request. To ask for something big but trivial will show your lack of forethought and depth in character. So what would you ask for?
How about when you come before the God who is greater than all earthly kings, and who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we can ever ask or imagine, what will you ask Him for? Of course God is not a man. We can bring any request to Him without Him ever loving us the less. Still the best way to learn prayer is to look to God’s word, such as to the Apostle Paul, one who had been granted insights and revelations into the mysteries of God beyond the ordinary. What would the Apostle Paul ask God for? We find his answer in Ephesians 3:15-21. Paul asked for the most precious gift, a gift of infinite worth that only God can grant.
Notice in verse 15, how Paul would bow his knees before the Father, in utter humility, submission, and adoration; in acknowledgement of God as the benevolent source of all life and existence. He prayed then for the inner man in every Ephesian Christian. He asked this Trinitarian God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — to work in the whole person, including spirit, heart, and mind. He prayed for the inner man to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit, for the heart to be filled with Christ, and for the mind to comprehend the incomprehensible love of Christ, so that the entire person may be full of God, filled with the divine character of God Himself. And the answer to this prayer is intricately tied to the church—past, present and future. It is to be worked out in the life of the church. Paul recognised that the manifold wisdom of God is being revealed through His redemptive, reconciliatory, and reforming work in the midst of the diverse makeup of the church.
What motivated such a prayer? The answer is found in Ephesian 3:20-21. He prayed for God to be glorified in the church and in Christ Jesus. Such a prayer glorifies God because the power of God alone is able and more than sufficient to accomplish such a feat. The answer to this prayer will result in the glory of God revealed in and through the church. As the church grows to know and live out the love of Christ, it will reveal the glory of Christ. Such a prayer alone befits who God is and what He has and will accomplish through Christ. God will answer such a prayer throughout all generations, even into eternity. Such a prayer has the capacity to grip our hearts, our minds, our imaginations, and our aspirations. So what will you ask God for? How will Paul’s prayer shape yours when you come before the throne of God?