Written by Pastor Mark Driskill
September 12, 2011

Read Ephesians 1:18-20

“having the eyes of your hearts enlightened…”
I wonder what would happen in our churches if we prayed for them in the same manner that Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus. In fact I wonder what would happen if we prayed for everything the way the apostle prayed here. I wonder what would happen if we stopped praying out of our emptiness and started praying, like we see here, out of Gods fullness. Of course in order to pray we must realize our own helplessness in order to allow God to fill our need with his power and grace. But my point is that often in our prayers we come to God more aware of what we don’t have in and of ourselves than of what God has already given to us in Christ.

In this wonderful apostles prayer we see him praying, not that the church would become called, but that she would realize the calling she already has. He doesn’t pray that God would give her an inheritance so she could finally have enough, but that she would realize the unfathomable inheritance she already has. Finally, he doesn’t ask God to fill her with resurrection power. He asks that her eyes would be opened to the power she has already been given in Christ.

Too many churches, and believers languish in prayer under the sweltering heat of inadequacy. They are worn out with their own sense of not having enough. They wear themselves out hoping one day to achieve enough power and resources to finally be usable for God. “Oh Lord if we only had a gym, or more money, or a spot on television. If we only had more young people. If we only had….then we could…..” Individuals do the same. “Oh Lord I would give it all to you if I had more money, more time, and more talent. If I wasn’t single. If I wasn’t married to the wrong person. If I just had a better hairdo”(insert laughter here).

We pray as if God had only forgiven our sins and left us on our own to seek his kingdom. That type of prayer is missing the whole point of the gospel. You see Paul knew that in Christ God has given us all we need and more to be effective for him. But we’ve been so focused on our inadequacies (and feeling pretty spiritual about it too.) that we pray out of our emptiness rather than out of his fullness. What will happen to your church prayer meetings when you begin to pray that God would not give you anything else, but that he would simply open your eyes to the magnificent things you already have? What will happen to your personal life when you pray out of the realization that you have all of the resources of heaven right now to change your world? It just may change your life.

You and I do not need more of God. We just need a greater awareness of the God we already have. God doesn’t come to you in spoonfuls. He comes in the fullness and power of the resurrected Christ. If that’s not enough to keep you full then you have a leak somewhere!  Oh that God would awaken us to the riches that lay at our feet in Christ! Today I challenge you to ask nothing of God except that he show you what you already have in him. Try it for one day and see what happens.

Pastor Mark Driskill
Web Minister of Begotten By the Word web ministry
See our website at http://ourchurch.com/member/b/bbtw
and
www.facebook.com (to group “begotten by the word”)
Begotten By the Word is a ministry of Helping Hands Christian resources-Evangelism Outreach
www.hhcr05.org
(Feel free to copy in any way that will bring glory to God and further his kingdom.)