Almost every culture has a genie-in-the-bottle-type story in which someone frees a being from captivity and is granted three wishes. Often the wishes go wrong. For example, the man who asks for a pile of money finds it difficult to know his real friends because everyone wants something from him. The woman who asks for a life of leisure finds that a life without stress is boring. The moral is that we do not know what to ask for and that what we think we need may harm us.
I bring this up because our prayers often sound like our three wishes list. We ask for what we think we need and overlook what would be most beneficial. On top of that, our prayers can become so repetitive that we just give up. Fortunately, scripture shows us something better. As Paul starts his letter to the Ephesian church, he asks for three life-changing blessings on their behalf.
First, he asks God to give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so they would know him better (Ephesians 1:17). This is not about knowing more facts about God. Rather, the prayer is that they would know God at a deeper level and that this relationship would guide everything else.
Next, he prays that the eyes of their hearts would be enlightened so they would see their hope (verse 18). We can choose to focus on our problems, struggles and the obstacles that are in our way, or we can see our blessings and all the good things around us. Paul wants them to live with joy and hope.
Lastly, he prays that his readers would know the “incomparably great power” at work within them (verse 19). Too often, we think we must solve our problems by ourselves. What would happen if we asked for God’s help? Why do we insist on feeling alone and hopeless? After all, as Romans 8:31 rhetorically asks, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
May I challenge you to pray Paul’s prayer this week? For seven days, ask to know God better, that your hope would be restored and that you would live by his power and not your own.
You may end up with more than you wished for.
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