Renew Your Prayer Life

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Megan Hill
…knowing and growing in the love and power of God, and it’s our privilege in this session today to look at two of the prayers of Paul in Ephesians that actually will not be covered in the plenary session. So if you’ve been going to plenary sessions, you’ve been working through the book of Ephesians, and those two texts are not something that’s going to be covered in the plenary session, and so we get the opportunity together to study them here in this session. So we are so glad that you are here. Let me just introduce to you my fellow panelists, and then we’re going to go ahead and get started. So first I have with me here today, trillia new bell. And trillia is the Acquisitions Director for moody publishers. She’s the author of several books and Bible studies. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and her two children. Then we have George Robertson. George Robertson serves as the senior pastor at second Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee. He’s a board member for the gospel coalition. He’s the author of several books, and he’s married to Jackie. They have one son, three daughters and two sons in law. And then we’re joined by Paul Miller. Paul Miller is the executive director of C Jesus, a global discipleship mission, which he founded in 1999 he’s the author of several books and Bible studies, and he lives in the Philadelphia area with his wife, and they have six children and several grandchildren. And my name is Megan Hill. I’m the managing editor here at the gospel coalition, and it’s my privilege to moderate this panel today. Before we begin, let’s just have a word of prayer, Father. We thank you so much for this opportunity that we have to gather together around your word. We thank you for the gift of your word, where you communicate to us in words that we can understand and that your Spirit loves to apply to our hearts. We pray now that as we come to this topic of prayer, that you would help us to understand what your Word says, and to grow in it, and to grow in our love for it. And we pray that even in this short time that we have together, that we would be able to grow together in the discipline of prayer. And we pray this in Jesus name, Amen. So the first thing that we’re going to do is just to take a brief look at the two passages that we’ll be talking about, and both George and Paul are going to lead us through those passages, and then we’ll spend some time applying them and seeing some of the implications of those texts. So I’m going to begin with the first prayer that we have of Paul in the book of Ephesians. In Ephesians chapter one, and I’m going to start reading in verse 15. I’ll be reading from the ESV, but if you have a different version, you’re welcome to look along whatever version you have. Go ahead and pull it up on your phone or open your Bible. Ephesians, chapter one, starting in verse 15. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers that the God of our Lord, Jesus, Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. What are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all

George Robertson
Megan, can I interrupt they started the Ephesians three too soon it’s up on the screen. I don’t want to mess get people confused.

Megan Hill
Oh, right. We’ll get to Ephesians, which is three, which is on the screen Next, but we’re going to be looking at Ephesians one right now.

George Robertson
Well, for those of you coming to hear Danny Akin, I’m so sorry to disappoint you, and I’m the visiting fireman, but I’m so honored to open this passage with you and just a few comments about it, maybe to open it up for your practical application. It seems to me that a major purpose of Ephesians, if not the main purpose was to for Paul to explain the mystery of the gospel, and we just heard a beautiful sermon from Dr Piper that was a worshipful experience in and of itself. But I want you to look over to chapter three, verse six. TGC, where Paul defines this mystery. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ, Jesus through the gospel. This seems to me, as I’ve been working through Ephesians For the last little bit in my home pulpit that the book of Ephesians is an apologetic for that mysterious gospel that the gospel is demonstrated in breaking down these barrier walls, artificial walls, that are created among people who are not intended to be separated. And Paul says, not only is that gospel, that God that that that reconciling power of the gospel objectively demonstrated when Gentiles and Jews and any other ethnic groups or class groups that artificially separate from each other, not only is that gospel objectively demonstrated, it’s a dangerous work, because Paul says at the end of chapter six, he says, For this Reason, I’m in chains. I’m in chains. I’m in chains in my imprisonment because of the mystery of the gospel. We know the history of that Acts chapter 22 when the Jewish religious leaders take him up, they’re putting him on trial, and he begins to defend himself, he explains his his testimony, and they’re listening. They’re listening very respectfully, even to the part of Jesus intercepting him on the road to Damascus. They listen to him very carefully and respectfully until he says, and I was sent with this gospel to the Gentiles. And then everything breaks out. He’s put in prison. So it seems to me that that when we’re looking at any passage in Ephesians, We have to put it into that context that he has given, that Paul is giving the theology and practice for how to demonstrate the mysterious power of reconciling gospel in a fallen world. And so here early on, as Pastor John said in the earlier session, right on the heels of this great doctrine of our free salvation, no one is allowed then to judge another person. Say, I’m better than you are. I can’t have fellowship with you, because we’re all equal debtors to grace. So Paul says we must pray for one another in this mission. And here is here are the aspects of that prayer. I’ll run through them very rapidly only a few minutes. Why must we pray for one another? Because, I mean, our default is to pray for ourselves, right? And very early on, he said, it’s essential to this mission that we pray for each other. We’re family members. We must pray for each other as family members. We must pray for all the saints, whether you like them or not. We’re in this mission together. We pray for one another. Verse 15, this is our calling. How do we pray for one another? How are we going to do that? How are we going to pray for people that are different from us, that offend us, that make us uncomfortable? How are we going to possibly demonstrate the mysterious power, this reconciling power of the gospel, by the working of the Spirit. He says in verse 17, not that we will gain the spirit. We know we have the spirit because of our conversion. But he’s talking in the same way that Jesus talked about the working out of the Spirit. When Jesus said, Who of you, when your son asks you for a fish, will give him a serpent, and then how much more will your Father give the spirit to him who asks him? It’s not that you get saved, and then you have to, you have to ask separately for the spirit. He’s saying you ask for the working of the Spirit. In the Westminster Confession of Faith, we talk about stirring up grace. So in this mission work of breaking down dividing walls and applying the reconciling power of the gospel, we ask for the spirit to stir up his grace in us that is counter to our flesh, and he will then, as a result, the spirit of wisdom and revelation will answer that prayer wisdom to realize where we are in history, just like Pastor John said that the political situation. Situation, the social situation, is nothing compared to God’s working out his providential plan. We’re going to we’re on the winning side. And Revelation, the spirit, teaches us scriptural truths as we pray and we put those into practice. And then finally, what do we pray? We pray three things for each other. We pray that we would know hope, riches and power. Pastor John said earlier, there are 41 imperatives in chapters four to six. The parallel passage in Colossians to this one provides the imperatives for what we do with this knowledge, what do we do? What are we when we pray for one another to know hope we’re praying for one another to boast in that hope we are certain We can’t lose our salvation can’t be lost because Christ, because God, can’t lose his son. So we live boldly in that, according to Romans, five, two, we pray for one another, also for for that we would know our riches. That is that we would rejoice in our inheritance, rejoice in our that we are valued by the Father, that we are, as Thomas Goodwin said, the happiness of God, and also that we’re heirs of those eternal riches, the love of God lavished on us. And finally, we pray that we would persevere in power. That’s in the final verses this work that we’re about is opposed by the evil one. Let me level with you a second here. I’ve been around gospel Coalition for a long time, our greatest battle in the Gospel coalition. This this mission, is not that we are that, that we were in danger of compromising. Theologically, we’ve never had that danger, but we are faced constantly, as is every other Christian organization with the opposition of the devil against our unity. And the only way we can, we can live out this mysterious power of the gospel is by praying for one another to know our hope, to know the riches we have in his love and to persevere in this divine power that is able to break down all strongholds.

Trillia Newbell
If you have a Bible, you can turn to Ephesians three. I’m going to read Ephesians three, verse 14 through 21 for this reason, I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in Your hearts through faith that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ, Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Paul E. Miller
Thank you. Trillia, John Piper just called this prayer probably the most amazing prayer in the Bible. And let me just unpack it briefly in three sections, and notice how Paul begins. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father so he’s praying to His Father in heaven, from whom every family in heaven on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, typical Pauline understatement, that he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being. So if you look at the skeleton of the prayer, it’s it’s praying to the Father for the gift of the Spirit. And then what does the spirit bring? So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and the I actually like to call this the the power train of the church. Church because, because now what Paul has done, he’s, he’s, he’s summarizing much of Ephesians chapter one here in this prayer. But it’s kind of like you’re, you know, the in, in the engine of a car, power moves from the gas pedal down into the engine, the transmission and out the axle. These are the pieces that make the Church of Jesus Christ work. And let me just give a quick example of that. This is just a broad one that that when you develop a praying community over time and you are really serious about developing a praying life. In your own life, things begin to happen that you just don’t anticipate. I mean, it’s just like, it’s like, my, my, my life is far too narrow for what the Holy Spirit wants to do and you will. You cannot. You can see this from the outside, out of life of a praying Christian, but, but if you’re inside that kind of life, you begin to experience what Paul does here, down here at at the bottom. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us, which is a reference to the spirit, and he and and this power train brings Jesus in to your life, into the life of the community, in fresh ways. I saw this the first time, 50 years ago. I saw it happen to my dad, and he begin to pray. He’s a Presbyterian pastor, and he did something that we tend not to do in our reformed tradition. He prayed for the spirit. And I’m not talking the gifts of the Spirit in terms of all that discussion. I’m just he prayed, and it’s just Jesus says that in Luke 11 to that the father’s best gift to us is a is the gift of the Spirit. Let me just give you one other quick example of this. This pattern of praying to the Father for the spirit to make Christ present, is all through, particularly Luke and Acts and in Paul’s writing. So here’s a Jesus baptism. Here, after He’s baptized, he’s praying to the Father. The Father gifts Jesus with the spirit and a voice comes from heaven. You are my son, whom I love, and Jesus is honored. It’s the same thing, prayer to the Father for the spirit. And some ways Jesus is made known. And out of that comes spiritual power. And then, so that’s the first section of the prayer. Let me change colors here. So then, then you kind of get to the heart at what Paul’s praying for. And this is sort of his Alleluia chorus that you may be rooted and grounded in love. And the love he, Paul is praying for, is not our love, but it’s our awareness of the immensity of God’s love for us. It’s which is another way of saying, Paul is praying for faith, and he’s praying for faith for the Ephesians, because life drains faith. It’s just love. The work of love leaves you exhausted. If you haven’t noticed, love has a pretty high failure rate, and when you experience that failure rate, you just constantly need Christ to fill you up so he it’s like he’s, he’s, he’s supercharging the Ephesians church. He’s filling them with Christ that they rooted in grounded love may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints, but the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now there’s one other little or two other little quick things. I’ll try to be quick. This is a prayer, and this comes from the finest reformed scholars. This is a prayer for what happened on Easter morning to happen in my life. It’s it’s a prayer for the Spirit the way the Spirit descended on the body of Christ and recreated Jesus’ body as a spiritual body. That’s a prayer for this entire community to participate in the ongoing death and resurrection of Jesus. And it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s really what happens. It’s something that you can touch. So let me just show you. So I kind of rewrote this with Ephesians one in mind. So Paul here. So the bold is what my is, my new living whatever, and the italics is ESV. So I pray to the Father for the spirit to continuously recreate resurrection in our lives, so that Jesus possesses us so we overflow with the love of Christ. That’s the church’s greatest need. That’s your greatest need today. That’s my greatest need. All through Piper’s sermon, I was praying that for my heart, I said just you can feel the hardness of your heart, sometimes you can feel the critical spirit. And you just need the Spirit to breathe over you his life that he brings. And one other little quick thought is that this is a prayer for the entire community, and we lose it with the you, the English, you. We think it’s singular, but it’s both. So here I added the for this reason, I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant all of you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being as a community, so that Christ may dwell in all your hearts through faith, that all of you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have the strength to comprehend, together with all the saints, with the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that all of you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Megan Hill
Thank you so much, brothers. I’m very proud of you. I told them each they could have five to seven minutes and look, they did it. When is it that you invite to two Presbyterians to exposit the word and you actually get, you know, yeah, that’s right, that’s right. So we’re gonna transition now to some application and some implications of these glorious texts. And you know, at the gospel coalition, we live really exist to serve the local church. I know each of you make much of the local church in your lives and serve the church. And these, you know, as Paul really helpfully pointed out, these are our prayers for the church. And so I’m curious to know in these particular texts, and then also just in Paul’s practice of prayer in general. What difference does it make that these prayers are in the context of the church?

Trillia Newbell
I don’t need my glasses for that. I don’t know why I was putting them on. I think for me, one of the things it’s just a reminder. And I think one of you said it is that prayer is about others and community. And Paul, I mean, he is praying for the church. He is praying for others to be strengthened. And so many of my prayers are about me, so many and so in the context of community, you remind ourselves, it’s how we obey God. It’s really to love our neighbor as ourselves. Really, practically speaking, it starts in the local church. And so prayer for me in the local church is it’s a it’s a part of growing in the community. And I also loved how you part pointed out, Paul, that the prayer in Ephesians three is really about all of us. And if it’s about the health, which is really ultimately what it’s about, it’s about health in Christ being strengthened. It’s if we’re all praying and together, then we are going to be strengthened together. It’s those one another’s that we’re going to be able to apply together. So I think it’s one beautiful but two essential.

Megan Hill
Either of you have anything to add

George Robertson
to, you know, the just one little thought related to that is the like, as John Piper pointed out, all of Ephesians, one is Paul praying, and like, I love that that John Piper prayed right, stopped in the middle and prayed, and I would just love it if even pastors and like this is like, it’s part of the warp and woof of what it is to be a body of Christ. And if we have the preaching of the word without a ministry of prayer, it just, it can be lifeless, and it just anyway.

Megan Hill
That’s George. I wonder if you could speak to that a little bit. How have you in your pastoral ministry? Kind of joined ministry? Word ministry and prayer ministry? Have you seen that work? Well,

George Robertson
well, we, we’re in Memphis, and spiritual battle, spiritual opposition, is palpable. And so the there is, there’s nothing like spiritual oppression to drive you to prayer. We. So our times as a congregation, anytime we’re gathered and pray, there is a there’s a certain sense of living the New Testament from the inside out that doesn’t it doesn’t make I don’t want that in any way to sound like we are super spiritual. If anything, it’s just the opposite. It’s the way we should always all be living and to realize that that the devil is not so interested in picking us off individually, which is where we spend most of our time, praying, praying for ourselves, individually. He’s really interested. He hates us when we are gathered together as a family. So when we’re gathered as family, that’s when we should be moved to pray for one another, and for this mission that we’re a part of, that we’re objectively demonstrating together in prayer.

Megan Hill
So somewhere, like chapter one, verse 17, Paul prays that God would grant them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. And some of these prayers, like that one and other phrases in chapter one and chapter three are very heady things to pray for God’s people. And go ahead, Paul, you wanna

George Robertson
Yeah, I was just gonna finish your question before I answer

Megan Hill
Jeopardy. You buzz in, yeah.

George Robertson
I hit the button first.

Megan Hill
And you know, so some of these things seem very heady. What does it look like to actually be praying these things, and why should we be praying those things for God’s people?

George Robertson
One of the things I do every morning is I pray for our leadership team and my board using Paul’s prayer from Colossians, one, 910, 11 there, and he prays for spiritual wisdom. And it’s, it’s a wisdom from the spirit. It’s not weird wisdom, it’s the spirit. And I’m praying for them every day that they will have because they’re there. They need to lead the mission. They’re they’re my co laborers in Christ. They need the Holy Spirit to help them today, and I have managed without that prayer, and it’s a lot more fun to manage with that prayer.

Trillia Newbell
Well, I was I was thinking, it’s heady, but it’s a little simple, also, because we all need wisdom to live, and so we have to ask God for wisdom, even to understand the scriptures. If we want revelation and understand the word for it to be illuminated so that we might comprehend what we’re reading, you have to pray. So I think that, and I want to be careful, because you have to pray, sounds like a law, right? A rule. But we want to we need to pray. We need to pray so that we can understand what he’s saying to us, so that we can know how to walk. And so a lot of this, I think you just said Ephesians, is like one long sentence. And so Ephesians that second, that the prayer that we’re talking about, it really is just a continuation of what we what you all heard John Piper preaching on and and so it’s, it’s the prayer for what you just learned. And so I think that for us, a lot of that is something that we should be doing naturally or or by the Spirit, is asking for wisdom and revelation and understanding and so that we can understand what we’re reading and know what to do. Yeah.

Megan Hill
And I think Paul, you hopefully pointed out, you know, kind of that all prayer is for the Spirit, you know, in a Luke 11 kind of way. And You nodded to that, and that, ultimately what we are asking for God’s people is for them to have more of the spirit. Why do you think that’s something we often fail to do? Why are we not very good at asking for the spirit?

Trillia Newbell
We’re self sufficient. I said we’re self sufficient. I just think we often rely on our own strength and our own wisdom and our own. And I’m saying that as someone who struggles right, as a fellow person who has to ask for help, and I forget, oh, I need the power of the Holy Spirit to do anything. And, and we often say that, apart from Jesus, we can’t do anything, but then we do the thing that apart from him. So. So I think that self sufficiency is just a struggle, that we have to ask God for help, to repent and to turn and I often say we need Jesus to obey Jesus. We can’t do it without him. And I think that’s just hard for us

George Robertson
to remember. And, you know, I think it’s harder to do that. It’s much, much harder. To do that in a community that as hard as it individually, because there’s all this American pressure to perform. The staff feel pressure to perform and to present. And so the idea of of waiting on God in prayer and waiting as an institution, you know where you’re doing from an American point of view, it feels like you’re doing nothing. But it’s those spaces that Jesus fills and and I our churches are just every church I work with, I slow down, pray more, get less done, you know what I mean? And get, get Ephesians in your heart, and then go explode.

Megan Hill
So let’s get really practical. We’ve talked a lot about sort of the theology and the content, the context of these prayers. But one thing that strikes me about these prayers is that Paul doesn’t just say, I’m praying for you, or I’ll be praying for you, but actually, in this, these texts in Ephesians, we have actually what he was praying. So I’m wondering if any of you would like to reflect on what difference it makes when you hear someone actually praying for you, as opposed to having them say, Oh, I’ll be praying for you. What difference does that make?

George Robertson
What makes a difference. It changes. I have a friend, a group of friends pray with every Tuesday, and we’re at different points along the theological spectrum, but we all are united in our our conviction that God is sovereign when we’re praying. And one of my fathers, in the faith on that prayer call, will say every time we finish, things are different because we’ve prayed, not because we’ve prayed, but because we’ve prayed, that God would change these issues that we’ve been praying about, and it’s just brought Home to me very recently when after Easter service, somebody who is not a member of our church but is on support staff. He had had an issue a few weeks ago, and he told me about it, and I just stopped and laid hands on him and prayed. He came up afterwards and he said, Do you know the Lord actually changed me in that prayer. And I said he did, but it was such a blessing to me, reinforcement to me, because I’ve said the same thing. I’ll pray for you, and I try to remember to pray. But why not slow down and imitate Jesus and stop and pray then and there? It makes a difference, not only because God hears and answers prayer, but it makes a difference in our interpersonal relationship because we’re embodied people, and we’re both sharing. We share the Holy Spirit, and the spirit communes with himself so and I think that’s one of the it’s another thing to say, why don’t we talk more about the spirit? Because in reformed communities, we’re sometimes afraid of the Spirit. That’s not our heritage. John Calvin is called the theologian of the spirit, but we’ve we’ve played into this platonic lie too often, that there is a sacred and there’s a secular and there’s a public nature of my faith and a private one. And we need to live more in the reality of we’re constantly in the presence of God and doing spiritual battle and advancing his kingdom, moment by moment by moment.

Megan Hill
Julia, can you think of an experience that you’ve had with somebody praying for you?

Trillia Newbell
Yeah, I I have suffered so, suffered miscarriages, suffered death of my sister, and during those times when people would come to my home to pray, were times when I didn’t have faith, I didn’t have strength, I didn’t have words, but the Lord knew exactly what I needed to hear. And so the prayers of people often uphold us. And so those are really specific times when I have just been absolutely blessed. But there are other times where I’ve gone down and spoken to the pastor and they’ve prayed and the the Lord just knows that we need people we get to cast our burdens onto him, but there are others who also get to carry and and. Help Us. And so that, to me, has been an absolute blessing, is to have people pray for me. So when you ask that question, I just thought, oh, it’s because it helps provide faith when you don’t. Especially it really is such a it’s it’s strengthening, and it hold up. Holds us and so. So I have had so many times I could go over and over and over again of people who have prayed for me. I did want to say that one of the things that I do as a practice myself is I if, even if I’m if I don’t pray with them, I will pray immediately. So I think one of the things I don’t want to do is to walk away and say, I will, and then I don’t, you know, and so that’s just one little thing that you can take away. And I’m sure I learned it from someone else, is to stop immediately and pray for them, even if you’re not praying with them. Because sometimes people are like, No, that’s okay, and that’s fine. But anyway, so just a tip,

George Robertson
can I hit you on to that just that point by trillia, so powerful I can battle depression and anxiety. And there have been, there been more than one moment in my life when I couldn’t pray and I’m and even as a pastor, sometimes in worship and to be carried on the prayers of your people is a really unique thing. I actually learned that from the grandmother of one of our council members who I pastored at one time, and she told me she was battling severe depression. She had never had such a thing in her life. She said, I can’t pray for myself. And it was a it’s an image of the four friends carrying their friend to Jesus. So I would encourage us in worship. At times, we don’t wait to go to corporate worship. We feel like it. We go to corporate worship at times, dragging ourselves there and then to be carried on the prayers and praises of God’s people.

Megan Hill
I do want to leave us a few minutes to actually pray at the end. But before we do that, I would like to close by asking each of you a really practical question, which is, what is one way that you would like to pray more like Paul, I think sometimes one thing that strikes me about prayer is that nobody ever thinks they’re good at good at it, right? And I’m up here on the stage with people that I feel like, oh, they must be really, really good at prayer, because these are giants in the faith. And yet, as we have our meetings to prepare, you know, for our panel, I’m realizing, no, actually, everyone up here doesn’t feel very good at prayer either. And we all is a discipline that we all are growing in all the time. And so even just reflecting on the prayers of Paul that we’ve just studied here for each of you, What’s one way that you would like to pray more like Paul, that you would like to grow

George Robertson
just to have more faith when I pray? That’s probably the biggest thing,

George Robertson
I think, and I’ve been pondering this a lot lately. I went to the doctor recently at I was afraid. I was afraid I had cancer. It turned out to be a bug bite. And yeah, and I, but I was sitting there in waiting for the doctor to come in, and I had just been studying the prayers of Paul, and I thought at first I should be praying to be healed, but I couldn’t bring myself to pray that I I just I felt this great peace that history was in a sovereign Christ’s hands, and how could I guess what would be the perfect outcome? And I find that kind of peace in Paul, where there’s a lot more praise and and affirmation of God’s sovereignty over history. And I’d love to pray more like that.

Trillia Newbell
When I look at these, especially these texts, it’s so theologically rich, and so if, if I could grow like Paul, it would be to pray prayers that matter for eternity. I mean, these it’s so rich, and it’s about our growth in Christ, our knowledge of Christ. And often my petitions are about something not like that. And. I would love to grow in having deeply theological prayers. I think that would be wonderful.

Megan Hill
So I would like for us to take just a few minutes now before we close and to actually spend some time in prayer. And Paul is going to give us some instructions. And Paul, we’ve got people in this room. We have people on the live stream. So we’ve got people in lots of places who are going to spend a few minutes in prayer. So could you give us a few

George Robertson
instructions? I draw a blank on what I was supposed to do. Megan, do you mind giving the instructions?

Megan Hill
Yes, I think that you said we are going to have people turn to somebody near you. That’s right. I love you. Open one of these texts and pick some aspect of that text and pray it. What a great that’s what Paul wants you to do. So, yes, turn to somebody near you for a few just we just have two or three minutes, and then I will close us out. Pick one of these texts and pray together some of these phrases and themes from these texts together right now, Father in heaven, we do bow our knees before you, knowing that every family in heaven and earth is named in you, and we do pray that, according to the riches of your glory, that you would strengthen us Both in this conference and as we go home to our local churches through your spirit in our inner being, and that Christ would dwell in our hearts through faith, that we would be rooted and grounded in the love that He has for us, and that we would then have strength to comprehend all the things of Christ and to know His love that surpasses knowledge, that we would be filled with the fullness of God. We thank you for this time that we have had to study your word together. And we pray that you would continue to work it deep in our hearts by the power of your spirit as we go out from this place, and we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen, I have been asked to tell you that when you leave here to please take all of your belongings, because the housekeeping will be coming in after this session and clearing everything out. So take the things with you that you want to have you.