From verse 9 we see that Paul never forgot to pray for the
Romans. (It is so easy to forget, isn't it?) When he prayed for
them, he mentioned one of his requests was that "I might have a
prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you." He
wanted to be made a blessing to them; he wanted to impart spiritual things to them.
Then again, we have Paul's prayers in Ephesians. These are
the longest prayers Paul prayed; they are more detailed than
prayers in his other letters.
EPHESIANS 1:16-23
16 [I] cease not 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 unto you the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of him:
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened;
that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and
what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to
usward who believe, according to the working of his
mighty power.
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him
from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in
the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might,
and dominion, and every name that is named, not only
in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave
him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all
in all.
Paul prayed that the Ephesians might receive a revelation of
the knowledge of God in their hearts; in other words, that the
inner man might be enlightened.
One translation says, "The eyes of your heart, or your
spirit...." (Eph. 1:18). Paul didn't pray for their mental
understanding, because we know it's beyond human (mental)
comprehension to grasp the meaning of what Paul said here
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
We know the Word
Paul at Prayer 37
means what it says, but we need to get the revelation of it in our
hearts.
I made giant strides in my spiritual life when I began to pray
this Ephesian prayer for myself. At my last pastorate in Texas, I
shut myself up in my church during the winter of 1947-48 for
hours and even days, never coming out.
I left my Bible open to this chapter on the altar, and nearly
every time I went in, I got on my knees and prayed this prayer
for myself.
I would say, "Now, Lord, Paul was inspired by the Spirit of
God to pray this prayer, and he was inspired by the Spirit of God
to write it.
I am praying it for myself." Every place Paul said
your, I would insert I. Where he said, "I pray that the eyes of
your understanding ...." I would say, "I pray that the eyes of my
understanding ... ."
Then I would turn to the next prayer, in Ephesians 3:14-21,
and I would pray for myself again. Since I would be there for
hours at a time, I would pray those prayers every two or three
hours—perhaps half a dozen times a day.
The Lord spoke to me one day while I was at the altar
praying. He said, "I am going to take you on to revelations and
visions." Immediately after that, revelations in line with the
Word began to come. In fact, they came so fast I said to my
wife, "What in the world have I been preaching the last 15
years?" I learned so much and got so much new knowledge from
the Bible, praying these prayers on my knees before God, it
seemed as if I didn't know anything before.
When the eyes of your understanding—your spirit—are
enlightened, you can make more spiritual progress in a few
days or weeks than you can in 15 years of studying the
Bible and preaching. That doesn't mean we shouldn't study;
I still study! But I'm saying these are good prayers to pray
for yourself.
END OF DAILY DIET E-BOOK SERIES 01. (PRAYING TO GET RESULTS by Kenneth Hagin)
FFT: Revelational knowledge is the key to rapid spiritual progress!
ACTION POINT: Pray Paul's prayer!
INTERACTIVE SESSION: What have you learnt so far in this DAILY DIET E-BOOK SERIES 01? kindly share it below for the benefit of others:
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