For a couple
of days I have been overwhelmed with the encouragement God is giving me from
Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21. It began with the reminder that Paul
prayed, “according to
the riches of his glory” (vs 16). I suddenly
realized that there are many ways we limit God in our praying because we do not
look at the riches of his glory, but at sight-based experiences that argue
against him. Clearly, God is at work to change our minds.
As
I have pondered why there is so little prayer in the church at all, let alone
so little prayer that rises up to, “according
to the riches of his glory,” I realize that one of the monstrous
sight-based enemies of our prayers is past experience. When negative experiences
have not been touched by the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, they stand like
pawns of the evil one, constantly arguing against the revelation of God’s word.
The
problem is that our experiences are sight-based. They are things we have
experienced in life, along with all the corresponding negative thoughts and beliefs
woven through those memories. We deny what God reveals in his word because something
we have gone through, something we have seen with our own eyes, declares that
God cannot be trusted.
What
stands out is that we can immediately turn from sight-based thinking to
faith-based praying even for the help we need to get over the wrong beliefs
associated with traumatic experiences. We can come into God’s word, even as
broken and wounded children (God loves to come close to the broken and contrite
heart, don’t you know[1]), and meditate on the riches of his glory. Every day, something
will stand out to us about God and his glory that will give our faith exactly
what it needs to pray accordingly.
If
any of us are not consistently praying “according
to the riches of his glory,” what stands in the way? What thoughts come to
mind when you read a Scripture of glorious promises and conclude not to pray
according to what it reveals? When you think of God as a glorious Father who
hears and answers the prayers of his children, what face comes to mind to deny
such glorious truth?
I
am constantly reminded that God’s children do not walk by sight, but by faith.[2] Dwelling on past experiences make us sight-based, while dwelling on
what is revealed in Scripture makes us faith based. After all, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing
through the word of Christ.”[3] When all we hear is what our old experiences tell us, we will
continue walking by sight, and will never have the faith to believe God would
do for us what is “according to the
riches of his glory.”
On
the other hand, when we continually meditate on the word of Christ, the
Scriptures, we hear the revelation of truth that builds up our faith. We grow
in our faith that we can pray for things that are specifically revealed in
Scripture.
This
morning, my meditation on these things brought me to consider how Paul’s past
experiences filled him with prayers that were “according to the riches of his glory.” Paul’s past experience was
that, “formerly I was a blasphemer,
persecutor, and insolent opponent.”[4] If life with God truly was about good works, Paul had no hope.
However,
it was also Paul’s past experience that, “I
received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our
Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”[5] Not only did Paul have a past of which he had much reason for
guilt, shame, and fear, he also had a past in which the mercy and grace of God
overflowed into his life.
Paul
knew that, “Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners,” and his testimony was that, of all the descriptions
of living in sin, “I am the foremost.”[6] In other words, when he prayed “according
to the riches of his glory,” it was an expression of a man who was once the
foremost of sinners, but now a Christian, and an apostle among Christians,
because Jesus came into the world to save him.
Paul’s
prayer were not limited by his sinful past, or by anyone’s sins against him,
for the simple reason that his identity was now that of a man who was saved. He
had “received mercy,” not the
condemnation he deserved. He had experienced the grace of God overflowing into
his life, giving him faith and love in Jesus Christ, things he could not have
found on his own, and could not have earned through his attempts at good works.
Paul’s
testimony (and it is much richer and fuller than a short post could express),
is that we pray “according to the riches
of his glory,” not according to the painful experiences of our pasts. We do
not need to wait until we “get over” our pasts, or take some long journey to
freedom and maturity. We can pray about the condition of our souls, no matter
how traumatized and messed-up we are, according to the riches of God’s glory
and grace.
One
reason God’s word calls us to meet together as the church in devotion to prayer
is because we often need the faith of other believers to help us in what we
pray. I have regularly seen what happens when a group of people comes together
after a long and tiring day, in the midst of a schedule that barely leaves time
to think, let alone pray, and then start praying out of the thoughts and
feelings that trouble their souls.
Soon
someone has prayed out of a Scripture the Spirit had reminded them about that
week, and other people feel their faith rising up because of what they had
heard of Jesus’ word. It seems as though heads clear of sarky (fleshly)
negativity, and faith rises up to greet the smiling face of our heavenly Father.
As faith rises up to see God as he is, we discover that there is a richness in
his glory that spurs us on to pray things we hadn’t even imagined only hours,
or minutes, earlier. What no one may have imagined praying on their own, takes
flight in the prayers of the body of Christ.
The
conclusion for me today is simple: no matter what thoughts or feelings or
beliefs are going through my head, I can turn my attention to revelations of
the riches of God’s glory, and pray accordingly. God is not only honored when
we pray according to what he is like (rather than the lies of past
experiences), but he can now answer prayers we have only prayed because we
focused on the riches of his glory. As we pray what is according to his good,
acceptable, and perfect will,[7] he will most certainly answer our prayers.[8]
It
is no wonder Paul concluded what he prayed for “according to the riches of his glory,” with the beautiful
expression:
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we
ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in
the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
Amen.[9]
Now,
that being true, let us pray accordingly.
© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
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