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).
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