Recorded Prayers of Apostle Paul, Doctrine of Prayer part 10

/8. The recorded prayers of the apostle Paul.\

 

In both of these apostolic prayers that we will note in the book of Ephesians it is worthy to note that Paul has been teaching doctrine for approximately 25 years and has made an enormous leap in his spiritual life in his prison experience. Paul’s prayers are effective and powerful through he is confined by 4 sturdy walls.

 

EPH 3:14 For this reason, I bow my knees [humility] before the Father [all prayer is directed towards the Father],

 

EPH 3:15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,

 

Specifically there is a family that possesses the greatest name or title: The Royal Family of God.

 

EPH 3:16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man;

 

The riches of God’s glory means that all prosperity, material and spiritual, belong to God in limitless supply and He is trying to give it away, but often there is no where for it to go due to a lack of capacity.

 

/Glory refers to the essence of God. It is everything that He is and God is not depressed, lonely, broke, downtrodden, or afraid. He is powerful, confident, love, and blessed beyond calculation.\

 

Capacity is the ability to enjoy a gift from God without being absorbed by the gift itself, but rather with the Giver.

 

/Capacity is the ability to hold something in stability. If the thing given makes the cup unstable then there is no capacity.\

 

This includes wealth, promotion, success, and materialistic things.

 

You have a cup because Christ drank His cup. It is your cup of blessings, and it can be small or large depending on capacity. Now the one holding the cup does not get the merit or credit, but rather credit goes to the one pouring.

 

The devil’s world does not provide the proper frame of reference for the capacity of the blessings of God and so the natural minded man never sees them.

 

Paul is praying for your cup of blessings to run over. Paul is also praying for power from within.

 

EPH 3:16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit [elimination of all human power and human IQ] in the inner man [new creature];

 

/Prayer cannot force a believer to become positive towards doctrine, but it can altar the circumstances of a believer’s life so that its need becomes more apparent.\

 

EPH 3:17 so that Christ may dwell [be at home or relaxed] in your hearts through faith [doctrine]; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

 

We fellowship with Christ while filled with the Spirit and having the sameness of thinking from doctrine, which is His mind.

 

/Paul prays for believers to have a fellowship with Christ through the unity of both parties’ system of thinking - to see that Christ is the most important relationship we will ever have.\

 

EPH 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

 

The second part of this verse needs a little help in translation.

 

“that you” is not in the original. The verse begins with:

 

/ en agape[en agape] - in the sphere of love = relaxed mental attitude, humility, objectivity, and no mental attitude sins.\

 

All four of these live and die together. RMA means I have a spirit of freedom and I am not a slave to the details of life. Humility means I understand God’s ability and my inability and I orient my thinking accordingly. Objectivity means that it’s not about me. Doctrine isn’t about me, it’s about the Lord. I don’t get insulted or bitter when a doctrine reproves and rebukes me. A lack of mental attitude sins allows me to focus on the things that are excellent.

 

So Paul is not praying that we be rooted and have foundation established in love, but that in love we become rooted and establish a foundation upon which to build an ECS.

 

Next we have two perfect passive participles. The perfect tense means that Paul prays that they will go on forever. The passive voice means that doctrine causes the action and the participle reveals that this is the purpose of Paul’s prayer and thus God’s will.

 

/ ‘rizow[rhizoo] - to cause to strike root or to strengthen with roots. This refers to BD becoming a part of your stability and strength. It becomes a part of you.\

 

A root system is unseen, but the effects of its stabilization and strength are seen.

 

Then we have the conjunction kai, meaning “and” and then:

 

/ qemeliow[themelioo] - to lay a foundation. This refers to building the edification complex in the soul with metabolized doctrine as the building material.\

 

One doesn’t lay a foundation without the hope of building upon it. Our foundation was laid at salvation when we were entered into union with Christ. Paul’s prayer is for us to build upon that foundation with metabolized doctrine until an entire structure in complete. When it is complete you will share the happiness of God and be occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Paul prays that these actions will continue throughout the believer’s life and that we will all realize (passive voice) that we do not perform these actions or do anything to maintain them, rather we continue to metabolize the word and let God the HS do the rest.

 

EPH 3:18 may be able [may have unusual strength] to comprehend [to seize something and make it your own] with all the saints [referring to the assembly of believers - human IQ is inconsequential; the 75 is in the same room as the 140] what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

 

In order to comprehend the glory of God and therefore enter the super-grace life the believer must have solid foundation in four areas of doctrine.

 

/Breadth - doctrines related to the ministries of G/HS

Length - doctrines related to dispensations

Height - doctrines related to the essence of the Trinity

Depth - doctrines related to the Angelic conflict.\

 

[slide: four pillars]

 

EPH 3:19 and to know the love of Christ [occupation with Christ] which surpasses knowledge [this is wisdom, which is far beyond knowledge], that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God [super-grace blessings].

 

/Paul does pray for the blessing of other believers, but only in its proper place of grace capacity at spiritual maturity.\

 

EPH 3:20Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

 

/We have been the target of super-grace happiness and super-grace blessings all of our lives. God not only has the ability but the desire and He eagerly waits for super-grace capacity.\

 

/ISA 30:18

Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you,

And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.

For the Lord is a God of justice;

How blessed are all those who long for Him. \

 

EPH 3:21to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. [I believe it]

 

/He who has designed this incredible plan to bless His creatures by means of grace is the One who will be glorified forever through those very blessings.\

 

REV 4:9 And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever,

 

REV 4:10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns [escrow blessings] before the throne, saying,

 

REV 4:11"Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things [including the plan], and because of Thy will they existed, and were created."

 

Now we turn to Paul’s other recorded prayer in Ephesians.

 

EPH 1:15 For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you, and your love for all the saints,

 

EPH 1:16 do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you [“of you” is not in the original] in my prayers;

 

/Legitimate prayer is giving thanks for other positive believers, whether you know them personally or not.\

 

You’re not going to be thankful for the reversionistic believers, for them you pray that their eyes open to their need for doctrine and that the happiness that they are seeking is found in no other place.

 

But you should be thankful for those who have agape love for the RFOG and you should thank God for them in your prayers.

 

/Making mention is a word that also means remembrance. This shows us that we don’t have to go into a lot of detail with God concerning others, but we pray for them as we remember them.\

 

EPH 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory [essence of God], may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

 

/ “spirit of wisdom” - a human spirit that is always ready to circulate metabolized doctrine to the launching pad of the heart, ready to be applied. Applied doctrine is wisdom.\

 

Revelation comes by means of the filling of the Spirit and it is always personal to you. That is the aha moment of a doctrine that in conjunction with other doctrines becomes understandable.

 

/ “knowledge” - epignosis [epignosis] = metabolized doctrine] \

 

/1 Cor 2:10

For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. \

 

You can do nothing without the Spirit of God. He indwells you and therefore sets up headquarters in your body by which He may supply you with power. He is our second Advocate. You are useless without Him.

 

EPH 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart [the eyes of your right lobe is your spiritual insight and understanding. It is your own comprehension of the four pillars] may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

 

/ “may be enlightened” - let there be light = Jesus Christ dawning in your heart. The dawn will only grow brighter with your continued understanding of Him.\

 

Anyone who gets to know Christ must essentially be overtaken by Him. He is too marvelous not to overwhelm your heart.

 

/2 Cor 5:14

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; \

Paul’s prayer is that believer will know something:

 

/ “know” - perfect active infinitive of oida[oida] = to have seen or perceived to as to know absolutely.\

 

/ that you may know - “hope of His calling” - confident expectation of the results of your election to privilege, honor, and blessing.\

 

/ that you may know - “riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” - knowing what are the escrow, super-grace blessings of those whom God has set apart for Himself.\

 

Again, this means to know absolutely that God’s desire for your life is to receive the inheritance of Christ as a fellow heir both in time and in eternity.

 

HEB 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation [fulfillment of the cross] through sufferings [Christ’s sufferings and not ours].

 

HEB 2:11 For both He who sanctifies [sets apart as holy] and those who are sanctified [RFOG] are all from one Father; for which reason He [JC] is not ashamed to call them brethren,

 

/As brethren we are fellow heirs with Christ, however capacity must be established so that the inheritance will not destroy us or make us unstable.\

 

In order to create the capacity, which again is the ability to receive God’s surpassing grace blessings and not become unstable, God has provided us with the mind of Christ. If you think about it, and how simply it makes sense…?

 

/The inheritance is for Christ. Because of what He knows He has capacity for them. The same inheritance is shared with us, therefore we must know what He knows to gain that capacity.\

 

That is exactly what the writer of Hebrews says next as he quotes a Psalm.

 

HEB 2:12 saying,

"I will proclaim Thy name [my person] to My brethren,

In the midst of the congregation I will sing Thy praise."

 

Does this quotation look familiar to you? If you were here Wednesday night than it might.

 

/Ps 22:22

I will tell of Thy name to my brethren;

In the midst of the assembly I will praise Thee. \

 

Verses 1-21 depicted the sufferings on the cross and here in verse 22 is the victory. For Christ, His greatest personal inheritance is the RFOG that compliments His authority as King of kings and Lord of lords. For the brethren, we inherit the same. We also possess the RFOG along with spiritual and material blessings that stagger the imagination. The only thing missing is our capacity for them.

 

You will not have capacity to enjoy the RFOG unless you have impersonal unconditional love. The same is true for all relationships. And you will not have capacity for spiritual and materialistic blessings unless you possess the virtues of thankfulness, humility, and wisdom.

 

Go back to Eph 1. In verse 19 the verb, perfect active infinitive of oida, still applies.

 

EPH 1:19and [that you may know absolutely] what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might

 

/God’s power is limitless and therefore so is the potential of your spiritual life. “surpassing greatness” = over the top magnitude.\

 

[huperballo and megathos (attic Greek word referring to greatness in quality and not size or stature)]

 

This power is directed toward you and awaits your capacity.

 

There are four words for power in this verse:

EPH 1:19and [that you may know absolutely] what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might

 

/ “power” - dunamis = inherent power of God

“working” - energeia = operational power of God

“strength” - kratos = ruling power/BD

“might” - ischus = endowed power/BD in heart.\

 

God is power. God chose to use His power. God chose to place His power within His word. God chose to parlay His power to us by giving us a system [GAP] by which His word can be metabolized in our hearts.

 

Paul is praying for believers to exploit this power.

 

Now Paul informs us how a perfect God could provide His perfect power to imperfect creatures.

 

EPH 1:20which He brought about [made operational] in Christ, when He [when is not in the original = “having”] raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

 

/The session equals victory and victory means the spoils can be reaped. Though the enemy continues to fight a losing battle, we must rejoice in the solid victory.\

 

EPH 1:21far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named [this list refers to all categories of fallen angels], not only in this age [Chuch-age], but also in the one to come [Tribulation and Millennium].

 

EPH 1:22And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,

 

EPH 1:23 which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.