Prayer List
Ephesians 1:17-18 ISV
(17) I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father most glorious, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation through knowing Christ fully.
(18) Then, with the eyes of your hearts enlightened, you will know the hope of his calling, the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints,
You’ve got that friend that you promised to pray for. You see him/her after a couple weeks and the first thing you let them know is- you’ve been praying for them, right?
Now, for that to really be a true statement and for you to legitimately claim that you’ve been ‘praying’ for this saint who’s been ’standing in the need of prayer’, shouldn’t you be able to come up with a list of things for which you’ve actually been praying? I’m sure the list must be long and deep and wide, and if you’re really ‘in tune’ to his needs, there should be a plethora of desired items specific to that particular individual. It is, after all, a prayer for that person and their needs, isn’t it?
So, here’s Paul, the great example and mentor of life and ministry in Christ, and all he really comes up with is one thing- a gift. It seems that rather than being fixated upon the magnitude of needs, Paul is consumed with the overwhelming answer to any and all needs that could ever arise in the lives of the Ephesians or anyone for that matter. While this was a great opportunity to begin expounding upon the depth and intensity of His loved one’s needs in so many different areas, Paul chose to expound upon the solution to any challenge that could ever come their way. It’s something they’d already been given and all that prohibited utilizing and applying it was a full understanding of just how great and encompassing it really was. His prayer’s content, therefore, was given to proclaiming all that would come to pass when there was a reception of the ’spirit’ gift. It’s all about Christ and the extent of His victory. To focus on anything else would somehow divert from the impressive greatness of what has already been done to fully and completely deal with anything, from the greatest to the smallest.
It might be necessary to present those things for which we need God’s powerful intervention. We have not because we ask not. (James 4:2) With the presentation of each need, though, there is an opportunity to let the enormity of its solution be magnified far above any difficulty it may bring. When we begin to see and understanding what we already have in Christ, everything else will appear in its true proportionate size- invisibly small. Dwelling on what is already ours by inheritance elevates us so far above the conflict that what once looked like an insurmountable mountain now appears to be all flattened out as level as the ocean. Vision from above in Him puts everything on the same level, while vision from below in the valley makes it hard to see anything but the mountain.
Back to that list- isn’t it amazing what’s already ours in Him?
