The prayers of the Apostle Paul are deeply spiritual, characterized by a consciousness of God's glory and a focus on spiritual matters rather than personal ease or mundane concerns. Paul's prayers often began with thanksgiving for God's grace in sending the gospel, deliverance, the progress of believers, and enablement for ministry. He prayed for right relationships with God and fellow believers, seeking sanctification, love, patience, and fruitfulness in good works. Furthermore, Paul prayed for right behavior, both internally through increased love, holiness, knowledge, patience, and joy, and externally through walking worthy of the Lord and faith producing works. The sermon highlights specific prayers from Ephesians, asking for enlightenment of the mind and heart, knowledge of God's calling, Christ's inheritance in believers, and the power of the Holy Spirit, ultimately leading to being filled with the fullness of God.
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We're going to study the prayers of the Apostle Paul. Section one, they were deeply spiritual. One, he was conscious of God's glory. In Romans one, verse nine, he said, God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit. He seemed to be conscious constantly that everything was for the glory of God. And in Galatians one and five, he begins with what almost amounts to a doxology, to whom be glory forever and ever. And number two, the Holy Spirit recorded only what was worthwhile.
I mean by that we can't infer that everything about Paul was deeply spiritual or that he always prayed in deeply spiritual way, that the prayers that are recorded are deeply spiritual. In Jude three, you remember he said, I gave all diligence to write of the common salvation, but it was needful for me to write. That is, the Spirit of God constrained me to do something different from what he had counted on doing. And then three, Paul did not ask for ease for himself or of it. A, contrast this with ritualistic prayers and what may be a little more painful, contrast it with our mundane and selfish prayers.
Most of our prayers are based right here on the earth and concern anything but spiritual things. Now these are characteristics of his prayers. Section two. They were often preceded by thanksgiving for two things. One for God's goodness. And then I have selected four things There are many other things that he gave thanks for, but A. In elected grace, sending the gospel.
First Thessalonians one, four and five. He says, Knowing brethren, beloved, your election of God, for the gospel came unto you, and then he goes on to tell how it happened. He was recognizing that this was God's great grace in sending the gospel. And then B. deliverance and translation into the kingdom. Colossians one, thirteen and fourteen, who has delivered us and has translated us out of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of his love. And then see in Philippians one and six, it says that he began a work and he will perform it.
He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. This was part of his thanksgiving in writing to the Philippians. And well might we be thankful for the same thing. And then D in First Timothy one twelve we're told that Paul was thankful because God had enabled him and put him into the ministry. Now, the ministry is not capital T, capital M. It's simply that God had permitted him to serve him. And he was thankful to be permitted to serve God. And he goes on to say that he had been a blasphemer and injurious and persecutor of the church and so on, but he was grateful to God for his goodness in permitting him to serve.
And then secondly, he was... He was giving thanks for progress in believers. And I have five instances here to share with you. A, for the genuine and growing faith. In writing to Timothy the second time, chapter one, verse three, he mentions the unfamed faith of his mother and grandmother. and that he was persuaded that it dwelt in him also. He was grateful to see the faith of Timothy being shown in his life.
And B, he was thankful for abounding love toward all and patience and tribulation. He wrote to the Thessalonians in the second chapter, that your love toward all, all men, all Christians, abound, and that you're patient in tribulation, persecution, and so on. And then see, he was thankful that the hearts of the saints were refreshed by the kindness of Philemon. In that little one-chapter book, he comments, the hearts are the balls, as the old English says, the hearts of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother.
This has to be a work of God. It's true that we have natural milk of human kindness, and the devil hasn't soured all of it. But this is an entirely different thing. This is above and beyond that. And then D. He was thankful for the fellowship in the gospel that continued. In Philippians, he... He said that he remembered their fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now, and it was at least twelve years after Paul had first visited Philippi that he wrote the letter. And in twelve years' time, they had never ceased to keep in touch with Paul and to show that they had a part in the spread of the Gospel.
In fact, one of the reasons for writing the epistle to the Philippians, was to thank them for a gift that they had recently sent to him. And then in Second Corinthians nine, he was thankful for what the Corinthians were doing in sharing money with fellow Christians. There were other Christians who were not so well off, and while many of these Corinthians were not concerned about it and Paul had to write and jog them a little bit about it yet he was thankful that this service had abounded by many thanksgivings under God now these are these are spiritual reasons for giving thanks most of us are thankful we don't fall down break a leg are we thankful if we have good jobs and plenty to eat and all this kind of thing.
If you'll examine the prayers of Paul, you'll find that he was concerned about much more spiritual things. Now section three, prayer for right relationships, one with God and two with fellow believers. Now under the heading of right relationship with God, he wrote to the Thessalonians, the first letter chapter five verse twenty three and said i pray god that your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless under the coming of our lord jesus christ he wanted he wanted that god should have them in total their whole person would be sanctified set apart for god himself and then be He prayed, writing the second letter to them, that their hearts would be directed into love, into the love of God, and the patient waiting for Christ, or as the revised version says, the patience of Christ.
He wanted their hearts directed into the love of God and the patience of Christ, which, of course, is another way of saying that they would be enjoying the Lord and becoming more like Him. And C, he prayed for the non-Christian friends, especially his own Jewish brethren, Romans ten and one. My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. I think we probably pray regularly for some that we'd like to see brought to Christ.
But after we are brought to Christ, I'm not so sure that we are always praying spiritual prayers for their progress. Now, secondly, his prayer for right relationships with fellow believers, A, that they may be established and comforted together in the first chapter of Romans. established of course means that they might be on a good solid footing. It has to do with putting up a building on a good foundation.
He mixed metaphors sometimes for which no reason to apologize. He spoke about being rooted and grounded. And rooted would have to do with a tree getting its roots down and and grounded or established what it has to do with getting a good foundation under a building. And both of these are good similes for us. Now, B, in Acts twenty and thirty-two, he prayed that they might be built up. I commend you to God who is able to build you up. So it's not enough to be established to get on a good foundation, but then you want to proceed with the building.
A man with whom I used to preach said that he visited the place and led a man to Christ. And the verse that the Lord used to help him to see and understand was, While we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly, Romans five and six. And when he got ready to leave that place, he said to the man, the newly saved person, he said, how is it with your soul? Oh, he said, it's wonderful. Christ died for the ungodly. But he said, now I'm glad to hear you say that. Now go on for him. And you didn't see the man for five years.
You didn't get back to that same time. And when he met this man, he said, well, how is it with your soul? He said, oh, fine, Christ died for the ungodly. Well, he said, that's nice, but you knew that much five years ago. Has he learned anything since? Aren't you making any progress? That's what Paul wanted to see. All right. The third one, see, Colossians one in verse ten. He prays that they might be fruitful in every good work, walking worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, fruitful unto every good work. Usually fruit is connected with God himself.
Fruit is for the Lord. Fruit is something which the Spirit produces inside. But all fruitfulness ought to lead to good works, and that's what he's asking for here. And finally, in writing to Timothy in the second letter, chapter four and verse sixteen, he mentioned some people who had done him harm, and he prayed a very spiritual prayer for them. He said, I pray God that it may not be charged, but are laid to their charge. He prayed that people who had done him harm should not be charged with failure. And that takes a great deal of spirituality. Most of us would take more comfort in the passage that says, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.
Now, section four, a prayer for right behavior. Right relationships is one thing. When it comes to activity, this is quite another. Right behavior begins on the inside. And so, number one, internally. And number two, externally. Now, what do we mean by right behavior internally? Well, there's a great deal that goes on in your own spirit that no one else sees until later on it begins to bear fruit.
For instance, If there's covetousness working in your soul, I won't know that for a while. But after a while, I'll begin to see that. I'll begin to see it in your life. I'll begin to see that your grasping attitude is resulting in your reaching out for things that you ought not to want. And the same is true with many other things. Envy, he says, is rottenness of the bones. You could have rottings in your bones for quite a little while, but after a while it'll begin to show up. The bones will begin to break down. That's what I want to think about with you now a little bit.
A. That they might abound and increase in love. In Philippians one and nine, he said your love aboundeth. and then in first verse alone in three twelve he said you increase and abound in love toward all now if there is genuine love in your heart for the Lord and for his people it will begin to show shortly but right now we're thinking about this development on the inside that's what Paul was praying for and then be The next verse after the one I just quoted in First Thessalonians three, the thirteenth verse says that he wants them to be unblameable in holiness.
Now blame has to do with what others see, but holiness has to do with what is on the inside. If there is genuine holiness, and remember we studied sanctification, we saw that the word sanctify and the word holy and the word saint are related words. So that a person who is truly set apart to God, holiness is something which begins on the inside. And then it develops, it comes out in an unblameable light. And see, again in this prayer in Colossians one, he prayed for increase in knowledge, patience, and joy.
Now that's actually a good bit, isn't it? And yet all of these things are necessary parts of our internal behavior. If you're not increasing in knowledge, if you're not increasing in patience, if you're not increasing in joy, you're not going to be a very useful Christian. And Paul was praying that this would be happening in their spirit. And then finally, he prayed that they might be filled with the fruits of righteousness. Now the righteousness would come out in their lives if they were filled with the fruit.
This was mentioned in both Philippians one and Colossians one. You'll notice that we have recurring reference to the same chapters here. That's because There are prayers in each of these epistles, and usually at the beginning of the epistle. He says, I thank my God because of you, and I pray for this for you. But I'm sort of sorting them out here so that you can think about the character of the prayer. Now, prayer for right behavior externally. A?
In Colossians one, ten again, he says that you make walk worthy of the Lord. I don't know any improvement on the word walk. Modern translations have tried to introduce other phrases and words, but I don't know any real improvement on that. There is nothing quite like the word walk to tell us of our day-by-day progress. We're not traveling by jet. You're just foot-slogging it out. Day by day, you're on this trip, like Pilgrim's Progress, you're making it a step at a time. And when he says, Thy word is the lamp unto my feet, this is the old-fashioned Roman foot lamp that was strapped to the ankle.
And he gave just enough light for one step at a time. And that's about the way God leads. We'd like to make great flights into success, but the fact of the matter is it's a walk. And it ought to be, and Paul prayed that it might be, a walk worthy of the Lord. That's a high ideal. And B, he prayed that their faith might produce works. And I've given you three references here, two in second Thessalonians and one in Hebrews. or practically the same expression is used in each case.
He wanted your faith to show in your daily works. You remember in our study of James we saw that there's no other way that you can show your faith. I can't tell what you believe except by the way you behave. And then last of all, the second Corinthians in thirteen, he prayed that you do no evil but that you be honest. Now I've chosen to spend the last few minutes on two of Paul's sample prayers.
There are a number of them. I haven't said anything about the ones in Ephesians. These are the two that I enjoy more than any of the rest. In Ephesians chapter one, verses seventeen to twenty-three, he says that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding, and the revised version says, the eyes of your heart being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance and the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us which he believed, according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.
and has put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Now the prayer actually extends from verse seventeen through verse twenty. I want to consider this just a moment. We'll call this. That's first prayer, number one. A prayer for knowledge and power. Let's notice four parts of this prayer. A. That the mind and heart should be enlightened.
He wanted them to know certain things, but he wanted them to know it with more than just head knowledge. He wanted them to have the eyes of their hearts enlightened. The mind and heart enlightened. And then D, he wanted them to know three things. D, to know the hope of the Father's calling. Actually, this prayer consists of three requests. And it follows the same pattern as the early part of this chapter, where he gives us three sets of blessings.
Three sets of three. The blessings through the Father, the blessings through the Son, and the blessings through the Spirit. So he follows that same order here. And he says that you may know the hope of his calling, that is the Father's calling, and that you may know, you may know is understood. and what, the riches of the glory of his inheritance, our Savior's inheritance in the saint, and what, there again the verb to know is understood, and to know what is the exceeding greatness of his power. That's the Holy Spirit's power. So you have three things, be to know the hope of the Father's calling, see to know the Son's inheritance in his saint, and D to know the Holy Spirit's power in the life.
Now this is a deeply spiritual prayer. He didn't say that he hoped that those Ephesians would make enough money so that they could retire. He didn't say that he hoped that they'd all be well and happy. One of the things that we pray for that that are not really essential. But these things are essential. If you're going to be a happy Christian, you need to know the hope of God's calling. You need to understand what He's called you to. And you need to know the riches of the glory of Christ's inheritance in His saints.
Now, mind you, this is not our inheritance. This is his inheritance in us. We all think about what God has given us in Christ. But let's not forget that God has given Christ something in us. And if we understand this, we're going to be very careful of our lives. And last of all, he wanted that we should know the Holy Spirit's power in the life. The same power that raised Christ up from the dead is the power that operates in the life of a believer today. And incidentally, he raised the Lord Jesus far above all principality and power and might and dominion.
And this is the same group that he mentions in chapter six that he says we're fighting against. Our warfare is against this same group. Principalities and powers and mights and dominion. It's satanic opposition. The Lord Jesus is raised far above that. Now the same power is operating in you. And that's why he gives us the armor in the sixth chapter that we might be able to rise above these things and go on to please him. Now let's look for a moment at the second prayer in Ephesians three, fourteen to twenty-one. Wherefore I desire that you faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
For this pause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The first prayer was addressed to God, the second one addressed to the Father. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, all whom the whole family or every family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, and dwell means to settle down and be at home there, and that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is of breadth and length and depth and height.
I don't think this means of the love, I think this means of his purposes, and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness or filled into all the fullness of God. I couldn't fill my little cup with the Lake Superior, but I could fill it in Lake Superior by dipping it down into it. And I wouldn't expect to fill my little cup with all the fullness of God, but I can fill it into it. And when I run out, I can go back and fill it again. That's what he's talking about here. And then he says, unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly of all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.
Amen. We often divorce that twentieth verse from the rest of the passage, and I don't object to your saying that God is able to do exceeding abundantly, but what he's talking about He's able to do exceeding abundantly according to this prayer. He's able to do for you the things that are here in this prayer. What are they? Well, A, to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit. And B, that Christ may be as home in our hearts. Your heart is his home. And C, that we may comprehend his purposes.
Maybe apprehend would be a better word. Paul says in writing to the Philippians that I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended. I suppose comprehend means to take in the whole pie from the word compass to take in the whole thing, while apprehend means to cut a piece of it. I hope that we might at least apprehend something of his purposes. And then D, that we might know experientially his love. Now to know the love of Christ is not to know about it, but it's to know it and experience.
How much time have you spent this week letting Christ love you? How much do you rejoice in his love for you? How much do you count on it? And finally, that we might be filled into all of God's foes. Don't ever say, I'm trying to serve the Lord in my own weak way, because your own weak way isn't worth a plug nickel. There's nothing about your own weak way that's any good for anything. God has given you his power, his fullness, and he wants you to be drawing on his resources, then you'll be able to do these things that will be pleasing to him.
Now these are some of the spiritual prayers of the Apostle Paul.