Ephesians 3:14-21

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"¹⁴ For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,¹⁵from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, ¹⁶that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-- ¹⁹to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.²⁰Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ²¹to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

INTRODUCTION

A. This is the second time in Ephesians that Paul has written down his prayer.

B. You learn alot about people by listening to their prayers.

C. What would others say about you if all they knew of you was what they heard in your prayers.

D. We get insight into how Paul prayed to God.

E. What three things to we learn about prayer through Paul?

F. Why did Paul leave this prayer in writing?

I. Adoration (v14-15)

A. For this reason...

B. Verse 2-13 is a parenthetical thought that picks up the thought in verse 14.

C. The parenthesis is about "the mystery hidden in the old...revealved in the New"

D. Removal of all boundaries between Jew and Gentile

E. What is the reason?

F. I bow my knees... Paul is praying for something that He knows is the will of God

G. Where is Paul writing this?

H. What is the proper posture for Christians when they pray? Is there one?

I. Is the posture of your body different from the posture of your heart? Remember the admonition of not being a hypocrite.

J. We need to bow the heart and the will before we pray. Remember to whom you are praying to. (Read Acts 4)

K. Remember how the Jews always begin prayer....baruch a'ta adonai, elohenu melech ha'olam ("Blessed are you of God, King of the Universe")

II.Intercession (praying for others)

A. Why might you consider this to be the hardest form of prayer?

B. Where is it that Paul us to be strengthened? Why is that?

C. What is "the inner man"?

D. How will the Holy Spirit strengthen the inner man? What does He do?

E. What four things does Paul pray for the Ephesian Church? Stability, Security, Charity(Love), Spiritual Capacity

F. What does dwell (katoikeo) mean? That Christ may inhabit down in your heart or that Christ may settle down and make himself at home within your house

G. Does he do this in your home?

H. What kind of love did Jesus have? Sacrificial, unconditional, non-reciprocal

I. How does this differ from how we love one another? How about a husband for a wife? A Wife for a husband? Parents for children? Children for parents?

J. Love of God that passess all knowledge? How do we do this (know the unknowable)? (Rom 8:37-39)

III.Benediction (Doxology)

A. What does power mean?

B. What does energy mean?

C. How does Paul use and why does he use the adverbs the way that he does in verse 20-21?

APPLICATION

1. Take an iventory of your home. Looking at your....

A. DVD/CD collections

B. Cable channels

C. Books & magazines

D. Checkbooks.

2. Would Jesus feel at home? Reflect on what you need to do about it. Are you willing to take action? Why or why not?

3. Are you excited that it will take all of eternity to be filled with the love of God?

4. Take time in your group to pray like Paul has shown us to pray in these verses.