Ephesians 3:14 – 15 | Posture Of Prayer

Sometimes I pray for the wrong reasons or I pray to false images of who God is. It seems difficult to keep up a steady rhythm of prayer sometimes. I start praying and I get distracted. I make a decision to spend some time in prayer and I fall asleep. I spend time in prayer and sometimes it feels dull and lifeless. Sometimes I don’t know what to pray about and sometimes I don’t know what to say. What I need is to be set free by what God’s Word says.

But, there are times when I feel like there’s nothing better than experiencing God’s presence in prayer. Sometimes God speaks to me in prayer in such powerful ways that I never want to leave the experience. I have often felt the extraordinary presence of the Spirit of God as he prays through me. There’ve been moments where I’ve been driven to my knees by a fresh revelation of who God is and who he says I am. That’s the moment we’re about to have in our text today.

Ephesians 3:14 – 21…

¹⁴ For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in Heaven and on earth is named, ¹⁶ that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. ²⁰ Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Paul’s posture in prayer was rooted in the reasons he prayed and the person he prayed to. Think about the word posture for a minute. We like to posture ourselves in certain ways and don’t like to posture ourselves in other ways. We like to be in a posture of strength or success or confidence. But the postures of weakness or sinfulness or fearfulness aren’t as desirable. We don’t like to look weak or sinful or fearful. We like to look strong and successful and confident.

What does your posture in prayer look like lately? Is your posture in prayer the posture of someone who is uninterested? Or is it someone who is just going through the routine? Or is it someone who only calls on God when he needs something? What does your posture in prayer say about what you believe about God? Or what you believe about yourself? I believe that the reasons we pray and the person we pray to, deeply affect the posture of our praying. That’s my big idea for this week. Your posture in prayer is rooted in the reasons you pray and the person you pray to. Sometimes we pray for the wrong reasons and we pray to false images of who God is. What we need is to be set free by what God’s Word says.

Sometimes I pray for the wrong reasons…

Sometimes the reason I pray is because I think that prayer is my duty or my obligation. I begin to think that it’s my duty to pray so my posture becomes like that of a son who begrudgingly doesn’t want to take out the trash. Other times the reason I pray is because of some momentary need and my posture becomes like that of a fearful or anxious son.

I know that I have a duty to pray and I know that it’s good to come to God with my needs. And it’s easy to shroud these kinds of prayer postures with religious language and give myself a pass. But if I dig a little deeper into this kind of posturing, I find that I fundamentally misbelieve some things about God deep within my heart.

Sometimes I pray to a false image of who God is…

The duty posture with my head hung low teaches me that I believe in a false image of a God who is like this angry dad who will be displeased with me when I don’t pray.

The momentary need posture (again, only coming to God when I feel needy) teaches me that I believe in a false image of a God who is like a bellhop or a waitress who will come running to my beck and call when I have a need. And maybe, just maybe, if he gives me what I want then I’ll even drop a little tip in the offering box for him.

Sometimes I recreate God into my own image and the result of that is that I begin to pray to a weak or broken false god rather than my true, all powerful, all loving Father in Heaven. In my head and with my words at the right times, I will tell you that I believe that my father in Heaven is all-powerful and all-loving. But in my quiet moments before the Lord, it’s as if the posture of my praying needs to be transformed by the truth of who God actually is and who he says I am.

I need to be set free from my unbelieving posture…

God’s Word speaks truth into my struggle with unbelief. The truth of God’s Word sets me free to believe in who God is and who he says I am. The posture of my praying is transformed by these truths. Paul says “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in Heaven and on earth is named”. Paul says for this reason I am praying in a posture of humility on my knees before the God of Heaven and earth. What’s the reason for Paul’s posture of prayer? Why is he on his knees before the Father in prayer?

Most scholars point out that this is the second time that Paul says “For this reason”. He said it back in verse one of chapter three. This leads me to believe that Paul was getting set to launch into his prayer in verse one but got sidetracked all the way through verse thirteen and then picked back up again in verse fourteen.

Sounds like Paul right? Sounds like all of us right? Getting sidetracked when it comes to prayer. But what’s the deal here? What’s the reason for Paul’s prayer? What caused him to take up this posture of prayer on his knees?

Well if you track your way back through everything Paul has said to the Ephesians you’ll find Paul expounding the truths of who God is and who we are in Christ Jesus. In other words, if you look back at the last three chapters you’ll see the reasons and the person that Paul’s posture of prayer is rooted in. Paul’s posture of prayer is rooted in the truth of God’s identity and the truth of our identity in Christ.

Paul says things like:

1. In Christ, you are not cursed you are blessed. You are not an outcast you are blessed sons and daughters who’ve been set apart for God’s love. You are not an enemy of God you are a blessed family member who’s been adopted by God’s grace. You are not left here like a rotting corpse you are blessed with a new life that lasts for all of eternity. (Eph. 1:1-3)
2. In Christ, you are chosen. Nothing can erase the blood signature of Jesus on your adoption papers. God has chosen you to be united to Jesus, sanctified in Jesus and adopted through Jesus. (Eph. 1:3-6)
3. In Christ, you are priceless. You are twice owned by the God of Creation and the God of salvation. The God who created you also paid the price to purchase you and you get to enjoy the benefits of God’s forgiveness and grace as you grow in your understanding of the gospel. (Eph. 1:7-10)
4. In Christ, you are guaranteed. You can rest assured in the guarantee that God has signed your salvation plan. He has sealed you with the promise of the Holy Spirit. He will deliver you completely from pain and suffering on the day you run into Heaven. Signed, sealed and delivered by the Star-Breather. (Eph. 1:11-14)
5. In Christ, you can live with your eyes wide open. When you begin to live your life with your eyes wide open you are set free to trust and to love and to know and to hope and to believe and to live in the power of Christ. (Eph. 1:15-20)
6. In Christ, the power of God is enough for you. You are united to the power of God in the resurrection, the power of God in Heaven and the power of God in the church. (Eph. 1:19-23)
7. In Christ, you are spiritually alive. You once were spiritually dead in your old lifestyle of sin, when you followed the way of the world, when you followed Satan, when you lived according to your fleshly desires, when you were a child of wrath, when you were just like the rest of humanity. But in Christ you are spiritually alive because of God’s rich mercy, because of God’s great love, because God raised Jesus from the dead, because God’s grace saved you, because God has positioned you in Christ, because God chose to reveal himself to you. You once were spiritually dead but now you are spiritually alive. (Eph. 2:1-7)
8. In Christ, you are saved. For by grace you have been saved through faith. Nine words! Nine words distilled into three words. The word “for” and the word “grace” and the word “faith”. These three words teach you to look to Christ because he is the face of grace and the author of your faith and the means of your salvation. This is the good news of the gospel for the gift of salvation has been given to you by God’s free grace and it is received through the pipeline of faith. (Eph. 2:8)
9. In Christ, you can rest from doing, working, chasing and bragging. You can stop trying to earn God’s love and acceptance in all that you do. You can stop working hard to pretend you’re better than you really are. You can stop measuring the results of your slow growth process. You can stop bragging about everything you do or will do better. You can stop the doing and you can stop the working and you can stop the results chasing and you can stop the bragging and you can just simply rest. (Eph. 2:8-9)
10. In Christ, your life is a masterpiece. You are God’s workmanship. You’ve been created in Christ Jesus for good works. God prepared your good works before the foundations of the earth were laid and he prepared them so that you could walk in them. The masterpiece of your life is not about your speed it’s about God’s direction. It’s not about you and how fast you can grow. It’s not about your works or your accomplishments. It’s about God’s work and God’s accomplishments. The gift of salvation reveals the master behind the masterpiece of your life. (Eph. 2:10)
11. In Christ, you are a new person with a new name. You are close to God. You are covered in the blood of Christ. You have a new name, a new identity, a new position and a new title. Your past doesn’t define who you are. Your past cannot give you a different name other than the name that God has given you. You used to be an orphan that was named by your sin, your guilt and your shame but now your name is Christian. The potholes of your past do not dictate the direction or the destination of your journey. You have a new name that your past and your future cannot dictate or erase. (Eph. 2:11-13)
12. In Christ, you are at peace and full of peace. You can live in true peace in the midst of brokenness and conflict and pain by believing that Jesus is your peace even when things don’t make sense. When you believe that your peace is found in Christ at the foot of the cross you are enabled to rest peacefully in the Father’s presence as you live in peace with other people. The cross of Christ provides vertical peace between you and God and then it creates horizontal peace between you and other people. (Eph. 2:14-18)
13. In Christ, you are treasured, secure and useful. God’s love, written in Christ’s blood, serves as the eviction notice to your anxiety. You are not worthless. You are not alone. You are not useless. You are not insignificant. Christ is your security. Christ is your certainty. Christ is your significance. (Eph. 2:19-22)
14. In Christ, you are a redeemed prisoner. You can remain confident because you know that Christ has redeemed you and captured you. You no longer need to chase power, prestige and fame. You are free to chase the presence of Christ in the midst of suffering. You are no longer an enemy of Christ. You are a prisoner of Christ for the sake of the gospel. (Eph. 3:1)
15. In Christ, you are a steward of the gospel of grace. You can remain confident because you know that you are a steward of God’s grace. You have received a gift that keeps on giving. You are not a mere consumer of God’s grace. You are a contributor of God’s grace. You are an active participant in building the Kingdom of God through the proclamation of the gospel. (Eph. 3:2-5)
16. In Christ, you are a promise-trusting, gospel-made person. You can remain confident because you’ve trusted in the promises of the gospel. Those promises are making you into a gospel-made man or woman. You can now trust that you are an heir to the kingdom of God, a member of God’s family and a partaker of the benefits of the cross. Those promises are shaping you into the person you are becoming. (Eph. 3:6-7)
17. In Christ, you can confidently call others to be confident. You don’t have to be an important or impressive person to carry out a big responsibility. You have complete unhindered access to the powerful and unlimited presence of God. You have every reason to be confident because you are not alone. You haven’t been left in the backyard like a broken down car. God has pulled you into his repair shop called the church. God is restoring you into a new person. You are becoming the home of the Spirit of God. Your confidence is rooted in seeing God for who he is and seeing yourself for who God says you are. (Eph. 3:8-13)

This why Paul said, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in Heaven and on earth is named”. Paul didn’t pray out of duty or obligation. He didn’t pray just because he had a rough day. He didn’t pray to an angry Father. He didn’t pray to a bellhop or a waitress. Paul prayed to the God he knew because God had made him new and that transformed his posture in prayer.

Praying to the God you believe in, in light of who God says you are, transforms your posture in prayer. Your posture in prayer is rooted in the reasons you pray and the person you pray to.

Conclusion and application…

What does your posture of prayer look like lately? Have you slipped into the religious routine of prayer as an obligation or a duty? Have you been absent from the discipline of prayer? Have you found yourself only hitting your knees in prayer because of some life-altering thing in front of you?

How transforming would it be for you to take the seventeen principles we’ve learned over the last seventeen sermons and turn them into seventeen days of prayer? That’s my charge to you today. I dare you. Take those seventeen principles regarding who God is and who you are in Christ and use them as the reason to pray for the next seventeen days. And just maybe, as you do this, maybe you’ll find that the person you begin to pray to is transformed from the false god of self-creation into the true God of all Creation.

Journal your experiences. Post some of your journey on social media. Write down what happens to the posture of your heart as you pray. Share your experience in Gospel Community. My prayer for all of us is that we would move away from the posture of duty and the posture of momentary need to the posture of true daily dependence on our knees in the presence of Christ. Your posture in prayer is rooted in the reasons you pray and it’s also rooted in the person you pray to.