Come, Holy Spirit!

 "Shining Hope", by  Lauren Wright Pittman, in the  Vanderbilt University Divinity Library.
The artist has granted permission for the non-commercial use of this image

 "I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."  (Ephesians 3:16-19)

Would you like a really good prayer to pray regularly for your church?  This is it.  Picture your church after God answers this three-fold prayer for it: strengthened with power through God's Spirit; comprehending and knowing the love of Christ; and filled with all the fullness of God.  What a beautiful sight that would be!

Yesterday we looked at Jesus' Great Commission for his church, and our need for the Holy Spirit's help to carry it out.  This prayer of Ephesians 3 is a prayer for that help. We are weak, and need God's strengthening and power; we are limited by our own understanding of Christ's amazing love for us, and need illumination; and we are continually in need of refilling. Yet in all of this, we press on. And the means for pressing on, the means for carrying out Christ's Great Commission is, and has always been, prayer. Prayer for ourselves, prayer for others, prayer for the church, and prayer for the world.

Prayer: Come, Holy Spirit, and fulfill this prayer of Ephesians for my church and the church worldwide!