Praying His Will for My Life
Many believers spend most of their prayer time asking God for more: more faith, more love, more peace, etc. They do this while thinking that the answers to their problems would come if God would just give them more ________ (you can fill in the blank). Life becomes an unending pursuit of trying to convince God to give them more, while frustration and condemnation build.
Yet in many of the epistles, written to believers, Paul is not continually asking God to give them more. Instead, he asks God to allow them to see what they already have, currently possess, in their union with Jesus Christ. This is exactly the opposite of what many are requesting. When we see what God has already provided to us and who we have become in Christ, this revelation will position us for breakthrough after breakthrough.
This is why Paul wrote the church as Colossae “and in Him, you have been made complete.”
The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write a number of prayers that we can pray over ourselves and other believers. Praying God’s Word over ourselves will enable us to see ourselves as He sees us and allow us to speak His Word with faith and boldness.
In this series, we will be studying New Testament prayers for believers that the Holy Spirit gave to Paul and John. The intent of recording these prayers in the Word is for believers to pray them and receive what we ask. In other words, pray effectively and achieve results.
The book of James tells us that “the effective prayers of the righteous avail much”; they produce results.
What is required for a prayer to be effective?
This is exactly what this session will identify. We will examine the life of Jesus to learn how He prayed, the importance of praying God’s will, and what He taught about prayer. We will learn that ANSWERED PRAYER is the Father’s plan for us.
We, the righteous, have His promise that “no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”
We then examine Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1 where Paul encourages them to increase in an ‘over the top knowledge’ of God and be fruitful in every good work. We will see that we HAVE ALREADY BEEN fully qualified to partake of His divine nature.
It is time to walk in our inheritance.
Before beginning his prayer for the church at Ephesus Paul instructs them that they have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. He then reminds them God has lavished the riches of His grace upon all believers! Sounds too good to be true.
In the verses of this prayer, Paul prays for wisdom and revelation for them so that they can truly see what already belongs to them. They can see what was purchased for them by Jesus and how they have been made alive in Him.
They don’t need to ask for more. They just need to see with their spiritual eyes, the magnitude of the victory of Jesus over the grave and every evil force which held man captive. All made available to us with His resurrection. Much much more than just overcoming a physical death.
Open the eyes of my heart Lord to see…
In Ephesians 3 Paul discloses to the people of Ephesus, and us, that it would not be Jesus who demonstrates God’s plan and authority on the earth; that is the church’s, our purpose here on earth.
This prayer again focuses on our spirit man, the hidden man of the heart, for us to become strengthened in this inner man. He is praying that we would be rooted and grounded in His love, from which all of His goodness flows. And also for us to be filled, you and I, with the fulness of God.
- Me, knowing His love, which is beyond knowledge?
- Me, filled with the fulness of God?
- And me, display the glory of God on this earth?
How can this possibly be?
The answers are in this prayer in Ephesians 3.
In previous sessions, we have seen prayers for us to recognize the magnitude of what we possess as believers positioned in Christ Jesus. The prayers in this session from Romans, 1 Thessalonians and Acts demonstrate to us what we are able to accomplish for the Lord in exercising our faith and the love of God.
Paul noted that the faith of the saints in Rome has been proclaimed throughout the whole world. He commended those in Thessalonica for their work of faith, labor of love and steadfastness of hope and the significant impact not just in their city, but throughout the region. And yet he encourages them to excel even more with a focus on increasing in their love for mankind.
These are results we too can achieve as we walk in the fulness of who we have become in our new birth.
Finally, we will examine how Jesus prayed for both His disciples and (us today) ALL who would believe because of the Words of the disciples. That includes you and me TODAY!! Given His role as the One who ever makes intercession for us, I can see Him praying these same words over you and me, again, TODAY.
Consider the importance of His last words on the earth spoken over us.
Hear His voice praying these over you!
In a recent session, we studied a prayer that exhorted us to increase in our love, for our fellow believers and for those who do not yet believe. The Lord desires that our love for each other be the major witness to all that we are His disciples and our love for non-believers will move us to pray for and share the glorious gospel with them.
The prayers that we will study today make clear His will for all men to come to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus. They also provide numerous examples of how we can pray, in faith, for the salvation of family members, others we love, and for total strangers to come to the knowledge of Jesus.
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