I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Ephesians 1:17-19 (NIV)

This week’s devotional is an excerpt from my latest book The Point: Journey to Life.  It is a reading from Chapter 13, How Should We Pray?  This subsection is titled “Paul’s Prayers.”

Paul’s Prayers

Paul’s prayers also have a spiritual focus.  It is possible that the prayers Paul wrote as part of his letters were different from the prayers that he spoke, but his letters describe the prayers he prayed for the people to whom he wrote and the prayers he requested that they pray for him.  While the record is certainly not complete, it provides glimpses into Paul’s prayers.  While he prayed for physical needs – Paul prayed that he would be able to visit the believers in Rome,[i] he prayed for safety as he traveled to Jerusalem with the love offering that he spent years collecting from churches he helped form,[ii] and he prayed for God to take away his thorn[iii] – the bulk of his prayers focused on spiritual matters.

Paul frequently started his prayers by praising God and thanking God.  When he wrote to the believers in Rome he started by saying, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because of your faith…” (Romans 1:8).  In 1 Corinthians he started his prayer saying, “I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:4).  In 2 Corinthians he wrote, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (2 Corinthians 1:3).  In his letter to the church in Ephesus he wrote, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realm with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).

After praising and thanking God, Paul often wrote about his prayers for spiritual transformation.  He asks God to transform the readers’ spirits and souls.  Let’s look at a few of his prayers.

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Romans 15:5-6

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.  For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge – God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you.  Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.  He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  1 Corinthians 1:4-9

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.  For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.  If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.  And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.  2 Corinthians 1:3-7

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.  I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.  Ephesians 1:17-19

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.  Ephesians 3:16-19

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.  Philippians 1:9-11

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.  For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  Colossians 1:9-14

In the last prayer quoted above, Paul prays that the reader’s mind, soul and spirit will be transformed through the indwelling Holy Spirit.  He prays that they will be filled with the Holy Spirit’s knowledge, wisdom and understanding, that the attributes will grow within them, that their actions will demonstrate the indwelling Holy Spirit and that they will bear fruit.  And Paul urges them to give thanks to God for His holy salvation and everything that comes with it.  Paul’s prayer focuses on spiritual qualities.

Considering the body of prayer above, over and over Paul prays that others might receive spiritual transformation.  He asks God to replace their spirits with His Holy Spirit.  He uses a variety of words, but the theme is spiritual transformation.  Paul asks God to give others the attitude of Jesus Christ, the spirit of unity, joy, peace, hope, love, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, strength and endurance.  He reminds his readers that God has already enriched them.  God has already given them His holy speech, knowledge and other spiritual gifts. 

Paul’s prayers for the Ephesians are direct appeals for transformation. He asks God to give His Holy Spirit of wisdom and revelation and to enlighten people’s spirits such that they might know the hope and wonderful gifts and power available for them through God.  He asks that God give them His strength, power and love through His Holy Spirit as He dwells within them, and that through the Holy Spirit they would fully understand, fully appreciate and be filled with the love of Jesus Christ.

How do Paul’s prayers help us learn how to pray?  While Paul prayed for physical protection and he prayed for God to remove his thorn, the vast majority of his prayers written in letters interceded for the spiritual transformation of his readers.  His example encourages us to pray for spiritual transformation, to focus on spiritual needs of people around us, and to see the wonderful spiritual gifts available from God.

May God continue to transform your spirit and soul through Christ Jesus, may you continue to abide in Christ Jesus as He abides in you.  Go in peace, Amen.

[i] Romans 1:10

[ii] Romans 15:31

[iii] 2 Corinthians 12:7-9