New Year, Old Prayers
Lisa Scheffler, author
We’re coming up on the New Year, and a lot of us have been looking forward to flipping the calendar over to 2021 for months. I don’t know that I’ve ever lived through a year that so many people are ready to leave in the rearview mirror. Yet, deep down we know that there isn’t a magical switch that will get flipped at midnight on December 31. We’re looking ahead to the New Year with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. What will the next twelve months bring for each of us, and for our family, friends, community, and nation? What changes and challenges will come? How will we see God work in 2021?
While we can’t predict the future, we can begin the new year determined to take every step with Jesus. Come what may, we can rest in the Father’s love, and allow the Spirit to guide us.
I know of no better way to wrap up one year and prepare for the new than by praying four very old prayers. The apostle Paul traveled through many cities in the ancient world delivering the good news of what God had accomplished through Jesus. After he planted a church and moved on, he still prayed intensely for its people. Paul wanted to see that gospel sink down into people’s hearts and minds, transforming their thinking and motivating their actions. He prayed that God would make it so. In his letters, he teaches, warns, and encourages these new believers, but he also records his prayers.
We should want the same things Paul wanted for ourselves and our church — to see the world as God sees it and act accordingly. But we won’t get there without prayer. So this week, let’s study four life-changing prayers that Paul prayed for his churches, and pray them for ourselves and each other as we look forward to the new year.
Day 1 | Ephesians 1:17–19
For better or worse, the 1990’s saw the birth of reality TV. Late in the decade, Jim Carrey starred in The Truman Show, a movie that critiques the idea of a life lived completely in front of the camera. Carrey plays Truman Burbank, a man who didn’t know that from birth, his entire life was a TV show. Every person he comes in contact with is an actor and his entire town is a set. His parents, friends, and even his wife are playing roles. When he begins to figure out the truth, he tries to escape the massive dome that encapsulates his world, and eventually finds his way to the edge of the set and a hidden exit door. The director of the show, from high up in a control room, speaks to Truman over a massive intercom and tries to convince him to stay and continue being the star of his own show. Truman declines, takes a final bow, and walks through the door and into the real world.
Truman had been living a lie. Everything he thought was reality, turned out to be an elaborate fabrication. Once he knows the truth, he has to live according to it. He can’t go back to the life he’d known. Having been enlightened — he has to move forward in that knowledge.
In some way, the same is true for Christians. Once our eyes are opened to the reality of the gospel, how can we continue in a lie? We are not the star of our own shows; but have a much bigger and more important part to play in the Kingdom of God. Once we know that our life has eternal significance to God, who created and redeemed us out of his vast love, it changes everything.
Paul wanted all the first century churches he planted to live according to the truth of the gospel. In the first few verses of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul, in praise to God, reminds his readers of the astounding grace God has shown by choosing, redeeming, forgiving, and adopting them. He retells the story of what God has accomplished through Jesus. Then, he shares the way he has been praying for them.
Read
Ephesians 1:17-19a
17I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him — 18since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened — so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe….
Look back at the verses above for three significant words that help us see the world as Paul sees it. “Since” and “So that.”
Since…
Since the eyes of our hearts have been enlightened we can receive spiritual wisdom and knowledge of God. Have you ever wondered why some people can know about Jesus but not know him at all? The knowledge of who he is and what he has done for them has not “opened the eyes of their heart.” The Holy Spirit hasn’t revealed Jesus to their innermost being so that they can see him for who he really is. For Paul it was impossible for people to see the glory of the gospel unless they were taught by God. But more than that, Paul understands that knowledge of God is life itself.[1]
But what should we do after we’ve been enlightened and understand how our individual story fits into God’s eternal one? We pray for more wisdom and revelation. We pray that we can know God more deeply and be led by him more fully. We pray that we will see our lives, relationships, vocation, and mission on this earth from his perspective.
So that…
The “so that” helps us answer the question “why?” Why is Paul praying that the Ephesian church gains more spiritual wisdom and revelation? Because he knows that increased knowledge is not an end to itself — it is only the beginning.
First of all, we have hope because we have been chosen by God in Christ “not for our own sake, but for the sake of what God wants to accomplish through us.”[2] Secondly, we live in light of the wealth of the inheritance we are receiving as sons and daughters of the King. Finally, we come to recognize God’s incomparable power in the world and avail ourselves to that which the Spirit provides to defeat sin in our lives and reach out to others with the supernatural love of Christ.
Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians and for us is that our knowledge of God would grow and deepen so that we know the amazing difference Jesus makes in our lives and in this world. Let’s join in him in that prayer. May the truth of God be the foundation upon which we form every thought, feel every emotion and plan every action so that our lives would be different in the New Year.
Look back at the three “so that’s” Paul lists in verses 18–19. What difference could a deep down, soul-knowledge of those realities make in how you approach the new year?
How does (or would) engaging God individually on a daily basis through prayer and his Word help you gain a deeper understanding of God and his ways?
Pray Ephesians 1:17–19 for yourself and at least one other person today.
[1] Foulkes, F. (1989). Ephesians: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 10, p. 68). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[2] N.T. Wright. (2004) Paul for Everyone: Prison Letters (2nd ed., p. 8) Westminster: John Knox Press.