TUESDAY, April 15th, 2008

Ephesians 1:15-23

15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Paul cares so much about the people of the church at Ephesus that he does not cease to pray for them. In other words he is praying for them every time he thinks about them. In the Red we see Paul tell them that he is praying for them, and then in the orange we see all of the things that Paul prays for. Lets start the convition this way: What friend do you have that you pray for every time you think of them? What friend do you have that you pray for on a weekly basis?...ok What friend do you have that you have EVER prayed for? Well hopefuilly the answer in not "none". It is something that you may not think of often, but it is something that we see here is SO IMPORTANT! Lets take a look at what Paul prays for his friends about.
First Paul prays that they will have Gods wisdom and Revelation: Do you know anyone that might need those things? (If you cant think of someone, THEN PRAY FOR ME THAT WAY!!)
Second, Paul prays that they will have open eyes to see what Gods calling is for their life!
Thirdly, Paul prays that His friends will see the Power of God in their life, and he goes on to explain that they can see that same power that raised God from the dead!!

I need to pray for my friends more!!!!! I think you probably do to!! Lets take 5 minutes after this devotion and make a list of friends we can pray for: whether it be for Salvation, for their spiritual growth, maybe even their family or their job... Whatever the case: take some time and pray for your friends today, and keep that list close by so that you can do it again tomorrow!