Now, I will pray with you:
I will pray scripture with you. We will use the book of Ephesians. Some of you may have never heard anyone pray scripture. So, I am praying this passage with you now. While I am not with you in body, I am with you in spirit through my prayers and through these words. Your spirit and mine will become one.
First, read the passage. Then offer your prayers. You may offer a prayer for each verse. You may offer a prayer regarding each phrase. You may even offer a prayer about each word.
Next, read my prayers. As you hear my prayer, pray with me. If you agree with my prayers, tell your Lord that you agree. If the Spirit gives you other words to pray, pray them audibly with me. We are one in Him!
Here is Ephesians 1:1-4.
- "1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus:
- 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
- 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love" (Ephesians 1:1-4).
Please offer your prayers now.
(Pause for prayer)
Now that you have prayed, here is my prayer:
Ephesians 1:1
- "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus:"
Lord of Heaven and earth, I thank you for sending Paul to record and preserve your words for us... two thousand years later. You reveal that Paul didn't chose on his own to make himself an apostle. He was an apostle by Your will. You chose him for that task. You are sovereign. Your words are addressed by Paul to the believers at Ephesus, and also to those faithful in Christ, who are not at Ephesus. So, the words of this book may apply to me. I thank you. You were thinking of me when you inspired these words.
Ephesians 1:2
- "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Grace comes from You Father and from the Son within me. I praise You, for thousands of years ago, You intended to grant me grace and peace through Your words which You have preserved for me. Jesus, or Yahshua as I am told that your name was pronounced, You are Lord. You are Master, Ruler of my soul. I can not manufacture peace. It comes from you my Father and You my brother, Yahshua, Christ. It comes by request as Paul has made here in this verse.
Ephesians 1:3
- "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,"
May both of you, Father and Son, have great joy. You have granted me every spiritual blessing that exists. They are mine! You list these graces in verses five through fourteen for my meditation, praise and requests for additional revelation. All of them are mine! Every good and great thing in the spiritual realm is available for me now. I will enjoy them in greater intimacy and power when I am in your visual presence in the age to come. But you give me a taste of it all in the "now". Help me through your Holy Spirit within me, to enter fully into all of your blessings. I don't fully understand them. I may only understand a tiny fraction of what you have granted to me by Your grace. Help me understand. Empower me to walk in them. Place your words in my mind so that I can give them to all who seek your grace.
Ephesians 1:4
- "even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love"
Before the world was created, You predetermined that all of the blessings listed in the following verses would come through Christ, to those who are in Christ. You chose "us in him". Your plans to bless us with Your grace and peace preexisted the universe. You decided how to perfect us. You decided how we would become blameless in Your eyes. The gospel is not man's idea. My path to You was not my idea. You decided that everything of eternal value would come to us who are in Christ through Christ, Your Son. You made this choice "before the foundation of the world." Praise Your holy name... Your name is Yahweh!
Nothing will prevent the total completion of your intentions. All "in him" will be "holy and without defect" before You! This is because you have the love, power and authority to make us "holy and without defect" before you. I look forward to that day for "we know that, when he (Christ) is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is" (1 John 3:2). Praise to your holy name!
Amen.
If you agree with my prayers, tell your Lord that you agree. If the Spirit gives you other words to pray, pray them with me.
(Pause for prayer)
You have prayed the scriptures.
If praying the scriptures seemed awkward to you, I suggest that you read the introduction to this book. Then spend a large amount of time in the first two subchapters, 1.1 and 1.2. They are short but powerful.
The Next Step
When we PRAY scripture, we offer praise and thanksgiving. We also ask for revelation, forgiveness and make other requests. A wide variety of other prayers endorsed by scripture are presented in chapter 4. They are called the Endorsed Prayers and present a full and balanced picture of what our prayer life should sound like. If you haven't prayed through chapter 4, now would be a good time to begin.
If you would like to pray more in the book of Ephesians, click here.