“Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.”
Ephesians 1:15-20 NLT
As Paul shines light in his prayers, we can see how his heart is specifically worried about the continued influence of the Jewish law and the new influence of proto-Gnostic teachings. His transparency is refreshing, but in it, we can see how clear Paul is about his methods of discipleship. Specifically, he prays for wisdom to produce understanding, light to produce discernment, and understanding to produce hope in God’s great love for his people. This prayer is brilliant as a stand alone prayer, but coupled with the fact that Paul was facing dissenters who mishandled the law to produce false hope, and misunderstood human nature as a thing to be enlightened for salvation, Paul’s prayer makes perfect sense. In our prayers, we must understand what is needed for the people for whom we are interceding. People’s prayers are general and sloppy in their focus, wishing a basic goodwill or providence upon one’s life. Paul demonstrates that our hearts should pray with boldness and specificity. We should be as doctors describing to the Great Physician our intake of the patient of whom we are transferring care.
JOSH McGARY. COM 