Pray this way1
It is good and wise for us to pray as Paul did. If he prayed that the Ephesian church might have wisdom and revelation we can as well. We can pray that for ourselves, and we can pray that for others. I often have a difficulty knowing exactly what to pray for others. I have found that praying along the lines the scriptures record works out well. The scriptures give perfect guidance.
Fathers, sons, and the Godhead
Do not overlook how Paul assembles the connection between Jesus, our Lord, and God the Father. Paul uses the phrase “God of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The context in which we understand God extends so much from how Jesus lived. Part of what we see in the life of Christ is how he related to God as if God were a biological Father. There is no biology in this relationship. God the Father has no wife and the spirit of Jesus has no mother, but his being, his essence existed forever with the being of God the Father.
God loved us so much that he was willing in some manner split himself. The trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit was eternal and still is, but some part of that connection shifted when Jesus appropriated flesh and blood.
In some versions of verse 17 the “Father of glory” is called the “glorious Father.” That vantage point carries on what Paul is writing of here.
Who is receiving our prayers? God the Father? God the Son?2
Hint: It is not Jesus. The NIV starts this 17th verse with the phrase “I keep asking…” So Paul is thankful to God the Father. He is praying to God the Father, not Jesus.
In the big scheme of things, I am sure that God the Father hears prayers offered to Jesus. It is good, though, for us to recognize a proper spiritual direction as described here. God the Father is the one to whom Jesus prayed. He taught his disciples how to pray. Another passage tells us that Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers (and sisters). We are to emulate him and do well to look at the recorded life events of Christ and learn from them.
So, when you pray, pray to God the Father. It is verses like this that give me pause when I consider the prayer directions of other Christian or Christian-like faiths. Some people will pray to saints or the mother of Jesus. Paul does not even direct his prayers to Christ himself but goes above and beyond that. In his parables, Jesus taught a similar pattern.
So, I think we do best to take the scriptures as a guide. Jesus prayed to God the Father. Paul prayed to God the Father. We have little reason to go and do otherwise.
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