My Prayer for You and Me

It’s that time of year again (at least for all you students out there). Finals are upon us. Studies have worn us down, we are exhausted from a long semester, and we are salivating at the thought of summer break just around the corner. For me, this will be the first time I haven’t taken class since summer after my senior year, and I can’t wait to finish that last final next week. In the midst of all our studies and other pursuits in life, exhaustion can come quickly. I think I’ve felt that more this semester than any other and in just about every way. I must admit with great sadness that at times because of my exhaustion my studies (yes, I mostly study the Bible or about it) have become simply academic tasks to trudge through. My goal is always to understand God more fully in such a way as to make my affections and joy in Him greater. However, often I gain a greater intellectual understanding without drawer nearer to Christ, which in reality is no understanding at all.

Recently, my attention has been drawn to a passage multiple times. In Ephesians 3:14-19, Paul prays an incredible prayer:

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Paul is praying for a much deeper knowledge of Christ than any sort of mere intellectual study can provide. This is a knowledge of the love of God that grips our hearts. It transforms our passions, and it fills us “with all the fullness of God.” This is knowledge worth pursuing. Knowledge that brings strength and ultimate satisfaction rather than exhaustion. And it is knowledge that God grants us through the Spirit, thus it comes from no academic effort (Praise God!) or merit on our own part. It comes from bowing on our knees before the Father humbly asking for this “strength to comprehend.”

I noticed that in the margin of my Bible I had written, “What a prayer! This should be every pastor’s prayer for his flock.” So true! However, stopping there is dangerous. Not only should we (all Christians) pray this for brothers and sisters in Christ, but we must also pray this for ourselves. If we are to have an effective ministry to others, we must be gripped by the love of Christ. Our time in the Word can’t become simply intellectual pursuit. It must become much more than that: an intimate, affectionate knowledge of the love of God. This must be our prayer for others and most certainly ourselves, too.

Paul’s prayer is my prayer for you and me.

Grace and Peace,

BMoore