Ephesians 3:14-19: Praying for power

Praying when we are in need is easy, we always pray from the heart, but praying for others often deteriorates into shallow requests without heart. We often pray generic prayers for health, provision, and spiritual well-being. Paul in the portion before us prays under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, prayers of pastoral care, and prayers that flow out of the realities of the gospel. Paul as a minister of the gospel is not only called to preach the message of Christ to the Gentiles, but to pray for the church as well. Eph. 3:14-21 consists of 2 main prayer requests and a doxology, prayer and praise. These will be the three points of our sermon. The first prayer request is found in v16-17a; the second from 17b-19; the praise is found in v20-21. Both are prayers to receive power/strength but it is not the typical prayers for power that we are thinking of. It is not about power and signs but the power of the Spirit working powerfully in the believer’s life. Firstly, he prays for Christians to be strengthened inwardly by the Spirit so that Christ may indwell us. Secondly, he will pray that we can be strengthened in order to comprehend the love of Christ. This is followed by praise to the God who can answer these prayers.

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