Starting Our Days with Prayer

 

“…I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.”

—Ephesians 3:14a

Do you begin your day in prayer?

I ask because the spiritual disciplines of Bible reading and prayer remain critical elements in a daily walk with our Savior. It is important that we both listen to God through His Word and talk with Him in prayer.

If you are starting your day with prayer, for whom are you praying?

Over the years my prayer list has grown quite long. It seems that God has impressed on me the need to pray for those whom God has chosen to warm my heart towards.

That last sentence may seem a bit strange to you. But, it’s true that God has attracted my attention toward certain people and motivated me to pray earnestly and fervently for them.

As a result, my list of people for whom I pray has grown quite long. It is quite likely, if you’re reading this on Facebook, that you are on that prayer list.

The Apostle Paul conveyed some of his prayers for those he loved in his letters. Here’s a particularly powerful prayer from Ephesians 3:14-19. In fact, some months back I heard Pastor Rick Crocker, the Executive Director of the Erie City Mission, preach a most excellent sermon on this text.

…I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now that’s a very powerful prayer! And, if I may borrow from this prayer at the beginning of a new day, I will pray that prayer for you, dear one.

So, please read Paul’s prayer again and hear my voice pray that very same prayer for you.

 

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