God Changes things, NOT prayer.

God Changes things, NOT prayer.

What?  I have heard all my life that prayer changes things.   Have I been misinformed?  Have I been led astray?   Tell me it ain’t so, Please!

Prayer works because of the sovereign power of God.   Prayer is not successful because of the words you say, or due to the faith you express or the promises you claim, but only by the hand of a God who in control of everything. 

Our Christian living always flows out of Christian truth.

One does not learn to pray best by studying prayer, on the contrary,  one learns to pray best by studying the God who answers prayer.  

This is the message of Ephesians chapter 3, verses 20 and 21. 

There are two prayer reports in Ephesians. 

1.  Ephesians chapter 1:15 – 23 is a prayer for understanding.

2.  Ephesians chapter 3:14 – 21 is a prayer for strength.

I want to draw your focus to Ephesians 3:14-21.  This prayer begins in verses 14 and 15 with an Opening Invocation:

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

Then in verse 16 we find the main Petition of the Prayer:  

16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

While verses 17–19 record the spiritual benefits of this prayer:

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Then in the text I will preach on Sunday, we find verses 20 and 21.  These two verses record the Closing Doxology.

Note how the petitions of this prayer are sandwiched between statements about God.  In verses 14 and 15, the writer addresses God as the father from whom every family on heaven and in earth is named.

In verse 20, Paul praises God as “him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think.”

The structure of the prayer reminds us that all true prayer is God centered.  You can never pray right without confidence that God is willing to hear and able to answer prayer!

We should begin our prayers by invoking the greatness of God and we should conclude our prayers by praising the greatness of God.

On too many occasions, I fear that we short-circuit our own prayers because we say “Amen” to soon. 

Prayer should not end after you have given your list of requests but rather prayer should only end after you have given appropriate praise to the God who answers prayer.

If you are able why not join us this week at Immanuel Baptist Church.  We worship at 10:45 AM each and every Sunday Morning located in Magnolia, AR.