How God’s Word Transforms Prayer from Routine to Power
Most prayers stay small and on the defensive, but Scripture invites us into bold, kingdom-advancing prayer shaped by God’s heart and will. In this blog, we learn how God’s Word reshapes our prayers.
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Thanksgiving and Prayer
15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love[a] toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Why Praying Scriptural Prayers Matters?
When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, he didn’t just encourage them in their faith; he prayed for them. And when he prayed, he didn’t simply ask God to bless them or keep them safe. He prayed Scripture-saturated prayers that reflected the very heart and will of God.
In Ephesians 1:15-23, Paul demonstrated what it looks like to pray prayers rooted in God’s Word. These are prayers that advance God’s kingdom, transform His people, and reflect His eternal purposes. This pattern of scriptural prayer offers us a model that can revolutionize our own prayer lives.
The Foundation of Paul’s Prayer
Before the Apostle Paul even begins his intercession, he establishes a foundation built entirely on Scripture. He reminds the Ephesians of what God has already done:
Blessed us with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3).
We’ve been adopted as sons through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:5).
We have redemption through the blood of Christ (Ephesians 1:7).
We have forgiveness of our sins according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7).
He has lavished all this upon us with wisdom and insight (Ephesians 1:8).
He has made known to us the mystery of His will (Ephesians 1:9).
He has informed us that His plan is to “unite all things in (Jesus), things in heaven and things on earth (Ephesians 1:10).
He has informed us that you have been “sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13).
He has informed us that this “Seal” is a “guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:14).
This seal is not merely a mark of ownership; it is a guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire full possession of it when God recreates the heavens and the earth, and we are fully in His presence to the praise of His glory.
Only after establishing this theological foundation does Paul move into his prayer:
“For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.” Ephesians 1:15-16
The Problem with Our Prayer Lives
Many of us have allowed our prayer lives to drift into a narrow scope of categories. We pray for the sick. We pray for our finances. We pray in response to personal burdens or problems. These are good things to pray for, and Scripture shows Jesus and other saints praying for them.
But notice what Paul is doing here: he isn’t praying in response to problems. Paul is praying prayers that advance the kingdom of God in and through the person of Jesus.
The Apostle Paul is praying on the offensive, not the defensive. He is praying for impact. He is praying for the kingdom of God to be made a reality among God’s people. Paul is putting specifics into the petition “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). And based on Ephesians 1, Paul is praying scripturally informed prayers.
This is a pattern we see throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, saints of God pray Scripture-based prayers. In the New Testament, we see Jesus praying the words of Scripture, Paul praying the words of Scripture, and other believers praying the words of Scripture.
The Scriptures express God’s will, character, and promises, and we cannot improve on any of them. When we pray Scripture (properly understood and applied), we can be sure our prayers are in keeping with God’s will.
Praying in Jesus’ Name
In John 14, Jesus taught His disciples about prayer: “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14).
This raises an important question: Why did Jesus instruct us to pray in His name? What exactly does it mean to pray in Jesus’ name?
It is not a magic formula we tag on the end of a prayer. Sadly, some have treated it as such, as if adding “in Jesus’ name” automatically guarantees results. That is reckless and inaccurate. Rather, “in Jesus’ name” is an idiom that signifies we are praying in alignment with the heart and will of Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture. In praying the Word of God (when properly understood and properly applied), we know we’re praying in alignment with the heart and will of Jesus.
1 John 5:14 teaches us: “This is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” God does not hear all prayers. As we learned from Psalm 66:18, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” But when we pray into His will regarding a circumstance, we can be confident that He hears us. [READ MORE: The Posture God Hears: Prayer that Starts with Humility]
James taught us that “the effectual and fervent prayer of a righteous person availeth much” (James 5:16). In the original language, “effectual” means “sufficient to produce a desired result.” When we understand we are praying the Word of God into a circumstance, meaning to properly interpret and apply God’s Word, then we’re moving into sufficiency to produce a desired result.
But the word “fervent” means to be constant. It means strenuous, and it has intensity. This is something many of us in Western Christianity have lost. When we work with Christians in persecuted countries, we see them pray more intensely and often on what could be called “war footing.” Throughout the New Testament, this is the posture people take in prayer. They are praying that God’s kingdom would come in such a way that what is not of God, meaning that what aligns with fallen human will or the enemy, would be supplanted by the will of God. They are taking territory, and there is intensity to it.
Relationship Over Results
Many of us wish prayer were like a vending machine. We insert our request, and God dispenses the result. But that’s not how Jesus taught us to pray, because Jesus puts relationship over results.
When the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Teach us to pray,” Jesus responded by teaching them to pray “Our Father” (Matthew 6:9). Before Jesus came to earth, this wasn’t how God was addressed. What Jesus did was lay the groundwork for intimacy with God. It was an invitation to come closer, because Jesus put relationship over results. (READ MORE: The Lord’s Prayer Explained)
Consider what happened when Jesus died on the cross. Matthew 27:50-51 records:
“Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split.” Matthew 27:51
The significance of this moment cannot be overstated. The temple had an outer court (the court of the Gentiles) where humanity could come to worship God from afar. The court of the Gentiles represents basic faith, religious tradition, and communal worship from a distance.
However, when the temple veil was torn, the way into the Most Holy Place, the very presence of God Almighty, was opened. This signified that all believers are now invited to be intimates and to enter into the Most Holy Place. We’re invited into a transformative relationship with God involving personal encounter with His presence, moving from outward religious patterns to genuine spiritual intimacy as the priesthood of all believers.
In John 15, Jesus taught us how to walk with God and how to be effective in prayer. Once again, He puts relationship over results: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). The phrase “my words abide in you” uses the Greek word rhema, which refers to the Word of God applied into your circumstances. This is a special revelation or word from God, from the Scriptures, brought to light by the Holy Spirit for a particular situation.
Do you see what Jesus is saying? Relationship comes first. Relationship is ahead of results. Heavenly Father, come closer and abide in me. Through the temple veil being opened for you as a believer to come into His presence, Relationship comes before results.
Here is a kingdom axiom: God works out of the flow of communion we have with Him.
The more we dig into Scripture by letting the words we read penetrate our thoughts, hearts, and motives, the more it shapes our perspectives and causes our longings to reflect the very heart of God. This is why Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). The more our prayers align with His plans, the more we find ourselves enjoying God and an effective prayer life. We move into the pleasure of watching God move in ways we haven’t seen Him move before. [READ MORE: The MAPs Method: A Practical Approach to Daily Bible Reading]
Scripture is the mirror of God’s heart. Prayer becomes a heart-to-heart relationship with God at a deeper level when we commune with Him in alignment with His Word. If you want to pray heart-to-heart with God, praying the words of Scripture brings you into the Father’s heart. And the more we position ourselves this way, the more we become a fruitful people and of greater impact. Praying Scripture aligns our heart with God’s Word, and God’s Word aligns our heart with the heart of the Father.
The Struggle with Distraction
Have you ever gotten distracted while trying to pray? If so, you are in good company.
We see this struggle even in the saints of the Bible. Peter, James, and John went with Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. They got so distracted that they fell asleep. Can you imagine? You are with Jesus, and He asks you to pray during a challenging time, yet you take a nap!
Jesus could’ve rebuked them, yet instead, He acknowledged their falseness and humanity. He said, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). He validated something He knew every believer would struggle with in the future.
However, the important thing to remember is that Scripture can hold our attention. Praying Scripture keeps us focused. The Lord’s Prayer was not given for us to simply and mindlessly repeat. It was given as an outline for prayer. We can take the prayers in the Old and New Testaments, including Ephesians 1, and pray them into our circumstances. We can allow the Word of God to fuel our confidence in prayer.
God wants to develop your communion with Him and your prayer life even more than you do. God is for you, not against you. Most of us get developed through trial and pain because it is then that we look up and say, “Help me, Father.”
The Scripture also teaches, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). You do not have to go through a trial to deepen your relationship with God. You can pursue God. You can hunger after Him.
[READ MORE: How to Find God in a Wandering Mind]
Prayer That Leads to Transformation
“…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.” Ephesians 1:17
The Apostle Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians included: the wisdom of God in their circumstances, a greater revelation of God as they communed with Him, and a greater knowledge and understanding of God.
But that is not all. Paul also prayed for:
1) God’s Enlightenment
Paul prayed “that the eyes of your hearts [would be] enlightened” (Ephesians 1:18). If you do not have light, you are in darkness, and in darkness, you cannot see. The inference is that it is possible for a Christian to have darkness, meaning that it’s possible for you not to have all the light you need.
Early in my Christian walk, I created an image of Jesus in my mind rather than allowing Jesus to speak for Himself. I thought it was okay not to love some people and to resent others silently in my heart. I thought it was okay to hold some people at arm’s length. I thought it was okay to forgive somebody only when I felt they deserved it. These were things I would never say with my lips, but it was the default mode I operated in, and I justified it in my mind.
As Anne Lamott says, “You can safely assume you’ve created a God in your own image when it turns out God hates all the same people you do.”
Or in the words of A.W. Tozer: “Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly. We insist upon trying to modify Him and bring Him nearer to our own image.”
When we create our own image of Jesus rather than allowing Jesus to speak for Himself, the church as we know it begins to stand in the way of the way Jesus intended it. That is a tragedy. Jesus described this using the image of an old wineskin that cannot contain new wine. An old wineskin becomes brittle, inflexible. The point is that Jesus Christ has come to inebriate your life and for you to draw close in communion with Him and allow Him to develop you, to be flexible, moldable, and shapeable.
We need God’s enlightenment to be shaped by Him. One of the strategic prayers we can pray over our lives, and the life of the body of Christ, is, “God, enlighten us. God, bring Your light.”
[READ MORE: Why Does God Want Our Hearts Enlightened?]
2) Knowing the Hope of His Calling
Paul prayed “that you may know what the hope to which He has called you” (Ephesians 1:18, emphasis added) is. Can you say these words aloud: “I am called”? Whether you believe it or not, try it: “I am called.”Those words aren’t my opinion; that’s the Word of God.
Sometimes we think only pastors or missionaries are called, and we lose the reality that the Bible teaches we are all called of God to be salty in the workplace. You have the opportunity to be far more impactful for Jesus than any pastor, because you rub elbows with lost humanity day to day, and you have been called to be salty.
The call of God on your life is bigger than you are. It is not something you can live into in your own power or strength. Do not ever limit what God can do. You have a calling.
If you are in a neighborhood group and you have developed friends, be salty.
If you work in finance, be salty.
If you work in education, be salty.
Regardless of your occupation or your social circles, live into your calling. Live into the place where you are influencing others for Christ. Love people well. Love people who are hard to love, both in deed and in word. Manifest Jesus in a broken world.
Step into the hope to which He has called you. [READ MORE: Vocation with Purpose: Why Your Job Matters to God]
3) Our Confidence in God Deepens
The Apostle Paul prayed that we would know “the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might” (Ephesians 1:18-19).
About 15 years ago, there was a wave of what is called the New Atheism on YouTube. Authors and influencers began propagating atheism on college campuses. A couple of years ago, one of those former new atheists, Allie Beth Stuckey, came to know Jesus. About six months ago, she was on a platform with one of the new atheists she used to run with. The atheist asked, “Allie, why? How could you do something so intellectually lame and become a Christian?”
Allie responded: “I think what we have done with the New Atheist Movement has brought great harm. It has given a generation nothing to live for. While this is not the only reason I became a Christian, the catalyst for why I became a Christian is because it just does not work. Atheism does not work. It does not work for humanity. It does not work for emerging generations. It does not work for human beings. It does not work.”
Some of us have prayer lives that fall into the category of “it has not worked.” I want to encourage you that He has invited you to draw close. The temple veil is ripped. He is your heavenly Father. Draw close and abide in Him. Start where you are. Communion over results. Abiding over results. But as you abide, watch Him work for His glory.
Rise Up Into Your Calling
Women of God, rise up.
Men of God, rise up.
Children of God, rise up.
Teenagers of God, rise up.
College students and young adults, rise up.
Dear reader, rise into your calling.
Pray the prayers of His Word. Let Scripture fuel your prayers. Let God’s Word align your heart with His heart. Draw close to Him in communion, and watch Him develop your prayer life in ways you have not experienced before.
He is inviting you: Come closer.
TL;DR
Scripture anchors our prayers in God’s will, character, and promises.
Praying God’s Word moves prayer from reactive to kingdom-advancing.
Scripture-centered prayer deepens intimacy with God, not just outcomes.
As God’s Word shapes our hearts, our prayers begin to reflect His purposes.
