The Apostle Paul says to follow him as he follows Jesus. When Paul (then known as Saul) became a Christian, his priorities were radically changed. Prayer matters to Jesus. Prayer matters to Paul.
Christians know that they should pray, but sometimes we just don’t know what to pray. Paul is a great example of someone who prayed. We can learn from how he prayed and we can learn much from the content of his prayers.
- V9 – he prays for people he hasn’t actually met
- V9 – he prays unceasingly
- V9 – he prays that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will
- V10 – he prays that his readers would live a life pleasing to Jesus
What does this look like?
- v10 bearing fruit
- v10 growing in the knowledge of God
- v11 being strengthened so they will have great endurance and patience
- v12 to joyfully give thanks to God (giving thanks for what has God has done in vv12-14)
- V9 – he prays that their love may abound more and more – with knowledge and depth of insight
- SO THAT
- V10 – they will be able discern the truth
- V10 – be pure and blameless
- V11 – and filled with the fruit that comes through knowing Jesus
For further reading check out DA Carson’s book A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers
A warm fuzzy if you can guess the above pic. A bonus 3 warm fuzzies for the “why” behind the pic.
(c) The basis of this series will soon be copyright Scripture Union NSW