Prayer for Transformation
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:14-21
Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us (see Matthew 1:23). Just before ascending to heaven, Jesus promised to be with us forever (see Acts 1:8), and He is. The Holy Spirit surrounds us and dwells within us. He is the Prince of Peace, and He promises those who come to Him receive His rest (see Matthew 11:28). He is with us, but how do we go to Him?
When He stirs our heart we feel a longing, a craving, a need to fill an emptiness in our hearts, and while we may not know what we seek, we sense an unfulfilled desire that only He can fill. As we seek Him, we begin to find Him through His holy word, and through prayer, and through communion with people God places in our path. It is beautiful when we gather with others seeking God together, crying out to Him with one another, because through it we experience His holy Presence.
Last week we gathered as a church for a time of praise, worship, Holy Communion, and prayer. While discussing prayer, I mentioned a thought regarding structuring prayer by considering upward, inward and outward focuses of prayer. I realize the words are inadequate to capture the thought, so please stay with me for a moment. By upward I mean focusing exclusively on God, praising and worshiping Him because He is who He is, because He alone is worthy of our praise and worship, and because there is no other like Him. He is the holy, divine, pure One, who created the universe and everything in it by speaking, who has all power and authority in heaven and on earth. He alone is worthy of our praise and worship, and we thank Him because He blesses us over and over in countless ways.
When I think of praising God, I think of the example John witnessed during his heavenly visitation recorded in Revelation. At chapter 4 we see John’s description of the One whose glory is brighter and more brilliant than anything on earth, beyond earthly comparison, beyond the ability of our limited language to communicate, seated on a throne surrounded by twenty-four elders and four heaven creatures continuously singing, “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come” (Revelation 4:8). Amazing heavenly creatures bask in God’s glory, continuously praising God because He alone is worthy of praise, and as I consider upward prayer, I seek to follow their example.
Can you imagine seeing what John saw? Can you imagine basking in His holy Presence, surrounded by His glory, joining in the angelic hymn of praise? We can and should, all the time.
As we look upward, bowing before God Almighty, praising Him, we acknowledge all the things He continuously does for us. I thank God for the fact that I awoke this morning, I have fresh air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink, a roof over my head, sunshine to warm the day, a car to get to work, work to perform, and so much more.
By outward, I am thinking of intercessory prayer. We pray for other people, asking God to reach into our realm and respond to their needs. By inward, I am thinking of prayer asking God to continue cleansing us, continue transforming us into Christ’s holy image, continue pulling us along the path toward Him and His holiness. With these thoughts in mind, please consider one of Paul’s prayers in Ephesians.
Paul begins chapter 3 mentioning his imprisonment and explaining God’s call on his life to deliver the gospel to the non-Jewish population of the world. He concludes that discussion saying, “This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him. I pray therefore that you may not lose heart over my sufferings for you; they are your glory” (Ephesians 3:11-13).
He continues writing the prayer first set forth above. It written as an intercessory prayer – Paul asks God, “according to the riches of his glory,” to transform his readers’ spirits and souls (Ephesians 3:16). As his readers, Paul asks God to strengthen our inner being, for Christ Jesus to dwell in our hearts through faith, as we are being rooted and grounded in love. The process of rooting and grounding is ongoing, and it is happening to us.
Paul writes to believers, so he presumes to be praying for believers, and we know that Christ Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, takes up residence in the heart of people the moment they first believe, so He prays for God to continue the cleansing process, to continue the strengthening and transforming process, to enhance their faith so that Christ Jesus may dwell more fully in their hearts, as they “are being rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 3:17). Recognizing it is all a work in process, he asks God to continue the process taking place in their (and our) hearts and prays that we respond accordingly.
He continues asking God to transform his readers by delivering “the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18-19). He mentions comprehend, know and knowledge, and we might read the words and conclude he focuses on our minds, but that is not what he is saying. His desire is for us to know with significantly greater clarity than mere intellectual knowledge, to know with deep intimacy, to know in the way only achievable through time spent together, so that we might be “filled with all the fullness of God.” How awesome is that?
Jesus promises we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us (see Acts 1:8), and we know the Holy Spirit comes upon us when we first believe. So we have some of His power, but Paul asks God to grant us more. He prays that we gain the power to comprehend, alongside all the saints, and to know the fullness, richness, and total awesomeness of Christ’s love, so that we are filled with “all the fullness of God.” We have some, but Paul prays for us to have more. We’ve experienced a taste, but he wants us to enjoy the full feast of God’s love, glory and power. Paul prays for our total transformation and sanctification so that we take on more and more and more of Christ’s holy image.
What an awesome prayer! I encourage you to see the prayer into two contexts. First, convert the prayer to a personal prayer. Pray the prayer for yourself. Ask God to perform His mighty transformative work in your life. Second, pray the prayer for others. Pray the prayer for every person who enters your local church to worship each Sunday. Pray the prayer for every person viewing your local church’s worship service online each Sunday. Pray the prayer for every person attending or watching worship services everywhere around the globe.
Earlier in the chapter, Paul focuses on the importance of the church writing, “so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:10). According to God’s holy word, the church is the vehicle through which the wisdom of God is made known. Paul prays for each individual in the church because as each individual grows in Christ, the church becomes stronger. I urge you to join in Paul’s prayer, for yourself and for others.
Christ Jesus is with us, but how do we go to Him? We follow Paul’s example. We bow before Him, we surrender to Him, we acknowledge and proclaim our nothingness and total depravity apart from Him, and we ask Christ Jesus to dwell in our hearts through faith and to fully transform our spirits and souls, filling us with Him.
Paul concludes the chapter writing, “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21). It is God’s power at work within us, it is God who accomplishes each task through us, and it is all for His glory, forever and ever. Amen.