Beyond Your Wildest DreamsShembull

On Your Knees

I was once involved in an event with a young girl from our community being raised from the dead. She had smashed her head in a bicycle accident, and the doctors had declared her brain dead. Her life support was going to be turned off. When we heard about the accident, our church prayed desperately for a miracle, and on the following day, she sat up in her hospital bed and spoke. Her parents deeply appreciated the miracle but weren’t interested in following Jesus. I admit I was disappointed with their response, but I had seen what God could do. It was beyond my wildest dreams.

Over the next five days, we will study a prayer that Paul prayed for the Ephesians. We will examine a small prayer section each day, but I would like you to read the whole passage every day (it’s only eight verses). Today’s focus is on verses 14-15.

Paul was praying a huge prayer. He finished by asking God for the Ephesians to be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (3:19). That’s big, but Paul believed that when God got hold of people, he could do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (3:20). So he didn’t hold back in this prayer. I’m hoping Paul’s prayer will inspire you and assist you in enjoying a work of God in you that is way beyond your wildest dreams.

It’s important to note that Paul had been in prison for years when he prayed this prayer. He wasn’t in the middle of a revival, experiencing great miracles, or seeing many converts. Paul was in chains. Yet he knew God was not chained. He knew what God wanted to do in and through his people, so he prayed in faith. You may not be seeing God do much in your life. That must not stop you from praying along with Paul. This is a prayer you can pray in every circumstance.

It’s helpful to know that Paul kneeled as he prayed (3:14). As a kid, I used to kneel at my bedside to pray, but I don’t kneel much these days. Neither did Paul. The normal prayer posture for Jewish men was standing with arms raised. This is how we sometimes pray as we talk to God in our worship songs, but this prayer called for a different posture. Paul was earnest and determined. He was on his knees, humbly crying out for God’s mercy and love to flow through the Ephesians. His posture indicated the seriousness and desperation of his prayer.

Paul was not trying to force a reluctant God’s hand by his humble posture, by no means. He was praying to the Father (3:14), who cares deeply for his children who bear his image. He was echoing what the Father loves to do: to fill his kids and pour out his love on them.

This is a magnificent prayer. As you study it more deeply, may Paul’s passion and confidence infect your prayer life and grow your expectation of what Jesus wants to do in and through you. May you experience the grace of your Father, who works in ways beyond your wildest dreams. If you are serious about this, perhaps a good place to start would be on your knees, praying this passage through once again.