Praying the Prayers of the New Testament

Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED blog post, the only blog that wonders if “King James Only” churches post their sermons on ThouTube.

“… strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might … ”

~ Colossians 1:11, NKJV

Apologies for missing last week’s UNFILTERED article. I’m sure you noticed and were frantically checking your spam folder, then questioning the very fabric of reality when it was nowhere to be found.

Ahem.

Alas, I was in Clearwater (Florida) and forgot my laptop. Note to self: always make sure to check off “bring laptop” on my travel preparation checklist before leaving the house.

Apology over. Here’s today’s feature.

For the past few months, I’ve been praying through the supplications found in the New Testament. In other words, I’ve been reciting the invocations made by Paul and the other apostles to God, personalizing them.

One of those prayers is found in Ephesians 3:13-21:

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you WITH POWER through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may HAVE POWER, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to HIS POWER that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (NIV)

Notice that Paul uses the word “power” three times in this prayer.

With Power

Have Power

His Power

This wasn’t a prayer for Christian leaders.

He was praying for ALL the believers in the ekklesias in Asia Minor.

Consequently, this prayer is for all of us – leader or not.

And that means that God’s power is something EVERY Christian, including you, should be interested in.

(In Colossians 1:9-14, the apostle uttered a strikingly similar prayer for all the believers in Colossae.)

This is precisely why I wrote the book 48 Laws of Spiritual Power. As strange as it is, I still run into Christians who think the book is only for leaders. Not so.

Whether or not you have the book yet, I encourage you to listen to the four interviews I did on God’s power on the book landing page.

They are gratis.

GO HERE TO LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEWS. Just scroll down when you get to the page.

In a future article, I plan to post all the New Testament prayers I use in my devotional time. Stay tuned for that. You may want to use them also.

Until next Thursday,

fv