The Apostle Paul diligently prayed for his fellow disciples. We know that we too are to pray for God’s people, but what is the content of our prayers? Aside from health concerns or traveling mercies, we may be at a loss of how to pray for others. Paul gives us an example in his letter to the church at Ephesus:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, (Ephesians 3:14-15)

Paul commences his prayer by acknowledging God as his Father and recognizing his kinship with those of the family of God. Paul’s prayer in the first chapter of this epistle was a prayer for revelation so that they would know the fullness of God. This is a prayer for realization so they may experience the fullness of God. Paul does not focus upon outward appearances, he understands that God is concerned with the spiritual condition of our inner man:

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

When we are strengthened by the Holy Spirit, we can experience the mind of Christ. Paul prays that we may be able to comprehend the magnitude and extent of God’s love:

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, (Ephesians 3:17-18)

The word comprehend literally means to lay hold of or seize and make something one’s own. We are finite beings and cannot fully understand the greatness of God, but we can develop an appreciation of His love. Paul realizes our human limitations and then he makes an amazing statement:

and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:19)

Paul states that we are to know that which is unknowable. How is this possible? We may experience the expression of Christ’s love, but we can never fully plumb the depths of His love for us. The word Paul uses for know refers to an experiential knowledge. The result is we may be filled up with the fullness of God.

What does it mean to be filled with the fullness of God? The fullness of God enables us to transcend the ordinary circumstances of life. We realize that God is sovereign, that He is working all things out to His divine plan, and regardless of what happens; as a child of God, our destiny is secure. This is the same knowledge that transformed a group of fearful disciples into Spirit filled individuals who changed the world. This is how we can pray for others and ourselves as well.

Rick Higgins

Associate Pastor – Discipleship.  The Church at LifePark