EACF 40 Days of Prayer 2020
Day 13: Pray for Inner Spiritual Strength
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. - Ephesians 3:14–21 ESV
As you follow this series, we're learning to pray through Scripture. When we're not sure what or how to pray, we can turn to God's Word. This passage from Ephesians 3 is helpful because we're just using Paul's written prayer for the Ephesians to take us through our next few days of praying for good for ourselves and those around us.
Today, we pray for inner spiritual strength. It sounds like strengthening the core of our body (now, go do some planks or yoga!). When our core is strong, everything else is also stronger. Here, Paul prays that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being. A couple of wonderful thoughts: 1) the frame of reference here is the riches of his glory. As much as God is glorious (whether we acknowledge it or are paying attention to His glory or not, it doesn't matter, He's still glorious), and He is richly glorious, to this level we are asking for God to strengthen us with power! Wow! We are not going to be weak Christians. We need not act weak or malnourished or under-resourced in this vein. 2) This power is not from our flesh but from His Spirit working inside us. We are not praying for some manufactured strength, some extra will power. NO! We are counting on Spirit power!
Well, that makes me feel...supernatural! And that's actually what we believe is happening. God's Spirit is doing something in us only He can do. Let's pray for that! And don't forget to pray for two others to experience the Spirit working in them, too, to strengthen their spirits to overcome any obstacle or doubt or discouragement or physical ailment or anything else. Send those two people a quick note asking for specific prayer requests and encouraging them by letting them know you're praying! This is how God encourages us and supplements that strength His Spirit is bringing!
This is day 13 of praying for good.
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