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"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should" (Ephesians 18-20).

Prayer is an enigma; we just do not understand much about it, and maybe that’s not important. The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray showing that they had a desire for a deeper and richer prayer life (Luke 11:1ff). People today have the same desire if the amount of books about prayer is any indication. Authors and preachers have examined the various types of prayer such as laments, petitions and requests. Others have looked at various positions; hands lifted up, bowing and kneeling. Some have come up with basic prayers such as "Jesus Christ be merciful to me a sinner" which they would repeat over and over attempting to draw closer to God. While types and forms and words are beneficial to discuss, in reality, the best thing is to just speak to God out of our deepest desire and need.

Paul did not spend much time discussing the how tos of prayer but told Christians to pray. There is a recognition of various types of prayer. In Ephesians we see several ways in which Paul prays and makes requests of prayer from others. He says to "pray in the Spirit." His emphasis on the Holy Spirit in Ephesians is seen throughout the book. The Spirit has been given to us as a seal or guarantee of our inheritance in Christ. We define this like earnest money as a down payment for a house. The Spirit is God’s promise to us that we will be with Him in eternity. We are built together in unity in the Spirit (2:22; 4:3), which takes effort to maintain. To pray in the Spirit is to be in fellowship with Him in Christ.

He then asks them to pray "on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." Pray on all occasion or without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). How does one do this? If we concern ourselves with forms, it would be difficult. That is not what he had in mind. Rather, it might be praising God for creation as one travels through the country. Listening to the news might cause us to pray for various needs such as peace or rescue. We might have some burdens in which we could ask God over and over about, even lamenting at His silence. One could even make up a repetitious prayers such as "Jesus Christ, Savior, draw me closer to you." The purpose of such would be to draw us closer to God. The idea is to draw on God’s strength, to keep a continual recognition that God is King, that we need and are dependent Him.

Paul has two sections on prayer in Ephesians. The first is the prayer that he prays for the Ephesians (1:15-23). He gives thanks for them, requests that they would be given "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation,"

and that they would have understanding for the riches that God has provided for them. This follows his praise to God for the spiritual blessings in Christ (1:3-14). His second section on prayer is his kneeling before God and that He "may strengthen them with power through his Spirit in your inner being." Part of this prayer is to grasp the love of God in Christ and be rooted in that love. He concludes with a very powerful prayer:

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,

He then asks us to pray for the Lord’s people (6:18) by keeping alert. This is so important. We sometimes forget that we are not the only congregation of God’s people. There are things that we disagree with that others do or say or believe. That should not stop us from praying for them. We should pray for each other that our walk in the light will be more focused. Obviously we pray when one or more of us struggle and we praise God when prayers are answered in one way or another. Paul of course had a greater concern; for while he was in prison at this time, he had been involved with various congregations throughout the Roman world. Each of us have known a number of churches that we want to be more Christ-like, more focused on God, and more bold in proclamation.

Finally, Paul makes a personal request twice. He asks that he would "fearlessly make known" and "declare it fearlessly" the mystery of God. That mystery is seen in chapter three. It is the redemptive process of God coming into this world to bring salvation to those lost in sin through the cross and the resurrection of Jesus. It is the gathering of those believers into fellowship with God and one another to the glory and praise of God. The words were familiar to the Gentile world; rescue, salvation, redemption. Caesar had done all these things and was declared lord, a son of the gods. Paul’s proclamation gave new meaning and was a direct challenge to the authorities, especially the Romans. Hence that was the reason for the request to fearlessly proclaim this mystery of God.

There are various prayers in scripture. Some are short and pointed. "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). Some teach us to focus (Matthew 6:9-13). There are prayers of praise (2 Chronicles 29:10-19). Many times scripture tells us that people just prayed but did not give us the words. There are all kinds of prayers or subjects of prayer. For instance, we often pray for the sick, which is important. We pray for some personal request. What we need to consider is expanding our prayer life with the focus being on the thoughts of God. We could pray like Paul to be fearless in proclamation. We could pray more purposely for our enemies (see Matthew 5:44), that they would come and know the Savior Jesus Christ. We could pray for the oppressed, those persecuted for faith in Christ in various areas like the Sudan and China. We could pray for the poor, the widows, and orphans, for those in prison and the victims of crime. Paul tells us to pray for the king and those in authority. He said that when Nero was king and those in authority sought his life. We can pray for our President no matter what political party he belongs to and for Congress no matter how frustrating they can be. I’m sure we can come up with many more. This doesn’t mean one long petition. Rather, as we go through the day and think about some of these people, we say a prayer. It is an ongoing and growing process and will draw us closer to our Father.

Father, may we bring You glory and praise You in all that we do. This is Your world and You are King. May our requests be in keeping with Your will and may we humbly serve You. We come to You in the name of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

George B. Mearns