Paul Wharton tells a story...
Illustration
Paul Wharton tells a story about a wise old Middle-Eastern mystic. He confessed: "I was
a revolutionary when I was young, and all my prayer to God was: 'Lord, give me the
energy to change the world.' As I approached middle age and realized that my life was
half gone without my changing a single person, I revised my prayer: 'Lord, give me the
grace to change all those who come into contact with me. Just my family and friends and
I shall be satisfied.' Now that I am an old man and my days are numbered, I have begun
to see how foolish I have been. My one prayer now is: 'Lord, give me the grace to change
myself.' If I had prayed this right from the start, I would not have wasted my life."
(quoted from Stories and Parables for Preachers and Teachers, Paulist Press,
1986)
We do not know if Paul revised his prayer requests through the years but we do know that he continued to pray for the churches everywhere. In those first few pages he wrote to his friends at Ephesus, he was still a praying man. His prayers were not selfish. They were concerned with those to whom he wrote. He prayed that they might have wisdom and revelation -- a receptive spirit and an inward disposition to respond to the truth that God would reveal. He prayed that with eyes wide open they would receive through the eyes of their hearts the truths that God had in store for them. He also prayed that they would hang on to hope lest they lose heart and fall away. He ended that prayer with the hope that they would catch something of the greatness and power of the God they served. If we made our own translation of how Paul would pray for our church, I wonder how the prayer might sound?
We do not know if Paul revised his prayer requests through the years but we do know that he continued to pray for the churches everywhere. In those first few pages he wrote to his friends at Ephesus, he was still a praying man. His prayers were not selfish. They were concerned with those to whom he wrote. He prayed that they might have wisdom and revelation -- a receptive spirit and an inward disposition to respond to the truth that God would reveal. He prayed that with eyes wide open they would receive through the eyes of their hearts the truths that God had in store for them. He also prayed that they would hang on to hope lest they lose heart and fall away. He ended that prayer with the hope that they would catch something of the greatness and power of the God they served. If we made our own translation of how Paul would pray for our church, I wonder how the prayer might sound?
