With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. (Eph 6:18-20)Well ... that was unexpected. Did you notice? Paul doesn't ask for release. He doesn't ask for comfort or justice. He doesn't ask for anything at all ... for himself. He asks ... to be allowed to "speak boldly." He asks, as prisoner of the Lord (Eph 4:1), to be enabled and empowered to serve the Lord ... in chains. He saw himself as an ambassador, and that was more important than freedom.
We're not normally like that. We're normally requesting lots of pleasant outcomes. And I'm not suggesting that's a bad prayer. When Paul had his "thorn in the flesh" (2 Cor 12:7-8), he "implored the Lord three times that it might leave." Prayers for relief are normal, expected, even called for (Php 4:6). But my question ... for me ... is will I demand the answers I seek, or seek to please Him first? Will my highest desire be what I want from Him, or "not my will, but yours"? Will I say with Paul, "I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor 12:10).
2 comments:
It also seems that he is praying to speak the truth correctly. I've found myself lately when praying for my evangelism that I be correct. Not because I think I should always be right, but that I would be speaking His truth, because the last thing I want is to lead someone else astray.
Paul’s thoughts while in prison were extremely other-centered--inspirationally so. Clearly God’s all-empowering Holy Spirit had firm hold of Paul’s heart, mind, and body. While Paul could have continued preaching and spreading the Gospel if he were released from prison, it is also the case that he did incredibly important work in that very restricted and hostile setting; through him, God performed the supernatural in an unnatural situation. The epistles that Paul wrote from prison have blessed everyone who has read them since--because he did indeed “speak boldly” as Christ’s “ambassador in chains.” I believe his prayer for effectual boldness was soundly answered, praise God.
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