Lord, Teach Us To Pray
Series: Part 4
Five Prayers of the Apostle Paul
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Tonight we continue our series on prayer. In the few weeks we are spending on this most powerful subject we will end up covering:
* The Model Prayer
* The Lord’s Prayer
* The Five Prayers of Paul
* The Prayer of Jabez
* Jacob’s Covenant Prayer
We will understand the difference between:
* Individual and Corporate Prayer
* Praying With Our Understanding and Praying In The Spirit
* Praying Under Authority and Praying In Authority
(The ‘not my will’ prayers; ‘Pray for’, not ‘pray against’)
* Prayer; Confession & Command
(We pray to God; Confess to ourselves; Command spirits)
(Prayer is only to God - we may voice command in Jesus’ Name to bind and loose or move mountains, but prayer is to God)
* Prayers God Hears and Prayers God Refuses To Hear
(1 John 5:14ff; John 9:31; 1 Peter 3:12)
This series will teach us that our praying should be:
* Instant
* Frequent
* Purpose-filled
* Persistent
Together we will come to know The one goal for all prayer. This helps us to keep our focus and not become distracted, detoured, derailed, disillusioned, disconnected or dissatisfied in prayer.
Remember what that one goal for all prayer is?
That God’s Kingdom would be established and that God’s Will would be accomplished.
This is the single purpose and goal for all prayer.
Tonight we will take a look at five prayers which the Apostle Paul prayed. These prayers reveal both the heart of God and the aim of an intercessor. I have used these prayers as a guide for more than twenty-five years now and have found they cover crucial components of life and ministry as well as release anointing to accomplish God’s will in the lives of those I pray over.
I. Prayer One - Ephesians 1:16-20
Ephesians 1 NKJV
16 (I) do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places
Continued Explanation: Here Paul begins teaching. Read in NLT.
21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
II. Prayer Two - Ephesians 3:14-19
Ephesians 3 NKJV
14 ¶ For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Affirmation: Notice the similarity is close to the Model Prayer in Matthew 6:13 (… For Yours is the Kingdom, the power and the glory forever. Amen.)
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
III. Prayer Three - Philippians 1:9-11
Philippians 1 NKJV
9 ¶ And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment,
10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,
11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
IV. Prayer Four - Colossians 1:9-12
Colossians 1 NKJV
9 ¶ For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;
12 ¶ giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
Continued faith confession:
13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
V. Prayer Five - 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
2 Thessalonians 1 NKJV
11 ¶ Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power,
12 that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus
Sideline Note: Paul also mentions giving thanks for the believers in the church of Thessalonica in the beginning of this letter in brief.
2 Thessalonians 1:3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other (NKJV)
The giving of thanks to God was worth mentioning and even boasting about due to the faith, love and unity of the believers in that church.
