Three Prayers for Your Church

“What is the Greatest Need in the Church Today?”   

I was recently asked this question as I spoke at a conference’s follow-up Q&A. It’s a loaded question, isn’t it? But as I began to pray for my church, I thought of Ephesians.  

I believe that what the church in the 21st century needs most is the glory of God. I believe that if we make the glory of God our aim and prayer, we will see revival and radical transformation in our life, our family, and the church.  

In Ephesians, Paul shares three prayers, that if prayed for your church, can fill it with the glory of God: 

Pray for Strength from the Holy Spirit

“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” (Eph. 3:14-15) 

“For this cause” refers to an earlier context: “In whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Eph 2:21-22). If you and I have believed in Christ and repented of our sins, we are part of the temple that God dwells in.  

Kneeling or laying down with your face to the ground is a posture that shows complete dependence on the Father. Paul prays for several things here, all of which pertain to our experience of the person of Christ. 

God will grant us two things: He will strengthen us in the inner man—the new creation in Christ Jesus, the regenerated self. This strengthening comes through the working of the Holy Spirit.  Secondly, Christ will feel at home in our hearts.   

Pray to Understand God’s Love

What is the result of the strengthening of the Holy Spirit of the regenerated self? It’s Jesus Christ dwelling in your heart like He’s at home. What is the result of that? You will have the love of God in your life. 

Love is the center of Christian life. To be built upon Christ’s dwelling in our hearts through faith results in us being rooted and grounded in love (Eph. 3:17). With such a foundation, Paul prays that we will be able to comprehend with the saints the infinite dimensions of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. 

This is not just to “know” but to be “filled.” This love cannot be truly understood and comprehended until it is experienced. That’s why the previous verses remind us that we need to be rooted and grounded in love. 

A young man who has just fallen in love doesn’t think that spending time with his girlfriend is a difficult duty. He doesn’t think, I really should spend time with her today but, nah, I think I’ll skip it. Why? Because he is in love. He rearranges everything else in his schedule to make time to be with her. Being filled with a love for God will change our lives. 

Pray for God’s Glory

In Ephesians 3:18, “May be able” means “to have the strength.” The verb translated “comprehend” means “to lay hold of or seize” So, Paul is praying that you may have the power to lay hold of and to seize the dimensions of Christ’s love.  

Breath and length and depth and height do not point to four different kinds of love. The measurements emphasize the immensity and completeness of Christ’s love.  

• Breadth may be pointing to the love which is wide enough to embrace the world, people from every nation, Gentile and Jew alike, everyone equal in Christ (Eph 2:11–18).  
• Length may be pointing to the love which is long enough to last forever: “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love (Eph 1:4-5). 
• Height may be pointing to the love which is high enough to take sinners to heaven. “And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6). 
• Depth may be pointing to the love which is deep enough to reach the lowest sinner. (Eph 2:1-2).  

The first time I climbed to the top of Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan, I felt as though I was on the roof of the world. We also get that sense after reading Ephesians, the “Mount Fuji of the New Testament.” It’s difficult to speak of it in a controlled manner because of its greatness and glory (Eph. 3:20-21). The Book of Ephesians takes us to such heights that we have nothing to say except “glory” when we view the whole of what God has done. 

Dr. Jonathan Hayashi

Dr. Jonathan Hayashi is a chaplain, pastor, and author of Ordinary Radicals: A Return to Christ-Centered Discipleship and Making Lemonade: Turning Past Failures into Gospel Opportunities. He and his wife, Kennedi, have four children: Kaede, Seiji, Anna, and Ren. Learn more about him at jonathanhayashi.com