‘Can I pray for you today?’
by Sal Huckel
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For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:14).
Read Ephesians 3:14–21
What a prayer! For the Ephesians to receive a prayer from Paul such as this would have been something I can hardly comprehend. Yet here we now have this timeless prayer at our fingertips to help us in our faith as we try to grasp how wide, long, high and deep is the love of Christ.
We’ve been reading about the Great Commission and discipleship. What if we need to pray for someone? Not everyone has the confidence to pray ‘freehand’ for another person. Don’t worry. Here’s one that will more than ‘do the job’.
‘I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith’ (Ephesians 3:16).
If we can’t really understand this, read on. ‘This love surpasses knowledge’ … we don’t have to understand it … ‘May you be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God’ (Ephesians 3:19).
Put this in the context of what we know about prayer: ‘Ask and it will be given to you’ (Matthew 7:7). Wow, this prayer is going to be answered, no question.
‘Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen’ (Ephesians 3:20,21).
Mind-blowing. Not only can we pray these immeasurably powerful words for anyone we choose, but Paul also already included us in the prayer he wrote to the Ephesians.
Go and make disciples. Pray for people! Write this prayer out and pull it out the next time someone asks you to pray. Remember the truth of Matthew 7:7.
Lord God! You are my God! Help me to grasp the depth of your love for me so that I can indeed help someone else who desperately needs to know this! Show me a person this week whom I can pray for and encourage in person or by letter. Lord, I ask in faith, knowing that what we ask in your name will be done according to your will. In Jesus’ powerful name, Amen.
Sal is the wife of Matthew, pastor at Moorabbin–Dandenong Lutheran Church and assistant bishop of the LCA Vic–Tas District. They are blessed with six children who all love and serve the Lord in their different walks of life, from high school to post-grad. Sal is currently studying a master’s degree in counselling practice. She loves writing, speaking and walking to the beach at any opportunity.
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