Paul's Prayer for the Ephesians - Part 2

The second thing Paul prays in Ephesians 1:18, is that the eyes of the understanding would be enlightened. In this passage it is hard to know if this is a thought to connect to what he was just asking about or whether it is explained in the next clauses. It could be either or both. So right now, let’s connect it to the previous section. He had just prayed that they would have a spirit of wisdom in the knowledge of God. We mentioned last time that this requires time in prayer and in the word, but it obviously requires that eyes will be opened to understand and gain the wisdom God has provided through His Word. So when we pray this for someone or for ourselves, we are praying that not only will they be spending the time needed to gain that wisdom, but that their eyes will be open to the truth that is there. By nature our eyes are blinded, but even after being born again, there is a haziness that settles over our spiritual lives if we are not actively engaged in healthy spiritual disciplines. So let me encourage you to pray not only for others, but for yourself as well that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened that we might gain the wisdom that comes from knowing God.

The Secret of a Successful Christian Life

It seems that often we are looking for the “secret” to some success. There are books entitled, “The Secret to a Happy Marriage,” or “The Secret to a Long Life.” Some Christians look high and low to find the secret to living the Christian life. People waste a lot of time investigating techniques or plans for spiritual growth. The real secret is that there is no secret. The essential ingredients for successful Christian living are few, very old, and well known. Here's the way I would express them using the words of Scripture:

1. Read the Word carefully and often. 1 Timothy 4:13 – Till I come give attention to reading.

Jeremiah 15:16 Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.

2. Study the Word diligently. 2 Timothy2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

3. Memorize it and meditate on it. Psalm 119:11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.

Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Psalm 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.

4. Pray often and about everything. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing.

Romans 12:12 ....continuing steadfast in prayer.

5. Worship, pray and fellowship regularly with other Christians. Acts 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Hebrews 10:25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

I believe those are the core activities that will strengthen and develop anyone in their walk with Christ. Take a good look at your life and ask yourself if you are engaged regularly, diligently, and consistently in each of these activities. Your answer will give you a clue as to the health of your Christian life.

Biblical Prayer Reminders

I've put together some biblical prayer promises and other reminders to share with our congregation on Wednesday night. I hope it can be of some encouragement to you in your prayer life.

Persistently - Mt 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Agreement - Mt 18:19 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.

Believing - Mk 11:24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

In Jesus' Name - Jn 14:14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (Also John 16:23)

Abide in Christ Jn 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

Bearing Fruit - Jn 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

Obediently - 1 Jn 3:22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

According to God's will - 1 Jn 5:14-15 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Fervently - Jas 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Earnestly - Col 4:2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;

Together, in one accord - Ac 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

Together, Continually - Ac 12:5 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.

Together, Continually, Steadfastly - Ac 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Continually, Steadfastly - Ro 12:12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;

Watchfully, Spiritually - Eph 6:18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—

Watchfully - 1 Pe 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.

Always - Lk 18:1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,

1 Th 5:17 pray without ceasing,

Boldly - Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Giving Thanks - Eph 1:16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:

...For all things - Eph 5:20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Confessing and Forgiving - Mt 6:12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.

Confessing our sins – 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Confessing corporate or national sins – Daniel 9:3-19 (See excerpt below)

Some Examples:

Php 1:9-10 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,

Eph 1:17-19 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, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, ....

Eph 3:16-19 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; ....

Col 1:9-12 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; that you may walk worthy of the Lord,....

2 Th 1:11 Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power,

Da 9:3-12 And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.... O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day... To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws,

....we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. And now, O Lord our God,...we have sinned, we have done wickedly! “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, .... Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. We do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

What does God want from me - Part 2

In this short series, I'm looking at the basics of the Christian life. What does God want from us? So often we are looking for the secrets to the Christian life. By secrets I mean those topics such as "5 steps to a brighter future" or "10 steps to successful living". As I've lived the Christian life for over 50 years, it seems to me that the basics are still the basics. We covered two of them last week: 1) Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength; and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself.

Today I'm thinking more in the line of spiritual disciplines that keep our relationship with God strong and our Christian life vital. What are those basic things?  I think we can boil them down to 1) Reading and studying the Scriptures; 2) Memorizing the Scriptures; 3) Meditating on them; 4) Praying; and 5) Gathering together with other believers for worship, prayer and teaching.

I'm not going to go into each of these right now because I think that most Christians who read this will know what I'm talking about. But some self-examination is probably in order. Look at each of the five things I listed in the previous paragraph and ask yourself these questions: 1) Do I involve myself regularly in this activity? and 2) What steps can I take today to fix any weakness I discovered in question 1?

Let's take the steps we need to take to be the faithful men God wants us to be.

Christian Manhood - Spiritual Disciplines

Besides laying aside things which hinder us as we talked about last time, God has given us several spiritual disciplines on which we should focus so that our lives grow and develop into greater Christ-likeness for His glory. Often in my life I have looked for the secret of victory or the three or four steps to greater spirituality. But it always comes down to the same things. There are no secrets here.

The first area of importance in the Christian life is the Scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that all Scripture is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for instruction in righteousness. If Scripture is profitable for these things then obviously we should be spending time reading and studying it, unless of course we are not interested in being taught or corrected.

Along with the reading and study of Scripture is memorization and meditation. Joshua 1:8 tells us that with constant meditation on the Word of God comes success and prosperity. Now he is not talking about worldly success and financial prosperity. He is speaking of spiritual success and prosperity, the kind that are ultimately more rewarding and satisfying than anything the world can provide. Psalm 1 speaks of the same thing. The man who spends time meditating on Scripture is compared to a tree planted where there is plenty of water. His leaf won’t wither and whatever he does, prospers. This is compared to the ungodly man who is more like chaff that is dry and lifeless and blown away by the wind. Which kind of man do you want to be?

Another important spiritual discipline is prayer. Men are not usually as consistent at this as women, and yet Paul told Timothy that he would have men (as distinct from women) pray. It’s a special challenge to us as men to be the leaders in prayer for our families and churches.

While I don’t understand all of the ins and outs of how prayer works and why God answers some the way we want and not others, there are several key passages of Scripture that give us a picture of what the conditions are for answered prayer.
Matthew 7:7 Pray persistently
Matthew 18:19 Pray in agreement with others
Matthew 21:22 Pray believing
John 15:7 Pray while abiding in Christ
John 16:24 Pray in Jesus’ Name
I John 5:14, 15 Pray in the will of God.

Memorization/Meditation Plan Coming

I hope your summer has been going well. I’ve been busy with a family trip to South Carolina, a train trip with my wife to Denver and an extended family campout at Spring Mill State Park in Indiana. If you see me personally, don’t ask about the 8 hour wait for the train in Denver or the invasion of the raccoons at Spring Mill because if you do, you’ll hear the long versions of both entertaining stories. Spring Mill, by the way is a very nice park with lots to do for the whole family.

One of the spiritual disciplines that we as faithful men ought to have is Scripture memorization and meditation. When I was in college and for a time thereafter, I used the Scripture memory plan published by the Navigators. What I liked about this plan was the outline of biblical topics that went with it. My intention is to go back through and focus on those passages and I invite you to do that with me. Beginning in September I’m going to use each Monday as the memorization/mediation day. I’ll post the verse for the week and the outline points that go with it. If you’d like to be emailed that information each Monday, let me know. Otherwise I just encourage you to check the blog on Mondays to find out the verse of the week.

Each month or so I pick a verse that I can use in praying for you and others in my life. This time I’m looking at Epesians 3:18, 19. Paul prayed that they “may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Take some time to think through all of the “impossible” things being prayed for here for real people, especially the part of being filled with all the fullness of God!

People don’t like to read long emails so I’ll quit for now. Remember if you want the memorization emails, let me know.

Have a great week.

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