Friday, August 4, 2023
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21
Prayer of Intercession submitted by Kay Crumley
What is intercession? It is the action of intervening on behalf of another. It is what we do when we defend someone to another or attempt to explain their intention to someone who might not understand them. Intercessory prayer is the action of saying a prayer on behalf of another person. We may pray for one who is in need and is unable or unwilling to pray for themselves. Or we see the extreme need for God’s hand on their life to meet their need and then we join them in praying for that need. Romans 8:26 tells us that the Spirit helps us in our weakness by interceding to the Father when we don’t have the words to express our need. Jada Edwards, from “When we Pray” provides this instruction.
In today’s passage, we see Paul interceding on behalf of the believers in Ephesus. In verse 14 he has reason to kneel before the Father. The reason, found in the earlier chapters, include that we are a new family, one body in Christ. The Jew and Gentile believers are now one family created by Christ that anyone can be a part of. That is a mystery given the cultural division in those two groups of people, yet it is truth. We are all members of the family of God, vs 15. That demands unity with one another within His family as we sit next to each other at our Father’s table.
Paul has asked for four things in verses 16-19:
Be Strengthened through the power of His Spirit. He is the source of all power. We should pray that our fellow believers be strengthened according to His riches.
Let Christ Dwell in our inner being. Your inner being is your heart, the center of your being. That happens when we abide in Him through our daily walk with Him. Faith grows by experiencing His provision for each day. Romans 10:7 teaches that faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ. Spend time in His Word, learn His faithfulness and His character.
Be Grounded in His Love. Grow in the understanding of His love that is so vast, so deep that it is beyond our ability to comprehend. Be rooted in Him that we read about in Psalm 1:3, planted by the water and bears fruit in season. Pray for our fellow believers that they will know the fullness of Christ so that they are always filled by His love that is more than we can imagine. Be grounded in the love of Christ, not self-love, so that we can intercede for others.
Be Filled with the Fullness of God. We can have God present in our lives, as we receive the Spirit as salvation, but we may not be full of Him if we don’t make Him prominent. We need an all-powerful, always present God. Matthew 22:37-40 is the Great Commandment given to us by Jesus. Love God first – with all your heart, soul and mind - and other second – loving your neighbor as yourself.
How can we possibly achieve those four things? That is answered in verses 20-21. We cannot do that in our own power or efforts. We can only do that by the power of Christ in us. He who has more power than we can ask or imagine. That incomprehensible power in us is what will accomplish the requests in this intercessory prayer from Paul. All of that is to be to His glory alone, not for our glory. We must advocate for others with a heart of Christ that He will pour the lavishness of His love on us and our churches. We serve a perfect God who gives perfect purpose to imperfect people – to the glory of Jesus Christ.
