Praying for Spiritual Strength
I think it’s realistic to say that our culture obsesses over the idea of being strong in one way or another. Having personal strength—whether physical, mental, or emotional—is pushed on us from seemingly every direction. Even from a young age, kids are taught to be strong and independent, to “dig deep” and “believe in yourself,” because according to the world around us, true strength comes from within, and whatever you face can be dealt with and handled if you rely on the strength within you.
While a strong body, mind, and character are certainly good things in our lives, they are temporary and can all come crashing down. Our bodies fail, our minds are often pushed to the max by the stresses of life, and trials and temptations can turn a person’s character. If we have our lives founded on these things, we can find ourselves lost and beaten down all too easily. We are engaged in a battle every day—a battle that cannot be won through some “inner strength,” a battle that cannot be won on our own.
In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he takes the time to stop and write out a prayer to the believers, one focused on seeking the Lord for true spiritual strength. Paul recognized his own and his audience’s need for a strength that was not of this world—strength founded upon the endless love of God and exemplified perfectly in his Son, Jesus Christ. The true strength that we all need.
As we continue in our From the Heart series, we’ll discuss that need for spiritual strength and specifically, as we see in Paul’s example, how we ought to be seeking after it in prayer. I’m praying that the Lord would use our time in his Word to centre us on who he is and challenge us not only in our thinking about true strength, but also in our passion for prayer and the necessity of it in our lives.