Day 20—A Model Prayer for Praying for Someone

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole 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 saints, 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.” (Ephesians 3:14–19, NIV84)

Here’s another prayer model from Paul, the great Apostle of Grace. It’s one of my favorite ways to pray for people, especially people I really care about such as my family and our church community. So let’s walk though it:

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being”—Anything that happens in the person you are praying for, including being saved, will only be done with the help of the Holy Spirit. Only by the Holy Spirit can people receive and understand the things of God. So pray that the Holy Spirit will fill and illuminate their inner being—spirit, soul, mind, will, and emotions.

“That Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith”—Pray that they will be be born again, they they will become believers and put their faith and trust in Christ.

And then pray that their lives would be established in, and rooted and grounded in, the (as we sing) the “overwhelming, never ending, precious love of God.”

Pray that they come to know God’s love which exceeds knowledge—

The width of God’s love, no matter how far they drift to the left or right…“as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12, NIV84)

The length of his love—no matter how far you have gone. “But while (the prodigal son) was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20, NIV84)

The height of God’s love—“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;” (Psalm 103:11, NIV84)

The depth of his love—“neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:39, NIV84)

The sum result of this whole prayer is that the person you are praying for will be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” That sounds like another way to say that they would have life, and have in in the fullest!