Powerful Prayers
This Week: A Prayer for Assurance
Today: That We May Know – Part 1

Scripture Reading:  Ephesians 1:15-19

Key Verse:  Ephesians 1:17

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

If you believe in God, I have to believe you would like to communicate with Him effectively.  Prayer is the common term referring to our communication with God; the Bible wants us to be effective in it!  We are going to look at four of the Holy Spirit inspired prayers of the Apostle Paul this month.  I believe they will teach us how to be effective in talking with God and receiving His answers.

            Praying scriptural prayers does a couple of things for us.  First, when we pray one of these biblical prayers, we know we are not asking for the wrong reasons.  In his writings, the Apostle James reminds us that we often do not get answers to our prayers because we are asking with the wrong motives (James 4:30).  Scriptural praying keeps us focused on the things that God is interested in.

            Secondly, when we pray the Bible prayers, we can know that we are praying within the will of God.  That is always the question when we are praying: Is it what God wants?  We know He is right and we never want anything outside His perfect will, yet how do we know what His will is?  If we make it a practice to pray the prayers found in the Bible, we can rest assured that we are praying things that are in the will of God.  Of course, we all will pray our own prayers as well; and we should.  But learning to include the powerful prayers of the Bible will enhance our effectiveness.

“Father, I long to pray prayers that bring about your will on earth—in my life.  Teach me to pray and lead me today!  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”