Latest / The OneCry Podcast / #264 Praying Like Paul: #1 Unlocking the Eyes of Your Heart
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker0: God has been on this relentless search
- 0:08Speaker0: to bring us back into His presence.
- 0:11Speaker1: Welcome to the One Cry Podcast, a nationwide
- 0:15Speaker1: call for spiritual awakening. The goal: accelerating
- 0:19Speaker1: the movement of God through sharing revival truth,
- 0:21Speaker1: stories, and reports.
- 0:27Speaker1: Well, welcome to the One Cry Podcast. We are so glad that
- 0:31Speaker1: you are here today, honored to have a few moments to really share what we
- 0:35Speaker1: sense is in God's heart around revival and awakening and how to
- 0:39Speaker1: best position ourselves to be a part of that. I'm Kyle Reno with
- 0:43Speaker1: my partner in crime, Bill Elif. How you doing over there, buddy?
- 0:47Speaker0: I'm doing good, man. I'm doing good. It's great to see you,
- 0:51Speaker0: and, uh, I, I am so excited
- 0:55Speaker0: We're starting a little series here that will last, we don't
- 0:59Speaker0: know how many weeks, several weeks,
- 1:03Speaker0: and about a topic that's incredible,
- 1:07Speaker0: incredible, because Kyle, as you
- 1:11Speaker0: know, we have been looking at Paul's prayers.
- 1:16Speaker1: Yeah.
- 1:17Speaker0: You know, one man said Paul prayed,
- 1:19Speaker0: he calculated 43 different prayers.
- 1:24Speaker0: In the New Testament, which is amazing. But we're
- 1:27Speaker0: going to look at 5 of his primary prayers. And,
- 1:32Speaker0: and I'm really excited. Are you excited, Kyle?
- 1:35Speaker1: Yeah,
- 1:36Speaker1: man.
- 1:36Speaker0: Are you ready to roll?
- 1:37Speaker1: Well, you know, you know what it's been like,
- 1:39Speaker1: Bill. You've been in moments where you're like, golly, I want
- 1:42Speaker1: to learn to pray like him or pray like her.
- 1:46Speaker1: You know, you've seen— you've been in those moments. You're like, man, they just know
- 1:48Speaker1: how to lay hold of God. rightly believing, that vantage point
- 1:52Speaker1: prayer they have. And man, as you were talking to me about this, even thinking
- 1:56Speaker1: about this series, it just— the thought was, man, I, I, I'd love
- 2:00Speaker1: to learn how to pray like Paul. Yeah. And, and, and what we—
- 2:03Speaker1: the beauty is, because it's inspired by the Spirit, we actually have these
- 2:07Speaker1: prayers in passages of scripture. So I know you're going to help lead
- 2:11Speaker1: us into that thought today.
- 2:13Speaker0: Right. You know, I, I just,
- 2:15Speaker0: I just thought about of some observations about his
- 2:19Speaker0: prayers in general. First of all, they're personal.
- 2:23Speaker1: Hmm.
- 2:23Speaker0: I mean, this is not just some flippant thing. It's Paul personally
- 2:27Speaker0: praying, but they're also corporate. I mean,
- 2:31Speaker0: they're prayers that have been prayed all down through the centuries,
- 2:34Speaker0: 2,000 years. The church has been utilizing
- 2:38Speaker0: these prayers. And secondly,
- 2:41Speaker0: they're anointed. Right? I mean, these are— this is in
- 2:46Speaker0: the Bible.
- 2:47Speaker1: Right.
- 2:47Speaker0: So this is God-breathed scripture
- 2:52Speaker0: that we're praying, not just some man's rambling
- 2:56Speaker0: or, you know, kind of random thoughts.
- 3:00Speaker0: And it's recorded for all time in the
- 3:04Speaker0: scripture because God wanted us to see
- 3:08Speaker0: it and hear it and learn from it and be equipped by it.
- 3:13Speaker0: I love also that each of these
- 3:16Speaker0: prayers, while they have some similarities,
- 3:20Speaker0: they're very specific. Kyle, I don't know about you, but as I was looking at
- 3:24Speaker0: them here recently,
- 3:28Speaker0: sometimes I kind of lump all of his prayers together.
- 3:32Speaker0: But if you really start looking at them, they're on very specific themes.
- 3:37Speaker1: Absolutely.
- 3:38Speaker0: And we're gonna see that in just a moment. So what
- 3:41Speaker0: that means is, if I need to, I've got a friend
- 3:45Speaker0: who needs to speak
- 3:50Speaker0: boldly, I know what prayer to turn to. If I need a
- 3:54Speaker0: friend that needs to just come to know Christ in a fresh way,
- 3:58Speaker0: I need to know, I know what prayer to pray.
- 4:01Speaker0: And the other thing is, these prayers are effectual.
- 4:06Speaker0: You know, James says the effectual fervent prayers of
- 4:11Speaker0: a righteous man can accomplish a whole lot. These prayers work.
- 4:14Speaker1: Amen.
- 4:14Speaker0: And they're helpful, right, to us. So as
- 4:18Speaker0: we thought about, you know, the title of this podcast is One Cry.
- 4:23Speaker0: It's about mobilizing an army to
- 4:27Speaker0: pray and to pray specifically for the church and for
- 4:31Speaker0: revival and spiritual awakening. And Kyle, what better way could we do
- 4:35Speaker0: that today than equipping them to pray Paul's prayers?
- 4:40Speaker1: Amen to that. A lot of confidence, man, walking in. You got passages
- 4:43Speaker1: of scripture, prayers that Paul prayed that God wanted
- 4:48Speaker1: us to have so that we might not just recite them,
- 4:51Speaker1: but really learn how to lean in through them in ways to
- 4:56Speaker1: commune with God. So, man, get us started in the first one.
- 4:59Speaker0: All right.
- 5:00Speaker0: And I want to invite people, if they're able to do it,
- 5:04Speaker0: get your Bible out. Okay. Sometimes you may be just listening to
- 5:08Speaker0: this, but get your Bible out if you're able to,
- 5:11Speaker0: and a notebook maybe,
- 5:14Speaker0: and write some things down.
- 5:18Speaker0: And also, I would encourage people, it would
- 5:22Speaker0: be fabulous if you would memorize these prayers over
- 5:26Speaker0: a period of time.
- 5:27Speaker1: Mm-hmm.
- 5:28Speaker0: Let me, let me mention just
- 5:30Speaker0: in a quick overview what some of these prayers are.
- 5:34Speaker0: Ephesians 1:15 and following is that
- 5:37Speaker0: we would know him. Ephesians 3, that we would be filled
- 5:42Speaker0: with him. Philippians 1, that we would grow in him.
- 5:46Speaker0: Colossians 1, that we would walk worthy of him.
- 5:50Speaker0: And then multiple passages that Paul prays For
- 5:54Speaker0: boldness and utterance in the sharing of the
- 5:58Speaker0: gospel. So this first one is Ephesians 1, Kyle,
- 6:03Speaker0: beginning in verse 15 down through verse 23,
- 6:07Speaker0: that we would know him and all that we have
- 6:11Speaker0: in him, this experiential knowledge of Christ.
- 6:15Speaker0: So let me just— we're just going to walk through the passage and make some
- 6:19Speaker0: comments. And then we're going to ask you to join us as
- 6:22Speaker0: we pray this prayer to the Lord.
- 6:26Speaker0: So Paul says in verse 15, for this reason,
- 6:29Speaker0: I, having heard of 2 things
- 6:34Speaker0: in the Ephesians, of their faith in the Lord Jesus,
- 6:38Speaker0: which exists among you, and your love for
- 6:42Speaker0: all the saints, do not cease giving thanks of you.
- 6:46Speaker0: Well, while making mention of you in your prayers.
- 6:50Speaker0: You know, Kyle, it just seems like one of the things that impressed Paul
- 6:55Speaker0: the most, that he wanted in his disciples the most,
- 7:00Speaker0: was faith, that they
- 7:04Speaker0: would depend upon Christ. And the whole Bible is about faith.
- 7:07Speaker1: Right.
- 7:08Speaker0: And love. In fact, I think he mentions
- 7:11Speaker0: love in almost every one of these prayers.
- 7:16Speaker0: And also what I love is he says, I don't cease.
- 7:21Speaker0: Now, Paul was the one who penned the words in 1
- 7:25Speaker0: Thessalonians, pray without ceasing.
- 7:27Speaker1: Yeah.
- 7:27Speaker0: And he uses this
- 7:28Speaker0: phrase several times in several of his prayers.
- 7:32Speaker0: I just don't cease. I just keep doing every prayer.
- 7:36Speaker0: I keep mentioning you to the Lord.
- 7:40Speaker0: Isn't that great? I mean, what if you had somebody
- 7:44Speaker0: who just didn't cease to pray for you? And I
- 7:49Speaker0: know, Kyle, you and I have been carried in our lives as
- 7:52Speaker0: pastors by precious
- 7:58Speaker0: intercessors who've prayed for us.
- 8:00Speaker1: Yeah.
- 8:00Speaker0: And I can think of them.
- 8:02Speaker0: I ran into another one that was really
- 8:05Speaker0: my greatest intercessor, I think, in Norman, Oklahoma,
- 8:09Speaker0: the other day at a funeral for a great man named
- 8:13Speaker0: Max Barnett. And I just thought all of the prayer
- 8:18Speaker0: that she just didn't cease. She didn't give up praying
- 8:22Speaker0: for me. And that's what Paul talks about right here.
- 8:26Speaker1: Paul's modeling in this moment, even before we get to the
- 8:29Speaker1: actual prayer, he lets them know about the nature of prayer,
- 8:33Speaker1: that it is this continual nature. That Paul was
- 8:36Speaker1: continually in this conversation. He says it several
- 8:40Speaker1: times. You're right. I mean, something to take note of in several of these prayers,
- 8:43Speaker1: he talks about the unceasing nature of prayer, which is
- 8:47Speaker1: an invitation to the listener today. Like, hey, God is wanting us to cultivate
- 8:52Speaker1: a conversation with him that at different times might
- 8:56Speaker1: have a different angle, a different vantage point, a different topic
- 9:00Speaker1: or person.
- 9:01Speaker0: Yeah.
- 9:02Speaker1: And concern, but the conversational
- 9:04Speaker1: line would always be open. Always. You know, I learned
- 9:09Speaker1: to live there.
- 9:10Speaker0: So critical. And it reminds
- 9:12Speaker0: us, you know, I find so many people that prayer to them is
- 9:16Speaker0: this little compartment. It's a little thing they do maybe
- 9:21Speaker0: early in the morning or late at night, you know, and it's
- 9:24Speaker0: a ritual or it's what they
- 9:27Speaker0: do when they really get in a tight spot. But for Paul,
- 9:32Speaker0: it was a running conversation all day long because he
- 9:36Speaker0: had to— he wanted to know God and he's just walking with Christ,
- 9:41Speaker0: walking with the Spirit all day long. So I do not cease
- 9:45Speaker0: giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers.
- 9:48Speaker0: And here's his prayer. Now we get into the meat of it, that the
- 9:52Speaker0: Lord Jesus, the God of our Lord Jesus
- 9:57Speaker0: Christ, the Father of glory.
- 10:01Speaker0: What a great, what a great description. So it's
- 10:05Speaker0: not just Jesus Christ, it's the Lord Jesus Christ,
- 10:08Speaker0: and it's the God of our Lord Jesus Christ who is
- 10:12Speaker0: the Father of all glory, right?
- 10:16Speaker1: Yeah.
- 10:17Speaker0: And here's what he prayed, may give you
- 10:21Speaker0: a spirit of wisdom, And of revelation
- 10:25Speaker0: in the knowledge of him.
- 10:28Speaker1: That's right.
- 10:29Speaker0: Now, Kyle, unpack that for us for a minute, that God would
- 10:32Speaker0: give you. So I'm praying for my friend, I'm praying for my child,
- 10:37Speaker0: I'm praying for my grandchildren.
- 10:39Speaker1: Yeah.
- 10:40Speaker0: Why should I pray that God— and what does it mean
- 10:44Speaker0: that God would give them a spirit of
- 10:48Speaker0: wisdom? And a spirit of revelation
- 10:52Speaker0: to this end in the true knowledge,
- 10:56Speaker0: experiential knowledge of him. Unpack that for me.
- 10:59Speaker1: Yeah, well, you got to love— I mean, Paul's even teaching us
- 11:03Speaker1: the approach in that he said, I'm going to tell you who I'm praying to.
- 11:07Speaker1: I'm praying to the Lord, God our Father.
- 11:10Speaker1: So his prayer is not merely being launched
- 11:14Speaker1: into the air. He's not merely muttering some words
- 11:18Speaker1: and hoping they land somewhere. That Paul says, when I
- 11:21Speaker1: come to pray for you, I pray to someone, and that's our God.
- 11:25Speaker1: He's vertical in his nature. And then he says, so I'm talking
- 11:29Speaker1: to someone and I'm asking him for something.
- 11:33Speaker1: And what is he— he said, I'm asking that God would grant
- 11:37Speaker1: you wisdom and revelation. And I mean,
- 11:41Speaker1: there's a— we can spend the rest of the day talking about
- 11:45Speaker1: what does it mean to have a wisdom that is not of this world and
- 11:49Speaker1: a right understanding, the ability to
- 11:53Speaker1: truly discern. But the topic— I mean,
- 11:56Speaker1: the pursuit here is a wisdom and
- 12:00Speaker1: a revelation that God might be to you knowable.
- 12:05Speaker0: Yeah.
- 12:07Speaker1: Known. Yeah. And he's like,
- 12:09Speaker1: I want you— and you got to get this in his heart. Paul wants them
- 12:13Speaker1: to know Jesus personally.
- 12:15Speaker0: Yeah.
- 12:17Speaker0: And this is not, you know,
- 12:21Speaker0: there are different words for the word that are translated know,
- 12:25Speaker0: K-N-O-W. This is that word
- 12:28Speaker0: that means that experiential knowledge. It's a word
- 12:33Speaker0: that was used, same type idea that was used about
- 12:37Speaker0: the physical relationship when it said Adam knew Eve,
- 12:40Speaker0: right?
- 12:40Speaker1: Right.
- 12:41Speaker0: So I want you to
- 12:43Speaker0: be connected, kind of like Jesus prayed
- 12:48Speaker0: in John 17, that we would be one.
- 12:51Speaker0: God, as you and I are one, I want my disciples
- 12:56Speaker0: to be one with me and one with you. And so He's
- 13:00Speaker0: praying here for people that they would know
- 13:04Speaker0: Christ. And, you know, Paul over in Philippians 3,
- 13:07Speaker0: he says, look, I got all this stuff, I've done all this
- 13:11Speaker0: stuff, but it's dung.
- 13:13Speaker1: Yeah.
- 13:14Speaker0: D-U-N-G. For the surpassing
- 13:18Speaker0: value of knowing Christ.
- 13:22Speaker0: And, you know, Kyle, this morning, I was just
- 13:27Speaker0: meeting with the Lord. I had such a precious time this morning
- 13:31Speaker0: meeting with the Lord. I can hardly talk about it.
- 13:35Speaker0: And I know him.
- 13:38Speaker1: Yeah.
- 13:39Speaker0: I just know him. And I love
- 13:42Speaker0: getting to know him more. And Paul says, I pray— it's
- 13:46Speaker0: interesting how he says this, how it's translated— that
- 13:51Speaker0: would give you a spirit Yes, right. You say, well, there's just
- 13:55Speaker0: a spirit about that guy. I don't know, it just pervades.
- 13:59Speaker0: He's not— he's not talking about capital S, but it comes
- 14:02Speaker0: from capital S. But he would have this,
- 14:05Speaker0: this attitude, this whole spirit that would,
- 14:09Speaker0: that would lead him into great wisdom and great
- 14:13Speaker0: revelation. And for one, to one end,
- 14:18Speaker0: that he would know Christ. He'd see more of Christ. He'd know
- 14:21Speaker0: more of Christ. And then he
- 14:26Speaker0: prays in verse 18. Listen to this. I pray that
- 14:30Speaker0: the— it's so beautiful— that
- 14:34Speaker0: the eyes of your heart may be
- 14:38Speaker0: enlightened.
- 14:39Speaker1: Wow.
- 14:40Speaker0: That the eyes— now,
- 14:42Speaker0: Kyle, we live in a lot of darkness. And the world is
- 14:46Speaker0: just filled with darkness. And we look at something that's
- 14:50Speaker0: happening in the world and we think one thing and we're 100 miles away.
- 14:56Speaker0: What do we need? We need light.
- 14:58Speaker1: That's right.
- 14:59Speaker0: And we don't need just light on the outside. We need to hear truth,
- 15:03Speaker0: but we need light on the inside.
- 15:06Speaker1: Yes.
- 15:06Speaker0: That we can
- 15:07Speaker0: see with an inner knowledge. So he prays
- 15:13Speaker0: that the eyes of your heart may be
- 15:17Speaker0: enlightened. And what a great
- 15:21Speaker0: prayer to pray for our children as they head off to school
- 15:24Speaker0: every day, to pray for our pastors, to pray for spiritual
- 15:28Speaker0: leaders. Lord, enlighten the eyes of his heart.
- 15:33Speaker1: Yeah.
- 15:33Speaker0: So that he can see something. And then
- 15:38Speaker0: Paul identifies 3 specific
- 15:41Speaker0: things that he wanted them to see.
- 15:46Speaker0: He says, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so
- 15:50Speaker0: that you will know these 3 things: the
- 15:54Speaker0: hope of his calling.
- 15:57Speaker0: Secondly, what are the riches of the glory of
- 16:01Speaker0: his inheritance in the saints.
- 16:03Speaker1: Hmm.
- 16:04Speaker0: And number 3,
- 16:05Speaker0: what is the surpassing greatness of his power
- 16:10Speaker0: toward us, toward those who believe?
- 16:15Speaker0: Now, Kyle, what do you think he's praying for right
- 16:18Speaker0: there?
- 16:19Speaker1: What should we be praying for? Yeah, more, more than what
- 16:22Speaker1: we're experiencing. I know that. I mean, when you just sit down in this passage
- 16:27Speaker1: and think about Paul praying for specifically the church in Ephesus, people that
- 16:30Speaker1: he knows, he's got names on the other side of this prayer.
- 16:34Speaker1: And that he's thinking, which I love what you're saying, you know,
- 16:37Speaker1: Bill, that we need to— if you're praying this way for people, I'm praying this
- 16:41Speaker1: for my children, I'm praying this for my neighbor, I'm praying this for people in
- 16:45Speaker1: our church, that their eyes, the eyes of their heart, meaning more than what they
- 16:50Speaker1: can see physically, that God would start to help them
- 16:53Speaker1: to see spiritually in such a way the
- 16:57Speaker1: hope that can be known in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- 17:00Speaker0: Yes.
- 17:01Speaker1: A hope that's not— A hope that's not passing,
- 17:04Speaker1: a hope that is anchored, a hope that is secure.
- 17:09Speaker1: So I want you to be able to see spiritually in
- 17:12Speaker1: Christ what could be yours experientially in
- 17:16Speaker1: hope, that you can have a hope that's deep,
- 17:20Speaker1: deep, deep within. And then there's our hope that makes
- 17:24Speaker1: us secure in the fact that the riches of being a part of God's
- 17:28Speaker1: family is our inheritance.
- 17:30Speaker0: Yeah.
- 17:30Speaker1: It's ours. I'm totally
- 17:32Speaker1: secure. I'm totally secure eternally.
- 17:36Speaker1: And which promises, hey, I'm also secure in my everyday because
- 17:40Speaker1: he cares about the sparrows. He cares about— I'm not, I'm not going to live
- 17:44Speaker1: worried about everything because I'm secure in
- 17:48Speaker1: the hope that I have. And then it gets to— which, man, I'm trying to
- 17:52Speaker1: keep from preaching here. We need to pray it. Yeah, they— but then he gets
- 17:56Speaker1: to that. I know the greatness of his power, that,
- 17:59Speaker1: man, that there's— that there is more power available to me
- 18:03Speaker1: personally through the hope of the gospel, through the riches of my inheritance.
- 18:08Speaker1: I'm a saint, I'm a joint heir, that I might live
- 18:11Speaker1: by the power of God that is now available to
- 18:15Speaker1: me. So Paul said, listen, I'm praying for you, and this is what I'm praying.
- 18:17Speaker1: I'm praying that you'll actually see in your spirit The hope that
- 18:21Speaker1: you have. You'll see in your spirit the inheritance that you have. You'll see—
- 18:26Speaker1: you would see in your spirit, man, man, the power that's available through the
- 18:30Speaker1: power of the Spirit so that you can live. So I'm praying for that,
- 18:33Speaker1: that you might be fully alive.
- 18:34Speaker0: That's so— um, you know,
- 18:37Speaker0: Kyle, I've been studying the last few years the
- 18:40Speaker0: presence of God, and, uh, as you know,
- 18:44Speaker0: and written about it, and And what
- 18:49Speaker0: blew me away studying every passage from Genesis
- 18:53Speaker0: to Revelation that I could find about the presence of God,
- 18:57Speaker0: I saw that God has been on
- 19:01Speaker0: this relentless search to bring us
- 19:05Speaker0: back into his presence.
- 19:06Speaker1: Mm-hmm.
- 19:07Speaker0: And he's done that through
- 19:08Speaker0: creation. He's done that through calling us. He's done that through sending
- 19:12Speaker0: his Son. He's done that through coming to dwell within us,
- 19:16Speaker0: and He's coming back to take us into His presence.
- 19:20Speaker0: And when I saw that, I'm— man,
- 19:23Speaker0: I'm just so confident. I'm so overwhelmed.
- 19:27Speaker0: I'm so overcome with humility
- 19:31Speaker0: that God has exerted
- 19:35Speaker0: that surpassing power. And this is what he says here
- 19:39Speaker0: in this verse, towards us.
- 19:41Speaker1: Yeah.
- 19:41Speaker0: He's done it towards me.
- 19:43Speaker0: He's called me to something. He's called
- 19:46Speaker0: me to something in this life. He's called me to a
- 19:50Speaker0: great task. There's a domain I'm responsible
- 19:53Speaker0: for. He's called me to something eternally,
- 19:58Speaker0: and I have confidence in that. And,
- 20:02Speaker0: and he's called me to an inheritance, the riches of the
- 20:05Speaker0: glory of that inheritance among
- 20:09Speaker0: the saints. So again, Paul's just praying,
- 20:13Speaker0: I'm praying that you would know Him and you just know Him.
- 20:17Speaker0: And if you know Him, the more you get to know Him,
- 20:21Speaker0: your eyes are going to be enlightened and
- 20:25Speaker0: you're going to see His calling. You're going to see
- 20:28Speaker0: His inheritance. You're going to see how great His power
- 20:31Speaker0: is towards us who believe. And then if
- 20:36Speaker0: we would have a tendency not to think
- 20:40Speaker0: that God could do that,
- 20:43Speaker0: uh, and what, what Christ has done for
- 20:47Speaker0: us and wants to do with us, he ends this prayer with
- 20:52Speaker0: this unbelievable benediction. We quote it all the time.
- 20:56Speaker0: He says, these The hope and the glory of his
- 21:00Speaker0: inheritance and the greatness of his power. These are in
- 21:04Speaker0: accordance with the working of the strength
- 21:08Speaker0: of his might.
- 21:10Speaker1: Yeah.
- 21:10Speaker0: Just think of that.
- 21:11Speaker0: I mean, you know,
- 21:14Speaker0: if our viewers were watching us on
- 21:18Speaker0: video today, some might be just listening. But if you looked at me and
- 21:22Speaker0: then you looked at Kyle There's a different strength
- 21:26Speaker0: level. I'm just telling you. And he's probably always
- 21:30Speaker0: been stronger, although in the day, you know, back in the day.
- 21:35Speaker0: But he has more strength, but he has more
- 21:39Speaker0: might. And he said— and he says,
- 21:43Speaker0: God, in the strength of his might,
- 21:48Speaker0: in the strength of his might,
- 21:53Speaker0: brought this all about in Christ
- 21:57Speaker0: when He raised Him from the dead, number one,
- 22:02Speaker0: seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, Hmm. far above
- 22:05Speaker0: all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is
- 22:09Speaker0: named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.
- 22:12Speaker0: And He put all things in subjection under
- 22:16Speaker0: His feet, and gave him his head over all
- 22:20Speaker0: things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of all in all.
- 22:24Speaker0: My, there's so many superlatives in there.
- 22:27Speaker1: Yeah.
- 22:28Speaker0: And he's just telling us, look, Jesus,
- 22:31Speaker0: this one I'm praying, here's Paul, just think
- 22:35Speaker0: of this, Paul the Apostle praying for people and they're the recipient.
- 22:39Speaker0: And he says, I'm praying that you'd know him like I know him.
- 22:42Speaker0: That's what I want for you. That's what I have for you.
- 22:46Speaker0: And, and, and if you don't think that God can
- 22:50Speaker0: make you know him and you receive this inheritance
- 22:55Speaker0: and, and fulfill this calling and, and experience
- 22:59Speaker0: his power, let me tell you who I'm praying to.
- 23:01Speaker1: Yeah, that's right.
- 23:03Speaker0: And let me tell you his power, the strength of his might.
- 23:07Speaker0: And he just lists about 5 things Jesus has
- 23:11Speaker0: done. Well, hallelujah.
- 23:14Speaker1: Amen. I got— I have written, Bill, right beside
- 23:18Speaker1: that passage in my Bible right here. I have it written from top to bottom,
- 23:22Speaker1: right beside it, in bold: authority.
- 23:26Speaker1: Like, here's the authority of Jesus Christ.
- 23:30Speaker1: Paul's saying— he's leaned in— he said, I want you to know these things.
- 23:33Speaker1: I want you to know him. I want you to know what we have in
- 23:36Speaker1: him. And I want you to know that he has authority over
- 23:40Speaker1: everything. And if you— if we— and that's, you know,
- 23:44Speaker1: Bill, that's— it's one thing to say, and I learned this from
- 23:47Speaker1: you for years getting to serve alongside you. It's one
- 23:51Speaker1: thing to say it, that it's another thing to see
- 23:55Speaker1: it in the spirit. Yeah, it's another thing that, like, I'm not just gonna— I'm
- 23:58Speaker1: not just gonna drop it, name drop it, name drop
- 24:02Speaker1: him. I actually see him as King of Kings and Lord
- 24:06Speaker1: of Lords. I actually see him in my—
- 24:08Speaker0: Literally.
- 24:09Speaker1: Yeah, I see him
- 24:10Speaker1: in my spirit. I see that Jesus is
- 24:13Speaker1: in control and over all things, no matter
- 24:17Speaker1: what I might see physically. I see him in
- 24:21Speaker1: authority over everything. And Paul's like, I want y'all to know that.
- 24:25Speaker0: Yeah, well, I'm telling
- 24:29Speaker0: you, we could— I need to write a book on
- 24:33Speaker0: these, uh, But we could
- 24:37Speaker0: go on all day about just this one prayer,
- 24:42Speaker0: and we're going to look at several others in the
- 24:45Speaker0: next few weeks. But Kyle,
- 24:47Speaker0: let's walk through this prayer
- 24:52Speaker0: with them with minimal further
- 24:56Speaker0: explanation. I mean, we can,
- 24:59Speaker0: as the Spirit prompts us, Mm-hmm. But we want, we want you,
- 25:03Speaker0: our viewers and listeners, to pray with us. Let's pray this
- 25:07Speaker0: prayer. Yeah. And you may be thinking about somebody specific
- 25:12Speaker0: that's just on your heart. Maybe it's a friend. Maybe it's a guy that,
- 25:15Speaker0: that you met at work who really is, is in
- 25:20Speaker0: trouble and he needs to know Christ.
- 25:24Speaker1: Yeah.
- 25:24Speaker0: And God has specifically put
- 25:27Speaker0: you in his life.
- 25:29Speaker1: Yeah.
- 25:29Speaker0: To pray him to Christ.
- 25:32Speaker0: And so as we're praying, you voice this prayer.
- 25:36Speaker0: You cry out to God for these very things,
- 25:39Speaker0: Spirit-inspired things that Paul prayed.
- 25:43Speaker0: Kyle, why don't you begin in verse
- 25:47Speaker0: 15 and let's just pray this prayer. All right. Together.
- 25:50Speaker1: Come on.
- 25:52Speaker1: So as Bill said, I'm going to pray this specifically for
- 25:55Speaker1: our listeners today, knowing that it's not going to stop with you. that you're going
- 26:00Speaker1: to pray for others. So Father, for this reason, we bow
- 26:04Speaker1: our hearts and our knees before you,
- 26:08Speaker1: knowing that, Lord, knowing the faith even of those that
- 26:12Speaker1: are listeners to this podcast, that they're here because they want to know you more.
- 26:17Speaker1: I ask that their love for you continue to grow.
- 26:20Speaker1: And we are praying in this moment, starting to
- 26:24Speaker1: pray in fresh ways, and ask that you would help us to have an unceasing
- 26:28Speaker1: prayer life, a continual conversation with
- 26:33Speaker1: you, Father, based off of your word, born of your
- 26:36Speaker1: spirit. And I am, I am remembering the
- 26:40Speaker1: listeners that are a part of this moment right now on this podcast.
- 26:43Speaker0: Yes.
- 26:45Speaker1: And I'm asking you,
- 26:47Speaker1: we are asking you, Father,
- 26:51Speaker1: would you give us, would you give them A spirit
- 26:56Speaker1: of wisdom and revelation that lends itself
- 27:01Speaker1: to knowing you more, Jesus.
- 27:03Speaker0: Yes.
- 27:04Speaker1: Would you do that even this very moment,
- 27:09Speaker1: that you would awaken in us a genuine intimacy
- 27:15Speaker1: with you, Jesus Christ? Would you open
- 27:19Speaker1: the eyes of our hearts Light,
- 27:23Speaker1: Lord, we, we cry out with brothers and sisters that
- 27:28Speaker1: have long gone before us. More light,
- 27:32Speaker1: more light, Father, that we would know some
- 27:35Speaker1: things more. Bill, why don't you keep praying us into
- 27:38Speaker1: that?
- 27:39Speaker0: Father, give us the Spirit and give
- 27:43Speaker0: all of our listeners— Lord, they've tuned
- 27:46Speaker0: in, many of them faithfully.
- 27:50Speaker0: for several years. And Lord,
- 27:54Speaker0: I pray that you would continue to give them a spirit
- 27:59Speaker0: in their, in their life of wisdom and
- 28:04Speaker0: of revelation so that they can know you. Lord, without that,
- 28:08Speaker0: they can't know you with the depth that they need.
- 28:12Speaker0: And so we pray, Father, for that spirit.
- 28:15Speaker1: Amen.
- 28:15Speaker0: I'm thinking of some
- 28:17Speaker0: specific people who are longtime listeners of this
- 28:21Speaker0: program right now that I can, I can see with my mind's
- 28:24Speaker0: eye. Father, give that group that prays every
- 28:28Speaker0: week based on our podcast a
- 28:32Speaker0: spirit of wisdom and revelation. Give our
- 28:36Speaker0: pastors in India and Uganda
- 28:40Speaker0: and other places and—
- 28:41Speaker1: In Africa.
- 28:42Speaker0: And who listen to this
- 28:44Speaker0: podcast, give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation
- 28:47Speaker0: so that they would know you, not so they'd be theologically
- 28:53Speaker0: smart, but Father, that they would come into a real,
- 28:57Speaker0: genuine, personal, ongoing,
- 29:01Speaker0: daily relationship with you.
- 29:04Speaker0: And Father, we pray that they would they would come
- 29:08Speaker0: to know the hope
- 29:12Speaker0: of their calling. Father, you have called them.
- 29:17Speaker0: You have created us, and then we ran,
- 29:21Speaker0: and then you called us. And you called us
- 29:25Speaker0: with a holy calling to do something, to be something for you.
- 29:29Speaker1: Yes.
- 29:31Speaker0: And Father, thank you for the hope
- 29:33Speaker0: Of their calling and help them know the riches of
- 29:37Speaker0: the resources they have, the glory of our
- 29:42Speaker0: inheritance in the saints and the riches of the power,
- 29:45Speaker0: the surpassing greatness of your
- 29:49Speaker0: power towards us who believe. And Father,
- 29:53Speaker0: if we don't think you can do that, if we don't think you can answer
- 29:58Speaker0: this prayer, remind us. Of the strength of your might, Lord.
- 30:01Speaker1: That's right.
- 30:02Speaker0: Of the strength of your might. Lord, you brought this about
- 30:07Speaker0: in Christ when you raised him from the dead, when you seated
- 30:12Speaker0: him at the right hand, at your right hand in the heavenly places, far above
- 30:15Speaker0: all rule and authority and power and dominion.
- 30:19Speaker0: Father, I think of every ruler in the world
- 30:23Speaker0: right now that we think they're so powerful Their ruling nations,
- 30:27Speaker0: every single one of them is
- 30:31Speaker0: going to bow their knee before you.
- 30:33Speaker1: That's right.
- 30:34Speaker0: And confess that
- 30:36Speaker0: Jesus Christ is Lord because you are Lord.
- 30:41Speaker0: And Father, you put everything in subjection under
- 30:45Speaker0: Christ's feet, and you made him the head over all things to the church,
- 30:49Speaker0: which is his body, the fullness of him who fills
- 30:53Speaker0: all in all. Father, this is our prayer for our listeners,
- 30:58Speaker0: and this is our prayer, Father, that we pray you would, you would
- 31:03Speaker0: place in our hearts so we can pray the rest of our life
- 31:07Speaker0: to fulfill our calling. And we pray it in Jesus' precious
- 31:11Speaker0: name. Amen.
- 31:12Speaker1: Amen. Amen. Well,
- 31:14Speaker1: man, what a great start to learning how to pray
- 31:18Speaker1: like Paul, man. It's going to be an outstanding series. I really
- 31:22Speaker1: encourage Our listeners, uh, tune in week by week
- 31:26Speaker1: and share it. Uh, I would encourage, man, have some conversations
- 31:30Speaker1: with some brothers and sisters in Christ and then practice it, man.
- 31:33Speaker1: Take the word of God in your hand, the Holy Spirit residing
- 31:38Speaker1: in your heart, and pray it like, I mean, men and
- 31:42Speaker1: women on fire, and see what God will do.
- 31:44Speaker0: Yeah.
- 31:45Speaker1: With that, we love you, honored for the time, and look forward Looking forward to
- 31:49Speaker1: being back with you next week.
- 31:52Speaker0: Thank you.