Last Sunday, I heard a sermon on prayer, the second in a series on prayer. Oddly enough, well maybe not so oddly, these two sermons came on the heals of an entreaty of mine asking God how I could pray more efficiently. Specifically, as to how to better pray for my family, and generally, as to how to better pray for others. My take away from that sermon was profoundly simple:

‘Read your Bible before you pray.’

Since my prayers are usually worded with a particular scripture in mind, I reasoned, “Okay, I do that.” But the more I pondered that simple directive, the more I began to question myself, “Do I actually do that?” My conclusion was No!

So this morning before I began my prayer time, I opened my Bible. I questioned, “Where do I turn to?” The book of Ephesians came to mind. Feeling no need to question further, I turned to Ephesians, and began reading chapter 1 verses 16-20. Here’s what I read.

“I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.”

The last two sentences lingered in my thoughts as I began to pray for my immediate family, in particular my grandchildren. I pondered how praying this verse back to God on behalf of my grandchildren would benefit them. If my loved ones had a better understanding of the incredible power of God (the very same power that God used to resurrect Jesus from the dead), then it stands to reason they would be empowered to pray with more confidence in God to meet their needs. That could shift their focus. Their focus would then center on the power of God to meet their needs, not solely on their needs.

This is a ‘Need to Know’ kind of information. That being the case, I texted my beloved grans and shared the above verse adding the following comment:

..You have incredible power, to live the life to which God has called you. To call upon during the tough times in your lives. To give you guidance when the way seems uncertain. To encourage and assure you. To enable you to recognize when the enemy is attacking you and empower you to resist him. Just remember you have access to the same power that raised Christ from the dead. Learn how to draw upon that power…..