A Prayer For The Church

Paul’s prayer for the churches in Ephesus is our prayer for Harbor Church West Oahu, and for all the churches in our community. Paul, filled with emotion, bows his knees and prays, “according to the riches of his [the Father’s] glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your heats through faith–that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have the 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” (Ephesians 3:14-19). Echoing Paul’s prayer, our prayer for Harbor Church West Oahu is:

Strength
Father, please strengthen us so that Jesus can make his home in our lives through our faith. We are dependent on God even for the strength to be able to follow Jesus well. We don’t muster that up ourselves; God strengthens us to follow God! Specifically, God needs to strengthen us so that Jesus can move in and make his home in our lives. We planted this church understanding that God had given us a amazing opportunity: to be the church, the collection of Jesus followers, in this specific community. It is the opportunity to display the beauty of Jesus to Ewa and Kapolei. The opportunity to be used by God to see this whole neighborhood, this whole community, this whole side of the island transformed by Jesus. He could, and we’re praying that He will, use our church to do that. We display Jesus’ beauty in how we love and serve our spouses. We show how beautiful Jesus in how we parent, in how we work, in what kind of friends we are, in how we follow through on our commitments, in what kind of neighbors and citizens we are. Because Jesus transforms every area of life, we have so many opportunities to show our community the beauty of Jesus. Paul’s prayer for the church is that God would give us the strength to do that. God help us.

Love
Father, help us to comprehend more and more of the love of Jesus, specifically through each other. Paul mixes up some metaphors here. He wants the church’s love to be “rooted” and “grounded.” Rooted like a tree whose roots dig deep down into the ground so that that tree is strong enough to withstand hurricanes and tornadoes. Grounded like a building that has a firm foundation to withstand earthquakes and floods. Paul obviously saw a connection between how firmly we are fixed in God’s love and our ability to withstand difficulty. The more solidly we’re connected to the love of Jesus, the less likely we are to be shaken by the craziness of life. So he wants the church to understand it, to meditated on Jesus’ love from every measurable angle. Did you notice how we’re supposed to go about comprehending God’s love? With all the saints. We’re supposed to grow in our understanding of God’s love together, in relationship with each other. We need each other. We need you. You need us. God’s plan for me is that He’d use all of you to help me grow in my understanding of His love. As you forgive me when I sin against you, as you serve me when I don’t deserve it, as you encourage me when I’m feeling broken,  during all those times I experience Jesus’ love and it changes me. God’s plan for you is that he would use the rest of us to do the exact same thing for you. He wants to show you more and more of his love through the Church. We do this together—not in isolation. God help us.

Fullness
Father fill us up with more of Jesus. He wants us to be full of God. Like a glass that you fill up so much that you’re scared to carry it because you’d spill it, he wants every single inch and crevasse and aspect of our lives to be filled with the fullness of God. And, what do you think the fullness of God is? Check out what Colossians 1 says: “For in him [Jesus] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell…For in him [Jesus] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.” The fullness of God is seen in Jesus. When Paul prays that the church would be filled with the fullness of God, he’s praying that we’d be filled with Jesus. He prayed that we’d be strengthened so that Jesus would live in us; he prayed that we would understand the love OF Jesus; and now that the fullness of God, which is Jesus, would fill our lives. This prayer is all about Jesus. Paul’s prayer for the church is for more and more of Jesus. He’s not praying for more and more discipline. More and more good works. He’s not praying for more and more religion. Not praying for more and more sacrifice. He’s not praying for more and more political influence or intellectual insight. He’s praying for more and more of Jesus in the Church. He’s praying that Jesus would be central to all that we do, central to every message that we preach, the focal point of our worship gathering, the focus of our community groups, and evident in how we relate to each other and our community.

Harbor Church West Oahu needs this prayer; all of our churches do. We need the prayer that our church and other churches on our island would be strengthened for more of Jesus, understand the love of Jesus, and be filled with the fullness of who Jesus is. That’s when the church is beautiful. Not when the church has big buildings or amazing programs or dynamic leaders. The church is beautiful when it looks like Jesus. The same is true of your life. Your life is beautiful, not when you have a massive house, lots of toys, have authority and status at work or the perfect family. Your life is beautiful when it looks like Jesus.

Will you join us in praying this prayer for the church?