TOPIC:‌"Prayer and the Christian's Victory"

                  by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌Ephesians 1:15-19

 

"Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers" (1:16).

 

‌In the New Testament there are twelve recorded intercessory prayers by St. Paul that have been woven by the Holy Spirit into the various Epistles written by him. These prayers provide us with an abundant supply of wealth for living the Christian life.

 

‌St. Paul was first and foremost a man of prayer. He has often been called "the kneeling pastor." Later in this Epistle he writes: "I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (3:14). To Paul prayer was massive. It was robust. It was large in scope. And when he prayed something happened.

 

‌As Paul writes this letter he is a prisoner of Rome. Years earlier he had a very fruitful ministry in Ephesus. Now he writes to inspire them to realize that if they will appropriate the limitless resources in Jesus Christ they will be able to live adequate Christian lives. In Christ and nowhere else they may find the ability to meet the onrush of temptation and be able to cope with life's problems. The biggest problem being able to control the instinctive drives of the old sinful nature.

 

‌Let us now turn our attention to this prayer of Paul as found in chapter 1 verses 15 through 19 where he prays that these Christians may fully possess their possessions in Christ.

 

I.

 

‌Consider, to begin with, the OCCASION of Paul's prayer. We read in verses 15 through 17 these words: "Where I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory."

 

‌As Paul contemplates the God to whom he prays, his spirit is exuberant and exultant as he addresses God in verse 17 by the dual titles of "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ" and "the Father of glory" or as Phillips renders it "the all-glorious Father." Others have it: "the Father most glorious." The word "spirit" in this verse has reference to the Holy Spirit as the source of wisdom and giver of knowledge. This prayer of Paul was prompted by at least two reasons.

 

‌The first thing which moved Paul to pray was because of their AMAZING FAITH - "after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus" (v. 15). When Paul thought of the faith of the Ephesian believers he felt like singing. Thinking of them, he . . .