Apostle’s Prayer Devotional

Read:

Eph. 1:15-19

1. What is Paul praying for here?
2. What is the purpose of his prayer (what does he want to have happen for these Ephesian Christians?)

Phil. 1:9-11

3. What does Paul pray will abound and in what?
4. Why is Paul praying for this? What does he want the result to be?

Col. 1:9-12

5. How often are Paul and his missionary partners praying for the Colossian believers?
6. What is Paul praying for?
7. What does Paul want to be the result of his prayers for the Colossian believers?
8. What is the purpose or Paul’s desired outcome of their strengthening?

Other discussion questions:

9. When you think about the focus or subject matter of these prayers, are they about physical, material, or temporal things or spiritual things?
10. What are your prayers most often about?
11. Can you think of scriptural examples of prayer for physical or material things?
12. In all three passages, Paul speaks of the related traits of wisdom, knowledge, discernment, and understanding. These are issues of the mind. Why are these important to the Christian life?
13. Is God asking you to make any changes to your prayer life? If so, what?

Answers:

1. That God will give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. That the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened.
2. So they will know the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, the surpassing greatness of His power toward believers.
3. Their love, in knowledge and discernment.
4. That they may approve or discover the things that are excellent, so the result will be their sincerity and blamelessness.
5. Non-stop!
6. That they are filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
7. That they will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord; that they will please Him in all respects; that they will bear fruit in every good work and increase in the knowledge of God; that they will be strengthened with all power.
8. That they will attain all steadfastness and patience; that they will joyously give thanks to the Father.
9. Spiritual things
10. The Lord’s Prayer (give us this day our daily bread); Jesus giving thanks for food; Jesus praying/saying words of physical healing; there are many! It’s not wrong to pray about temporal or physical needs. But the spiritual lives of ourselves and others is more important.