Monday 11th July - Ephesians 3

Today’s chapter is Ephesians 3, you can read it here.

Tom writes:

For this reason I kneel… I wonder what makes you kneel? What stirs you enough to get you off your natural posture and into a position of pleading? I fear not enough has done so for me. Apathy has been a powerful force in my life. But I’m stirred - in a good way - by our culture. Taking a knee has become quite a thing recently and it has a thoroughly biblical precedent. Taking a knee shows that neither anger nor anxiety will be the primary outworking of my pain and passion; taking a knee is an act of humility and determination. So I want to take a knee much more. I hope you do too? When we do so let’s make sure we are kneeling before the right Master. Paul kneeled before the Father. He knew he was kneeling before the one who loved him and was listening to him.

Our Father is for us. If we remember that up front it helps us pray effective prayers. And not only so. Let’s also remember the ginormous, reverberating, magnificence of that love. These verses about how wide and long and high and deep is the love of God could feel like “old news” if we have heard them many times. But if we pause and intentionally remind ourselves of them when we pray the Holy Spirit will make them real to us and the truth of them will affect us over and again. And then - in case we think the one before we kneel is just a big softie - we would do well to fill our lungs, stretch wide our eyes and consider the uncontainable capacity of our compassionate creator. He can do immeasurably more than anything we could mumble as we kneel before his love. And so, well set, in a position of humility and determination, before the mind-bendingly kind and capable one… we are ready. And then what do we pray? Well, the joy of our freedom before God is that we can pray whatever we want. But the prayers that he really loves are prayers for his Church. Not just for our “church” - those we already know and love and do life with, but for His Church of all ages and all nations, some already called in and some yet to be called in. And he loves prayers for his fullness to fill us all in every way because that is his plan that he made visible in Christ. And that is his plan that he will bring to fulfilment in the end. And when we pray into God’s plans, we agree with our great God and we open wide the door for him to do more than we could ever imagine.

Question for reflection

Do you care enough about God’s church to kneel for it?