January 19, 2021 (Tuesday)
The Apostle Paul was a man of prayer.
Four of his life-changing prayers appear in his letters from
prison in Rome, toward the latter part of his life. They are
the words of a man who knew firsthand what suffering for Jesus
was. He said, “I bear in my body the marks of Christ.” Paul
knew how to pray, but those experiences of suffering for
Christ deepened the quality of his prayers and reveal to us
the kind of man he was.
He wrote to the Ephesian Christians: “I pray that the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual
wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him .. ”
(Ephesians 1:17). In our own prayers we need to consider the
spiritual state of those for whom we are praying. Paul knew the
Ephesians were becoming more mature but he prays that they may
go even more deeply into their personal relationship with Jesus
Christ as they grow in Him. This is intercessory prayer in its
highest form.
We can study the prayers of Paul and use them as models for our
own prayers, which are prayers that are transformational when we
pray through them regularly and take them to heart. They relate
to our highest good – the experiential, personal, relational
knowledge of God that can only be given to us through His indwelling
Spirit.
Every one of us who has accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord should continually be asking, “Lord what will you have me to do?” I think the Lord has something in mind for each of us, for there are innumerable ways in which we can serve the Lord. I see it happening all the time in the lives of God’s people as they exhibit the fruit of the Spirit in their daily lives and as they seek the power of the Spirit in their deeds of Christian service and human kindness. Our prayer should be that of the hymn, “Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.” Paul never heard of that hymn, but we may be certain that he thought of himself as being molded and shaped by the Lord Jesus Christ.
HAVE THINE OWN WAY, LORD
Words, Adelaide A. Pollard
Music, George C. Stebbins
1907
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.
The box below quotes Paul’s references to prayer in all of his
writings and four of his life-changing prayers from the books
of Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians.