A Prayer That is a Classic!
There are books that are written, music composed, artwork created that are timeless. They transcend centuries and have been duly noted as classics. There are those in education today who do not see the need for a classical education and have omitted huge libraries of literature and music, replacing it with contemporary (usually political) issues. What they fail to understand is that truth is eternal – it does not change from generation to generation. It transcends generations.
Such is one of the prayers that Paul prayed in Ephesians the third chapter:
16 Father, out of Your honorable and glorious riches, strengthen Your people. Fill their souls with the power of Your Spirit 17 so that through faith the Anointed One will reside in their hearts. May love be the rich soil where their lives take root. May it be the bedrock where their lives are founded so that together 18-19 with all of Your people they will have the power to understand that the love of the Anointed is infinitely long, wide, high, and deep, surpassing everything anyone previously experienced. God, may Your fullness flood through their entire beings.Ephesians 3:26-29 (The Voice)
Although Paul’s mission focus was to the Gentiles, this prayer is inclusive of all God’s people. The true minister of the gospel is concerned about all people understanding the power of the Spirit that is available to them. It is God’s desire that the love of God be so firmly rooted in the soil of our souls that we really understand that God’s love stretches to infinity in both length and width, in height and depth. That it is more far reaching than anything any of us have experienced outside of that love and when we receive it into our hearts that it fills every crevice of our being.
Until one allows the Holy Spirit the right of way in our lives we don’t know how God can make us love even our enemies. We don’t realize that we can forgive that one who wronged us in the worst way imaginable. Without HIs love filling us, we will never know the joy that comes when our prayers for a lost soul are answered when he comes to faith in Christ.
It sounds too good to be true – but it is not only true, it is eternally true!
Maria