The heart of
prayer is a praying heart
Ephesians
3:14-21
Picture a group of kids flying
a kite. Share their delight as the kite swoops and soars and the strings tug on
their fingers. Feel their anguish and disappointment as the kite crashes and
the strings become tangled. And their mounting frustration as they try to get
the strings untangled, their tiny fingers making things worse.
Finally, one of them says: ‘let’s
ask dad’
Prayer is all too often a last
resort for Christians when it should be the first – as it was for Paul: why? Because life is simply impossible without prayer. But prayer
is not primarily a technique or a discipline. First and foremost it is a relationship
1) Who are we talking to?
Christians believe that God
has revealed himself as a Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit (as Paul says in
Ephesians
i) great (14): he is the creator of all – especially us
(individuals and community); he has infinite power (20) and unfathomable
resources (16)
i) generous (16) he gives not ‘out of’, but ‘according to’ If
Bill Gates gives me tenner that’s out of not
according to because it leaves him £10 poorer (big deal!). When God gives his
resources are not depleted at all.
Prayer really is impossible unless we know who we’re talking to: do we?
2) What are we asking for?
The simple answer is power
(16,18,20). Paul prays that we’ll be filled with the
power to have a lifestyle that can come only from God:
i) strength in our
inner being (16): there is a contrast
here between ‘inner’ & ‘outer’ (as there is in 2 Corinthians
ii) hearts fit for a king (17) when we buy a house, we want to turn it into
home through lots of DIY – building, decorating, adding personal touches. Jesus
takes possession of pretty dilapidated properties – rising damp, dry rot, not
fit for human habitation: we’re foul mouthed, gossips, selfish, full of impure
thoughts, unkind deeds, greedy, thieving, liars – and that’s just ministers!
God wants to change us into
dwelling places fit for his Son – hallelujah! So, he strengthens our inner
beings (16b) and plants us in good soil of his love (17) – he invests in us coz
he thinks we’re worth it: This is God’s work and ours and we’ll fail if we
don’t pray!
iii) grasping his love
(18-19a): this is the motive for i) & ii):
ü intellectual
– we need to grasp the enormous sweep
of God’s plan to restore all things through the cross and create a new people for
himself in Jesus (chapters1-2)
ü emotional – rooted, grounded, immersed, flooded with God’s love
– deep enough to reach down into the deepest, darkest place that we fall into,
long enough to last our whole lives through, broad enough to encompass people
of all kinds, races, backgrounds, achievements; high enough to lift us up to
where he is (Ephesians 2:6). Do we know
how much God loves us? Have we felt it? Has his love melted our hearts?
This is the context of our praying
iv) growing up
(19b) The amazing goal of all God’s work in us is that we grow up to be humans
as God intended, his image gloriously restored in us (Col 3:10)
Now, we need to note that all
this (i-iv) happens in community ‘his whole family’
(14) ‘with saints’ (18) ‘church’ (21) – we can’t be praying on our own all the
time; we need each other.
3) Why are we bothering?
3:14 ‘for this reason’ – it’s
what God wants; it’s his goal for us, the reason he sent Jesus and filled us
with the Holy Spirit – so our praying should be marked by two things:
i) asking: this whole section is Paul’s prayer: it should be
ours
ii) living: God wants others to see his glory reflected in us as
we pray and live before watching world. Prayer is not about withdrawing from
the world so that we can be ‘holy’. It’s about being strengthened and
transformed by God so that we’ll be holy in the world – and people will see it.
We’re like kids with tangled
kite strings unable to take off into the kind of lives we know God wants for
us. God wants to renew and remake us in his image so that he might be glorified
in and through us. It’s why we pray (on our own and as a church): are we up for
that?
Questions for discussion
How easy do we find it to pray on our own? In groups?
What assists us in our prayers? [list books,
liturgies, places, anything that helps]
What should we be asking God for in the light of this passage?
What does it mean for God to be our Father?
Think of a time when you were very aware of God’s immense love for you:
do you feel able to share that story with your group?
What is the key thing we ought to be praying for as a church at this
time [Simon and Brian would love to hear what you think!]
How aware are we of the Holy Spirit helping us to pray?
Do we pray regularly with another person? Do we/would we find that
helpful?