Thursday, September 27, 2012
The
other day a friend shared a wonderful insight with me about praying. He challenged me to look up some of Paul’s
prayers in the Bible and see how many times he used the phrase “so that”. So I did.
Here’s what I found:
Romans
15:13 – May the God of peace fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in
him, so that you may overflow with
hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians
1:17 – I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious
Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Ephesians
3:16-17 – 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.
Philippians
1:9-10 – And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in
knowledge and depth of insight, so that
you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the
day of Christ…
Colossians
1:11 – Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance
and patience…
1
Thessalonians 3:13 – May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God
and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
I
learned that the “so that” principle to praying brings clear focus to
prayer. Too many times our prayers are
good but they are aimless. We ask God to strengthen us or bless us but we have
no particular end in view. Or we ask
for someone else (intercession), without a particular end in view. When we add “so that” to our prayers it
forces us to ask, “What do I really want God to do in this person’s life?” This principle of praying is challenging and
encouraging because it focuses our wandering minds and causes us think about
why we want God to bless someone. For example: “Lord, bless Bill as he works
today” is a pretty general prayer. If I
use the “so that” principle it takes on new focus, “Lord, bless Bill as he
works today so that he will have opportunities to share his faith with someone
else.” Or, “God, strengthen Sue so that
her life will shine with goodness of God.”
This
principle is especially powerful when you pray it for yourself. It makes me
think about why I need God’s blessing, strength, peace, power, healing…or
whatever we’re asking Him for. It’s
amazing how “so that” can transform an ordinary prayer into a powerful petition
to our Heavenly Father.
I’m
thankful my friend shared this with me so
that I could share it with you!
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