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Before you read on make sure you've read Ephesians 3:14-21.
Who to Pray to
The last question that's Paul's prayer answers very clearly, and in some ways the most important, is who to pray to. And we've see it hinted at as we've been going along, by Paul mentioning the members of the trinity as he prays.
1. The Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit
-The whole trinity is here in this prayer. We have God the Father as the one that Paul is directing his prayer to (in verse 15). He is asking for the empowering of the Spirit in their inner being (in verse 16), with the goal that Christ will dwell in their hearts through faith (in verse 17). Paul has some clear assumptions about how the members of the trinity work in relation to one another. This is the Biblical paradigm. God the Father is prayed to, and it is by his will, plan and foreknowledge, that he sends first his Son into the world to accomplish redemption, and then both Father and Son send the Spirit into the hearts of people, to glorify Christ in their hearts, applying that redemption in the lives of believers. Of course, when any one member of the trinity is at work, they are all at work and in perfect agreement and concord with him. But nevertheless, God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in this constant, loving, perfect relationship. The Trinity defines ultimate reality. From everlasting to everlasting the members of the trinity are constantly relating to each other in perfect fellowship.
-We pray to the Father.
(John 16:23-24) "In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full."
It's not that if someone gets it wrong and starts talking directly to Jesus, or praying to the Holy Spirit, God's not going to listen to that person. Nor does the fact that you pray to the Father earn you any points with God. No, God looks on the heart. But, it's just the case that Biblically speaking this is how prayer is done. Paul never asks the Holy Spirit to come and fill this place; he always asks the Father to send the Holy Spirit. Paul, or any other NT writer for that matter, never prays to Jesus asking him to apply his own work of salvation to his church. He always prays to the Father.
-We pray in the name of the Son, Jesus Christ. You can see this in the passage above. Jesus’ name, his character, is the ground of our ability pray to the Father. He gives us access to God and it is only on the basis of his merit and his righteousness that our prayers become effective. It is because of the Son that the Father hears us.
-We pray by the power of the Holy Spirit. "He may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being". Paul prays for it, but it is also the only way we can pray. "The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words." We need the power of the Holy Spirit to help us to pray.
-The whole trinity is active in prayer. The Spirit works in our hearts to inspire us to see the face of God in the person of Jesus Christ, so that we can pray to God with confidence, as we are inspired by the Holy Spirit. We are lifted up from our earthly sphere, into the very life and relationship of the Trinity, which has been going on ceaselessly for eternity past. We pray to the Triune God.
2. The God who is able
(Eph 3:20a) "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think..."
-God's ability is far beyond our ability to imagine. No eye has seen, no ear has hear, no mind has conceived, what God has prepared for those he loves.
-If you are not praying to the God who is able, you're not praying to the true God. If you’re praying to a God who can’t do something, you’re not praying to the God of the Bible. You’re actually double-minded in your asking, because you don’t really mean it.
(James 1:5-7) 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
-Because we pray to a God who is able and who gives generously to all without reproach, you should have a sweet mixture of confidence in his goodness and submission to his will. Ruth Bell Graham said something very profound about this mixture of confidence and submission: "When I am dealing with an all-powerful, all-knowing God, I, as a mere mortal, must offer my petitions not only with persistence but also with patience. Someday I'll know why." This makes sense given the way Paul talks here. He doesn't just say, "Now to him who is able and always does exactly what we think we want..." He says, "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us..." God doesn't limit himself, thankfully, to the exact wording of what we ask for. He is able to do far more, and he wants to do far more, and he does do far more. And the joy is that the power at work within us is by the Holy Spirit, the fully God third person of the Godhead, who knows everything about us, and knows from eternity past exactly what we really do need for life and godliness.
3. The God who is at work within the Church for his own Glory
(Eph 3:20b-21) "according to the power at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
-The most important thing to keep in mind and to present to God in prayer is the fact that he is at work within you. This is how you can have boldness to talk to a God as marvelous and great as our God, by reminding yourself as you talk to him, of his work in you, of his grace for you, of his love for you. It is only because of his work that we can have the confidence to converse with him about anything.
-He is also at work in the church as a whole. Jesus taught his disciples to pray "Our Father who art in heaven", and the prayer is not an individualized prayer for my needs, but for the needs of the church as a whole. Paul models this by praying for the Ephesian churches, and perhaps the Christian church as a whole. Prayer is not just about receiving a personal high, it's about the church. And it's to the God who is at work within the church and who loves the church so dearly. You're praying to a God who is passionate about his church and so it would make sense for you talk to him about his church. He loves talking about his church, so if you talk to him about his church and ask for good things for his church, it's going to go well; you're going to have a good conversation with him, because he likes talking about that.
-The goal of prayer, like everything else is God's glory. You are praying to a God whose ultimate goal is his own glory. It's not like your talking to an equal where you can trade off or barter with him, you get this thing that you want and I get this thing that I want. I make you look good in this way, if you make me look good over here. That's a surefire way to ruin a prayer. When we do that, we're not really praying to the God who does everything that he does for his own glory. God's goal is to glorify his Son in the church through the enlightening work of the Spirit. And he's not changing his mind anytime soon. So if you're asking for something that doesn't lead to that, you're not being aware enough of who you're praying to. Now, it is true that God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in him. God's glory is not inimical to the everlasting happiness of his saints. That's one of the ways he's glorified. But the best prayers are the ones that are designed to glorify God in the world. Do you remember in the wilderness when Moses prayed to God to spare Israel? Do you remember how his argument went? Moses said basically, if you destroy this people now, the other pagan nations who have been astounded by your work in bringing Israel out of captivity, will say that you only brought them out to destroy them in the desert. A lot of times we pray for things that really wouldn't glorify God. In that case, we’re not sufficiently aware of the God we’re praying to. God is always going to act in accordance with his own glory, so there’s not much chance he’s going to hear us if we pray for anything else.
So we pray to a God who is at work in the Church for his own glory.
So who to pray to: 1. The Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit (We pray to the Father, in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit.) 2. The God who is able. 3. The God who is at work within the Church for his own glory.
We've looked at why to pray: 1. It's just what Christians do! 2. So that we won't lose heart but will glory in suffering. 3. Because God is sovereign over all creation and the Namer of every family.
We've also looked at what to pray for: 1. Inner strengthening by the Spirit w/ power so that Christ indwells our hearts by faith. 2. Rooting and grounding in love and knowledge of God's unknowable love. 3. Filling w/ all the fullness of God.
And lastly we looked at who to pray to: 1. The Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 2. The God who is able. 3. The God who is at work within the Church for his own Glory.
John Bunyan gave an amazing definition of prayer that pretty much sums up my whole message: "Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to the Word of God, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God.”
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