Making Scripture Personal

Ephesians 3:14-21

A Prayer for the Ephesians

 ¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.


I was browsing through scripture trying to find a verse to use for a completely different topic and stumbled across this passage. As I read this scripture above, the Lord showed me that this would be a wonderful prayer to begin praying for my children. As Paul cared about the Ephesians and their relationship with Christ, and their salvation, I have the same desires for my children. I have already been praying that they all grow to love Jesus, above all else, and have a true and personal relationship with Him. I have prayed for their future spouses, whoever they may be, that they too would love Jesus and be "equally yoked" with my children in marriage someday. However, I love to incorporate God's Word in my prayer life and pray scripture. I prayed this prayer four times, personalizing it for each of my children. Believe me when I say, there is power in prayer. :-) If you have never "personalized" scripture for yourself (or children) it's a wonderful experience. Just hearing your name in the midst of God's word and knowing He has great plans for you is a wonderful thing.


Here is an example of the prayer I prayed over my children (I prayed a separate prayer for each of them inserting each of their names). And I didn't do this to "be religious" or as any type of "ritual" or anything like that. I TRULY believe in the power of prayer and have seen it work in my life many times and believe these truths for my children from my heart
:
 ¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before You, Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of Your glorious riches You may strengthen Brenden with power through Your Spirit in his inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in his heart through faith. And I pray that he, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Your holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that Brenden may be filled to the measure of all Your fullness.