December 20, 2023
Author: Pastor Gordon Cook
December 20, 2023
”For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord
Jesus, and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give
thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and
of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts
enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called
you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.”
Ephesians 1:15-18
So here's another one of Paul's prayers. I think if you counted them
all up, depending upon who you listen to or read, there's probably
thirty plus prayers by Paul when he writes these letters, I think 5 or 6
in the book of Romans alone. Spurgeon said, “I would rather teach one
man to pray then ten men to preach.” Paul is certainly a good example of
a man who knew how to pray and we can certainly learn from him. And if I
were to ask you the question, “What characterizes or what distinguishes
Paul's prayers?” I think we could say many things. They were bold
prayers, they were humble prayers, they were fervent prayers, they were
constant; he says several times, “I'm always constantly praying for
you,”
But here are five things that came to my mind as I reflected on the prayers of the apostle Paul. His prayers were:
1.
Trinitarian. Dr. John Stott would get up every morning and he would
pray this prayer every time, “Good morning Heavenly Father. Good morning
Lord Jesus. Good morning Holy Spirit.” I'm not suggesting that we have
to pray exactly like Dr. Stott prayed, but the Bible's pattern is that
we pray to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit. We pray to the
Father in the name of the Son by the Spirit. You have Ephesians 2:18,
“For through Him, (that is in the Son), we have access in one Spirit,
(that's the Holy Spirit), to the Father.” So that's the biblical
pattern. We pray to the Father through the Son, in the name of the Son,
by the Spirit. So we have all three persons brought into focus, at least
in the back of our minds, when we go to God in prayer. That's one
characteristic of his prayers, they were Trinitarian.
2.
Personal and corporate. He prayed for himself. He could say to the
Ephesians in the back end of Ephesians 6, “Praying at all times for all
the saints, but also for me.” So he also prayed for himself and wanted
them to pray as well for him. So he never got to a point in his life
where he didn't think he needed someone to pray for him. He prayed for
himself, but he also knew that he needed people to pray for him. He
prayed for the church. That you find regularly in his letters. For
example, Colossians 1:9, “We have not ceased to pray for you.” It's
intercessory prayer, he prayed for the church. Again, 2 Thessalonians
1:11, “To this end we always pray for you.” So his prayers were
Trinitarian, his prayers were personal, he wanted people to pray for
him, and he also prayed for the church, he had corporate prayers.
3.
Praise and Thanksgiving. Spurgeon said, “He perfumed his prayers with
praise and thanksgiving.” For example, 1 Thessalonians 1:2, “We give
thanks to God always for all of you.” And then the first chapter of
Ephesians again, “I do not cease to give thanks for you remembering you
in my prayers.”
4. Content. He prayed for the church and what
did he pray for the church? You often find this with his prayers, not
always, but often times when he prayed for the church he prayed for
their godliness and for their sanctification. That's what he prayed for.
He didn't pray for their comfort and didn’t pray for their temporal
needs. Not that he didn't pray ever for that, but he prayed for their
godliness and holiness. Listen to what he prays in 1 Thessalonians 3,
“And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love, may establish
your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.”
5. Kingdom
growth and expansion. The final thing we could say about Paul’s
prayers, would characterize his prayers, he prayed for kingdom growth
and expansion. It sort of ties with our Lord's Prayer, “Thy kingdom
come.” He had a burden for lost sinners, we know that from Romans 9,
remember what he says, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my
heart, for I wish I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the
sake of my brothers or my kinsmen according to the flesh.” So he had a
great burden for the lost, but he didn't sit back, he prayed for the
lost, and he knew that he needed boldness himself if he was going to
preach the gospel to lost sinners. This is what he says again in
Ephesians chapter 6, “Pray also for me that words may be given to me in
opening my mouth boldly to preach the mystery of the gospel.” He's
asking them to pray that he’ll have boldness to preach the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
So those were some of the characteristics of the Apostle Paul's praying. We can certainly learn from him.
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