Week 4 Assignment: Read pages 99-162 in MacArthur and Eph 3:14-4:16 and comment on the three posts for this week.
Paul is physically bound to a Roman guard in prison, but his soul is free to access through prayer the very Throne of God. Paul exercises that privilege four times in his Prison Epistles (Ephesians 1:15-23; 3:14-21, Colossians 1:9-14, and Philippians 1:9-14). Do you feel incarcerated in your dilemma, then escape to the throne room with your requests.
There are two characteristics in Paul’s Prison prayers that should mark the way we pray. First, he always prayed for others, not himself. Second, he always prayed for the spiritual needs of others and not the physical or material.
Perhaps you are thinking, “Does that mean we can never pray about our physical healing or another job since we were laid off?” No! Even Paul prayed that God would remove his thorn in the flesh; three times. Our Lord taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” But praying for the greater spiritual needs of others should be the more common way we pray as Paul practiced in prison.
Paul had physical, material, and financial needs in the hired house where he was imprisoned (Acts 28), including room and board. The Philippians knowing of this need, unsolicited by Paul, sent him money (Philippians 4:18). Still he prayed unselfishly for the deeper needs of others rather than his felt needs.
In his first Prison prayer in Ephesians 1:15-23, after presenting the doctrine of the Trinity (1:3-14), Paul prayed for the enlightenment of the saints: Know or experience your power for Christian living. Realize you have the God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit as your resources for your walk with God.
In his second Prison prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21, having delved into the glorious New Testament truth of the unity of Jews and Gentiles, former enemies, in the Body of Christ, Paul prayed for their enablement to love one another in their local body of believers. On paper it is easy to believe that Jews and Gentiles should love one another. But what about the interracially married couple that has been visiting your church and now wants to join? How real is equality in the Body of Christ now?
1. Why Do Believers Pray?
“For this cause” (Ephesians 3:14). Paul repeats this clause from 3:1. Between these two statements is further information about the Body of Christ which Paul apparently thought was needed before he prayed for believers to love one another. Paul knows the truth that there is positional unity in the body of Christ, but now he prays that there will be relational unity in their local body of believers. Do your relationships in your local church reflect the doctrinal unity that Christ’s death brought to the Body of Christ? Are you a peace maker or a trouble maker in your fellowship of saints? Have you torn down the middle wall of partition that divides God’s people or are you erecting barriers?
2. What Posture Is Necessary For Prayer?
There are different physical postures for prayer mentioned in Scripture: Standing (Genesis 18:22), sitting (1 Chronicles 17:16), prostrate (Matthew 26:39), and bowing the knees (Ephesians 3:14). Wiersbe mentions that this position was a little difficult being chained to a guard but Paul knelt and prayed anyway (Be Rich. Wheaton: Victor Books, 1977, page 82).
The spiritual posture of our heart, however, is what Paul emphasized in Ephesians: We are spiritually resurrected and seated with Christ in heavenly places (2:4). We are spiritually walking and progressing in Christ (4:1, 17; 5:2, 8, 15). We are to take our stand against “principalities, powers, the rulers, and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places (6:12-17). Thank God the handicapped, shut-in, and bedridden, though limited physically, have equal access to the Father and we in our local congregations should enlist their prayers by providing them prayer needs.
3. To Whom Do We Pray?
We pray to “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named” (3:14, 15). We not only pray to God the Father but we pray as the family of God. We have not only been reconciled to God (2:15) but we have been reconciled to each other in Christ (2:16). I like the way Mark Dever expressed this reality:
“If you’re an orphan, you don’t adopt parents; they adopt you. If your adoptive parents are named Smith, you now attend the Smith family dinners with the parents and all the children. You share a bedroom at night with the Smith siblings. When the teacher at school calls out attendance and says, ‘Smith?’ you raise your hand like your older brothers did before you and your younger sister will do after you. And you do this not because you decided to play the role of ‘Smith,’ but because someone went to the orphanage and said, ‘You will be a Smith.’ On that day, you became the child of someone and the sibling of others. Only your name’s not Smith. It’s Christian, named after the one through whom you were adopted, Christ (Eph. 1:5). Now you’re part of the whole family of God. ‘The one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family’ (Heb. 2:11). And this is no dysfunctional family, with family members estranged from one another. It’s a fellowship. When God ‘called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord’ (1 Cor. 1:9), he also called you into ‘fellowship’ with the whole family (1 Cor. 5:2) (Mark Dever. What is a Healthy Church? Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2007, page 26). Let’s practice the bumper sticker: The family that prays together stays together.
4. For What Do We Pray?
Each of the three petitions involves one of the three Persons of the Trinity. This is the fifth of Paul’s eight references in Ephesians to the perfect model of unity. Paul included the Trinity in his first prison prayer (1:15-17) for knowledge and now he mentions the Trinity in praying for the enablement believers need to love one another in the Body of Christ. Again, all things are possible with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Even unity in a local body of believers. Here are the three petitions. I will elaborate on the first.
The first petition for the enablement of the members of the Body of Christ to love one another is that God the Holy Spirit would strengthen us in the inner man (3:16).
The second petition for the enablement of the members of the Body of Christ to love one another is that God the Son would feel at home in us (3:17-18a).
The third petition for the enablement of the members of the Body of Christ to love one another is that God the Father would control us (3:18b-21).
The first petition for the enablement of the members of the Body of Christ to love one another is that God the Holy Spirit would strengthen us in the inner man (3:16).
In 2 Corinthians 4:16, Paul reminded us that “our outward man is perishing but the inward man is being renewed day by day.” How can the Holy Spirit strengthen and renew us in the inner person day by day? Through the Word! To be healthy physically you must eat properly, bath, and exercise.
The same is true for the inner person. You cannot live on bread alone “but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Have you eaten today? You must exercise by being doers of the Word and not hearers only (James 1:22, 23). I challenge you to exercise your spiritual biceps and pray this petition for someone throughout this day. In Ephesians 5:26, Paul talks about “the washing of the water by the word.” As we read God’s Word and listen to it preached, we are cleansed. The purpose of Bible study is not to produce Google Christians who can answer every inquiry. But to be cleansed so we can live godly lives. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to your Word” (Psalm 119:9).
When we fix spaghetti in our home, we fry the hamburger and then dump it in the colander (the plastic bowl with holes). We then run hot water over the fried hamburger to wash off the unhealthy but very delicious tasting grease. The colander does not hold the water but lets the hot water run through the meat and wash off the artery clogging drippings. We must study God’s Word and hear God’s Word preached to be cleansed by the Word not so we can be walking databases. “Your Word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).
For whom will you pray that he or she would hunger and thirst after righteousness by means of God’s Word? Do you need to pray for a son or daughter? Parents? Siblings? Church member? Practice this prison prayer on someone today.
The second post for week 4 is Orthodoxy verses Orthopraxy: Eph 4:1-6.
