What if our prayers were published?
That’s a fascinating (and slightly scary) thought, isn’t it? What if every prayer you prayed, word for word, somehow ended up on the Internet so that anyone, anywhere could read them? Would your prayers be worth reading if they were published? And would they qualify for the pages of Holy Scripture or would they be fit for the National Enquirer?
If prayer is the language of the heart, what is your heart saying?
How do you pray? You can learn to pray by studying the great prayers of the Bible. If we want the Lord to teach us to pray, this is a good place to start. After all, prayer is the thermometer of the soul. It tells us how hot or how cold our spiritual life is. If we want to know what a person believes, don’t tell us what they say; tell us what they pray. A person may say many things, but when they pray, their heart is fully revealed.
With that in mind, we turn to the prayer of Paul in Ephesians 1:15-23. The heart of the prayer comes at the end of verse 17 where Paul prays “so that you may know him better.” That’s it! That’s the whole prayer right there. Paul is praying that the Ephesians might know God better. This means to know Him deeply, personally, intimately. For instance, we can say we know the president. We know who he is and what he looks like. If we see his picture we know he is president. But we don’t know him personally and he doesn’t know us from Adam’s housecat. Now I can say know my wife. That’s an entirely different kind of knowing. After almost 45 years of marriage this has a different meaning than saying I know the president. And that’s the sort of knowledge Paul is praying for.
To Know Him Better
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better." (Ephesians 1:17).
There are three levels of knowing God. First, there is the level of experience. All of us who know the Lord have some experiences with him that we can use to help others. Second, there is the level of knowledge. This comes from going to church, listening to sermons, reading the Bible, reading good books, maybe even going to a Christian college or to a seminary. Most people consider knowledge a higher level of the spiritual life. But this is not enough. There is a third level, which is called the level of wisdom. This level comes only by prayer.
At this level we begin to see things through God’s eyes and less through our eyes. Peace only comes from this level. It is not measurable, explainable, nor understandable. Levels 1 and 2 are not always prerequisites to reach this level. Prayer can lift the illiterate to great levels of peace and wisdom where certain PhDs in religion may feel empty. Our prayers become less ‘gimme’ and more ‘help me see what you want me to learn through this–to deepen my relationship with you.’"
God invites us to seek his face. He wants us to know him better. It’s not as if our Heavenly Father is hiding himself from us. But we can only have a close relationship with him if we will seek it in prayer. That’s the burden of Paul’s prayer–for a Level 3 relationship with God that doesn’t depend on knowledge or experience but comes through wisdom as we seek the Lord. Any of us can have that sort of relationship with God if we want it, and if we are willing to pay the price to have it.
Open the Eyes of Our Hearts
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened" (Ephesians 1:18a).
This is the heart of the prayer. It is also the only time the phrase “the eyes of your heart” appears in the New Testament. That means that this is a significant truth that demands our attention. When Paul speaks of “your heart,” he’s not referring to the organ in your chest that pumps blood throughout your body. The term “heart” refers to what we might call “the real you,” the place inside where the decisions of life are made. The heart is the place where you decide what values you will live by and what direction you will go and how you will live your life each day.
Every important decision you make is made by your heart. And your heart has eyes that can be opened or shut. When the eyes of your heart are closed to the light of God, you stumble blindly through life, making one dumb choice after another. You fall into sinful patterns, you break God’s Laws, you end up driving into the ditch, you make the same mistakes over and over again, and you enter one dead-end relationship after another. Why? Because the eyes of your heart are shut and you lack moral vision. The light of God is shut out of your life. And that means you can see and be blind at the same time. That is, you can have 20/20 vision with your physical eyes but the eyes of your heart can be blind to the light of God. There are lots of people like that in the world. Physically they can see but spiritually they are totally blind.
A lot of Christians live like that. And until those eyes are opened, all the yelling in the world won’t make much difference.
Paul prayed for the Ephesians that “the eyes of your heart might be opened.” One translation says, “that the eyes of your heart might be flooded with light." Opening blind eyes is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. He and he alone can do it. But he can do it, and this is the source of our hope. This is why we pray for ourselves, for our children and grandchildren and for our family members and for friends and loved ones who today are far from God. As our children grow older, we discover over and over again how little control we have over them. We cannot compel their obedience because we cannot compel their hearts. But we can pray and cry out to God and say, “O Lord, open the eyes of their heart. Help them to see the light of truth.”
Christ at the Center of Life
There are two radically different ways of looking at things. Either the world is at the center and Christ is around the outside edge or Christ is at the center of life and the world is at the edge. So many Christians have bought into the notion that this world is all that matters. They’ve pushed Christ to the outskirts of life. But when Christ comes to the center, the world is seen for what it really is–something on the edge. Something not nearly as important as we want to make it!
Christ is like a football game. You’re either on the bench or you’re in the game. Instead of sitting on the bench goofing off we ought to be in the game serving the Lord. Bench warmers sit around, goof off, laugh, cut up, and trade jokes while the game is going on. When we decide to get in the game, we won’t have time to do goof off.
Paul prays “….that you may know the hope to which he has called you,” (Ephesians 1:18b). This hope refers back to the moment of when the Ephesians accepted Christ. Verses 3-14 list some elements of that hope that also applies to us when we accepted Christ:
He blessed us with every spiritual blessing
He loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
He adopts us into his own family
He gave glorious grace to us who belong to his dear Son
He purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.
He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
He revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ
He makes everything work out according to his plan.
He saved us.
He gave us who believe in His Son, the Holy Spirit
And He will give us the inheritance he promised
All this is ours. It is the possession of every child of God. We are rich and blessed beyond all measure. Paul prays that we might understand how rich we already are.
Pray, Pray, and Keep on Praying
Why should we worry? Why should we fear? Why should we doubt? Why shouldn’t we go out singing? Our God has given us all we need. May we know the hope of our calling, the riches of our inheritance, and the amazing power of God. It’s all ours and it’s all wrapped up in one Person, Jesus Christ. May we might know him better. May our eyes might be opened to see things clearly. May we might love him and serve him and make him the center of our life.
So, Pray, pray, and keep on praying. Pray for each other. Husbands, pray for your wives, and wives for your husbands. Pray for your class. Pray for the new Christians you are discipling. Pray that they will be turned on by the truth of God. There are so many ways we might apply this message. First, here is a good guide to praying for our children. How long should we pray for them? And what should we pray for them? The answer is, never stop praying for your children. Paul said, “I keep on asking.” We can always know God better than we do. And when you pray, ask the Lord to open the eyes of their heart to let light from heaven come flooding in.
Second, we should pray this for ourselves. "O Lord, help me to know you better. Open my eyes, Lord. Let your light come flooding into my heart. Help me to know all that you have given, all that you have promised, and all that you have provided for me.”
Sunday, January 30, 2011
I Want What You Have
The word “covet” in various forms is found 25 times in the King James Bible. Not as many in other translations because it is translated into different words similar to covet: Loved money, greed or greedy, dishonest or ill-gotten gain, selfish gain, craves, etc. Actually the word “covetousness” is used the most in the KJV and translates primarily into “sinful greed”.
While I was studying for this lesson I came up on this passage in the King James Bible.
For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. Isaiah 57:17 KJV
As most of you know I personally have a lot of trouble understanding the KJV so I looked this up in the NIV Bible to see if I could understand it better.
I was enraged by their sinful greed; I punished them, and hid my face in anger, yet they kept on in their willful ways. Isaiah 57:17 NIV
This is why I prefer the NIV or NLT. ’nuff said about this subject – back to the “real” lesson.
Dictionary Definitions are: to wish for earnestly, to desire what belongs to another, to feel “unreasonable” desire for what belongs to another
The word “covet” usually thought of in negative terms. We get this from the 10th Commandment – Exodus 20:17: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” In most cases the Bible refers to this term in a negative manner. However, there are some positive aspects to this word – covet.
When we research “covet” more, it seems that this word can be translated 3 different ways in Greek (This is the case for many other words, such as love). It can mean “to fix the desire upon”, “to covet earnestly” and “to stretch after,”
Today we want to look at this idea in a positive way. There are times when there is nothing wrong with “fixing one’s desire upon” a thing or “stretching after” something — depending upon the object that you are reaching for. For that reason, the word is used in a positive sense when the object for which one seeks is good.
We know that the Christian should never covet worldly things (Col. 3:1-3; 1 John 2:15). It is the goal, however, of Christians to be “coveted” by people around them. When we exemplify Christ in our lives, many people will say with sincerity and zeal, “I want what you have.”
The Christian’s quality of life is noticed by friends, relatives, associates, and neighbors, and there is no worldly or material explanation for it. This is the goal of which the Lord spoke, when he said, “…..let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16).
So what does the Christian have that non-Christians don’t? What should someone “covet” or “want” when they sincerely contemplate the life of a child of God? I looked up some words for synonyms for the word “contemplate”: chew over, cogitate, consider, ponder, debate, deliberate, entertain, eye, kick around, meditate, mull (over), pore (over), question, revolve, study, think (about or over), weigh, wrestle (with).
Are we ready for a non-Christian to use any of the above words in conjunction with our Christian lives? We should be. Our prayer each day should be that someone can see Jesus in us!
As a Christian we are “are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus”. Galatians 3:26 NLT. And “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” Romans 8:14. Okay, so what does a Christian have?
The Christian “Has Peace with God”
“Therefore, since we have been justified (NLT says “made right”) through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).
This peace of mind is the result of being right with God. This is no mere emotion, although it is wonderful and gratifying. It is the understanding that sin separates us from God (Eph. 2:1), and that Jesus Christ has died for our sins (1 John. 2:1-2). It is the action one takes to “get himself right with God,” through the plan that the Lord has disclosed in the Bible (Heb. 5:9; Mark 16:16).
Understanding what God did, and doing what the Lord requires, results in peace – “God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.” (Phil. 4:7 NLT).
Christians “Have grace”
Paul reminds us that as Christians, “we have grace.”
“…through (Jesus Christ) whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” (Rom. 5:2a).
“Justified” (v. 1) is equivalent to being “acquitted.” We are, however, not acquitted because we are innocent, for “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23). We are “made right in God’s sight” because Christ Jesus suffered the penalty for us, and this is the grace of God in action. We have access to the favor of God, which we could never earn nor deserve, through the death of Jesus. And it is in the favor of God that his faithful children remain.
Christians “Have Hope”
“…And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.” (Rom. 5:2b).
Being right with God is important because of the future. Judgment awaits all (1 Tim. 4:1), and we must be prepared to “meet our Maker” (Heb. 9:27).
Christians can have confidence about the future. If we are truly a “child of God” we will go to Heaven (1 John 5:13; Rev. 2:10). This realization ought to motivate every Christian to be excited to be in God’s service.
Therefore Christians: “boast in the hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:2
The future is awesome to contemplate (there’s that word again). The word “awesome” may be one of the most over-used words today, but when used of the “hope of the glory of God,” it does not seem adequate. To be in the presence of God, our Creator and Redeemer will be AWESOME.
Christians “Have Joy”
“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (Rom. 5:2-5 NLT).
This could be described as insight into the meaning of life. Children of God even view the anxieties and tragedies of life from a divine perspective (this is sometimes hard for us to do) — with an understanding that this world is not all that matters. When the experiences of life make us long for heaven, we can view distressing times with an element of joy. Anything that makes us want to go to heaven is of great spiritual value.
Christians “Have God’s Love”
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. (Rom. 5:6-9). Also, we can refer back to last week’s lesson on John 3:16, “For God so loved the world….”
The Children of God have learned and experienced the saving love of God. We’ve seen the proof of God’s love, and we have enjoyed its benefits. We constantly should develop a greater appreciation for it (Eph. 3:17-19).
What we have, the world needs. May God help us to love and live the Christian life. When we do, someone will notice, and they’ll want what we have been given.
Does anyone say about us “I want what you have”?
For prayer requests, comments or to be included in our email ministry, email us at: whosoever@cottagehillbaptist.org. Also, Check out our “blog” at: http://thewhosoevers.blogspot.com/
While I was studying for this lesson I came up on this passage in the King James Bible.
For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. Isaiah 57:17 KJV
As most of you know I personally have a lot of trouble understanding the KJV so I looked this up in the NIV Bible to see if I could understand it better.
I was enraged by their sinful greed; I punished them, and hid my face in anger, yet they kept on in their willful ways. Isaiah 57:17 NIV
This is why I prefer the NIV or NLT. ’nuff said about this subject – back to the “real” lesson.
Dictionary Definitions are: to wish for earnestly, to desire what belongs to another, to feel “unreasonable” desire for what belongs to another
The word “covet” usually thought of in negative terms. We get this from the 10th Commandment – Exodus 20:17: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” In most cases the Bible refers to this term in a negative manner. However, there are some positive aspects to this word – covet.
When we research “covet” more, it seems that this word can be translated 3 different ways in Greek (This is the case for many other words, such as love). It can mean “to fix the desire upon”, “to covet earnestly” and “to stretch after,”
Today we want to look at this idea in a positive way. There are times when there is nothing wrong with “fixing one’s desire upon” a thing or “stretching after” something — depending upon the object that you are reaching for. For that reason, the word is used in a positive sense when the object for which one seeks is good.
We know that the Christian should never covet worldly things (Col. 3:1-3; 1 John 2:15). It is the goal, however, of Christians to be “coveted” by people around them. When we exemplify Christ in our lives, many people will say with sincerity and zeal, “I want what you have.”
The Christian’s quality of life is noticed by friends, relatives, associates, and neighbors, and there is no worldly or material explanation for it. This is the goal of which the Lord spoke, when he said, “…..let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16).
So what does the Christian have that non-Christians don’t? What should someone “covet” or “want” when they sincerely contemplate the life of a child of God? I looked up some words for synonyms for the word “contemplate”: chew over, cogitate, consider, ponder, debate, deliberate, entertain, eye, kick around, meditate, mull (over), pore (over), question, revolve, study, think (about or over), weigh, wrestle (with).
Are we ready for a non-Christian to use any of the above words in conjunction with our Christian lives? We should be. Our prayer each day should be that someone can see Jesus in us!
As a Christian we are “are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus”. Galatians 3:26 NLT. And “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” Romans 8:14. Okay, so what does a Christian have?
The Christian “Has Peace with God”
“Therefore, since we have been justified (NLT says “made right”) through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).
This peace of mind is the result of being right with God. This is no mere emotion, although it is wonderful and gratifying. It is the understanding that sin separates us from God (Eph. 2:1), and that Jesus Christ has died for our sins (1 John. 2:1-2). It is the action one takes to “get himself right with God,” through the plan that the Lord has disclosed in the Bible (Heb. 5:9; Mark 16:16).
Understanding what God did, and doing what the Lord requires, results in peace – “God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.” (Phil. 4:7 NLT).
Christians “Have grace”
Paul reminds us that as Christians, “we have grace.”
“…through (Jesus Christ) whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” (Rom. 5:2a).
“Justified” (v. 1) is equivalent to being “acquitted.” We are, however, not acquitted because we are innocent, for “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23). We are “made right in God’s sight” because Christ Jesus suffered the penalty for us, and this is the grace of God in action. We have access to the favor of God, which we could never earn nor deserve, through the death of Jesus. And it is in the favor of God that his faithful children remain.
Christians “Have Hope”
“…And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.” (Rom. 5:2b).
Being right with God is important because of the future. Judgment awaits all (1 Tim. 4:1), and we must be prepared to “meet our Maker” (Heb. 9:27).
Christians can have confidence about the future. If we are truly a “child of God” we will go to Heaven (1 John 5:13; Rev. 2:10). This realization ought to motivate every Christian to be excited to be in God’s service.
Therefore Christians: “boast in the hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:2
The future is awesome to contemplate (there’s that word again). The word “awesome” may be one of the most over-used words today, but when used of the “hope of the glory of God,” it does not seem adequate. To be in the presence of God, our Creator and Redeemer will be AWESOME.
Christians “Have Joy”
“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (Rom. 5:2-5 NLT).
This could be described as insight into the meaning of life. Children of God even view the anxieties and tragedies of life from a divine perspective (this is sometimes hard for us to do) — with an understanding that this world is not all that matters. When the experiences of life make us long for heaven, we can view distressing times with an element of joy. Anything that makes us want to go to heaven is of great spiritual value.
Christians “Have God’s Love”
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. (Rom. 5:6-9). Also, we can refer back to last week’s lesson on John 3:16, “For God so loved the world….”
The Children of God have learned and experienced the saving love of God. We’ve seen the proof of God’s love, and we have enjoyed its benefits. We constantly should develop a greater appreciation for it (Eph. 3:17-19).
What we have, the world needs. May God help us to love and live the Christian life. When we do, someone will notice, and they’ll want what we have been given.
Does anyone say about us “I want what you have”?
For prayer requests, comments or to be included in our email ministry, email us at: whosoever@cottagehillbaptist.org. Also, Check out our “blog” at: http://thewhosoevers.blogspot.com/
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