“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.” — Ephesians 3:16
Two months ago, I memorized this little prayer:
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.”
And it has made all the difference.
It’s a prayer for power. Yes, you heard me. Power. Not a thing I often pray for. Peace? Yes. Joy? Yes. Wisdom? All the time! But power? Next to never. And the kind of power in this prayer? Massive power flowing out of the glorious riches of God…in my inner being…through his Spirit? This is most definitely a prayer I have never prayed. At least not until now. Now? I pray it all the time, because I’ve discovered that power is the very thing I need.
Especially this past month.
It all started the day my husband went back to bed. He came home from taking a kid to school early and said he was feeling “off” and tired. So he was going to go back to bed for a bit and would go into work later if he felt better. Only he didn’t. He slept till noon and woke with fever, chills, and aches. And as his illness progressed, he developed headaches, joint pain, swelling, a weird rash, and even double vision.
What in the world?! My healthy, strapping guy was down.
Over the next couple of weeks, we found ourselves in so many scary and uncertain moments, feeling totally powerless. And that little verse became my prayer for us. I prayed that God would strengthen us with his power—power to trust him in the waiting, power to believe his sovereignty in the unknown, and power to just keep going despite our weaknesses.
Four weeks later, Jason is still recovering.
We now know that he had viral meningitis. He still has some vision issues, fatigue, and nerve pain, but he’s getting better every day. Our whole community is praying for Jason’s full recovery. But I bet you can guess my specific prayer. Yes, It’s still the same. I’m praying for God to strengthen him with his power in his inner being.
And I will continue to pray that prayer.
Not just for Jason, but for all the people I know, and for myself. You see, praying for God’s power doesn’t feel odd to me anymore, it feels instinctive. Because I’ve been reminded of something: we’re all powerless (not just when we feel like it). When we pray for God’s power, we’re honestly confessing our lack of power and recognizing his blessed desire to give us his.
God wants you to pray for his power too!
Will you memorize this verse with me and start praying it? I hope you will. You can listen to this week’s podcast episode, where I’m walking through the whole “power prayer” in Ephesians 3:14-21. We’ll talk more about what it means, why it matters, and how you too can rightly pray for God’s power.
