Praying for each other

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:14-19 NIV)

We know from Paul’s letters that he spent quite a bit of time in prayer. He must have had a list of those he prayed for – and he let them know that he prayed for them. Prayer is something we can do for each other at anytime. Although it might not seem this is a good way to help each other, what could be better than remembering those we know and love when we talk to our heavenly Father?

Paul said that the reason he prayed for others was because we are all part of God’s family. Although it doesn’t come out in English there is a play on words here: the Greek word for family (patria) comes from the Greek word for father (pater). Because we are ‘related’ through having the same heavenly Father we are all part of God’s family. If there were no other reason, this alone tells us that we should pray for each other.

Our prayers for others are often centred on needs that they have at that moment, whether illnesses, worries or other concerns, or what they are going through – and we need to be including these if this is what is needed. But notice that Paul’s prayers for the Christians in Ephesus centred on their faithfulness and spiritual growth, something that can’t be seen physically.  He asked that Jesus would strengthen them with power through his Spirit in their “inner being”, the spiritual part of their lives. This involves their growing in faith with Jesus making his home in their hearts.

But there is more: he wanted them, through the power that the Spirit would give them, to understand more about his love. He wanted them, as well as all of God’s people, to grasp, to understand, how “wide and long and high and deep” Jesus’ love really is. From my observation, people struggle with the idea of a love like this, a love we might describe as “unconditional”. Too often in our relationships, our love is conditional on what a person may say, do or even how they treat us. Aren’t we thankful that Jesus isn’t like this?! Too often we restrict our love, but Jesus’ love is so wide, long, high and deep, that it will never run out and can accommodate everyone! May we learn to grasp this.

It is when we realise that Jesus’ love “surpasses knowledge” that we can then be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God”. If we don’t grasp the fullness of Jesus’ love we are limited in how much we can be filled and grow as Christians. The more you consider Jesus’ love the more we realise how vital love must be to our lives if we are to truly be “in him”. No wonder Paul concluded his prayer for them in this way:

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Love, prayer, trust, spiritual growth – they are all intertwined in Jesus, who can answer anything we request in greater ways than we can imagine. “Amen”, indeed!

Image created by ChatGPT by Jon Galloway.

Readings for next week: 2 Corinthians 9-13; Ephesians 1-4