Ephesians 1:17— That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him—reveals a third of many principles of prayer in verses 16-23, namely: prayer should be chiefly spiritual.
This point might seem odd to the reader. Isn’t prayer always spiritual? We submit, No! Most of our prayer, in fact, is temporal and physical. Think a moment, for what do we usually pray? Do we not usually pray for the sick and injured and pray for temporal and financial needs? Now, there is nothing wrong in praying for these. God expects us to bring such needs to Him.
But notice that Paul’s main concern was for spiritual needs. As expositor John Phillips observes: “Paul rarely prayed for the things that loom so large in our prayers—better health, more money, job conditions, family problems, world crises. Paul prayed that people might know God better, that they might become better acquainted with Jesus.”
We find this attitude throughout Paul’s letters. To the Colossians he wrote (1:9): “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” As here in Ephesians, he prayed for spiritual realities in their lives. He also wrote to the Philippians (1:9), “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment.” He told the Corinthians that he was praying for their right conduct: “Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest” (II Cor. 13:7).
He also wrote these tremendously encouraging words to the Thessalonians: “We pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (II Thess. 1:11-12). We should likewise be praying this way for one another.
Paul also asked others to pray for him. He asked the Thessalonians to “pray,” not for his temporal needs, but “that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you” (II Thes. 3:1). Likewise, he asked the Hebrews to, “Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly” (Heb. 13:18). Oh, may we ever keep in mind that our prayers should ultimately have a spiritual end!
Verse 17 and the verses that follow show Paul’s spiritual prayer. This fact is one of the most fascinating things about Paul’s prayer life. Whenever we see him praying, either he is praying for some spiritual reality, or he is praying for a temporal need that will ultimately have a spiritual result. How often do our prayers for temporal matters have a spiritual result in view?
Oh, Dear Christian, is our prayer life like Paul’s? There are some Bible teachers who lift the Apostle Paul so high that he is almost deified. Indeed, Paul was a great preacher, a great church planter, and a great Christian. But he was a man like any other, and the same Holy Spirit who indwelled and empowered him is the same Holy Spirit that indwells and empowers us. Each one of us can and must have the same kind of prayer life that Paul had.
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