A Reason To Pray, ID: Part 4 | Lakeside Community Church in Salmon Arm, BC

A Reason To Pray, Part 4 of ID: Finding Your True Identity in Christ looked at Ephesians 3:20-21. Click here to read the series intro.

Sermon Summary

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How we pray reveals a lot about what we believe about God, what we understand as our identity and what we think is important in life. Often our prayers can be focused on ourselves or we only pray when we are facing a crisis. In Ephesians 3 we have the opportunity to “listen in” on Paul as he prays for the church in Ephesus. There is much we can learn from this prayer (and the one in Ephesians 1) about why and how we can pray for the church. Sometimes Christians live in spiritual poverty because we fail to realize who God is and who we are (Eph. 1) and don’t have the power to live out our identity and calling (Eph. 3). The prayer in Ephesians 1 focuses on Revelation – “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened” (1:18); whereas the prayer in Eph. 3 is for the Power to live out this calling – “strengthened with power through His Spirit” (3:16). Paul prays for three things:

Inner Strength (3:16)
Christ’s Abiding Presence (3:17a)
Deep Roots in Christ’s Love (3:18)

As we pray these prayers do we believe that God can do MORE? (3:20) God says to us at Lakeside: “I can do more in this church than you have yet asked or thought.”

The result of living out this prayer for Strength, Presence and Roots is that we will have Fullness in Christ and bring Glory to Him.

Key Verse: Ephesians 2: 8-10

Bottom Line: God can do MORE!