This week, Pastor Chris continued teaching us about prayer with a message about prayer being the God-given means by which His limitless power strengthens our inner lives, drawing us into the fullness of Christ’s love and presence. Rooted in Ephesians 3, this sermon calls us to a deeper prayer life—one that boldly calls on God, prays according to His will with confidence, and cultivates a faithful secret place with Him. As we do, the Spirit strengthens us from within, enlarges our understanding of Christ’s love, and works far more abundantly than all we could ask or imagine.

“Prayer is the slender nerve that moveth the muscle of Omnipotence.” Spurgeon

Ephesians 3:16–19 (ESV)

16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

We are strengthened in prayer, when we:

Call to Him.

Jeremiah 33:3 (ESV)

3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

Psalm 145:18 (ESV)

18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

Deuteronomy 4:7 (ESV)

7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?

Psalm 91:15 (ESV)

15 When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.

Matthew 7:7–11 (ESV)

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Romans 10:12 (ESV)

…bestowing his riches on all who call on him.

We are strengthened in prayer, when we:

Pray Rightly and With Confidence.

James 4:1–3 (ESV)

1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

“It is well said that neglected prayer is the birth-place of all evil.” Spurgeon

“In many ways it is the life of prayer that discovers a space in which all can live.” Dallas Willard

1 John 5:14–15 (ESV)

14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

  • “Confidence” ~ “free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, boldness, assurance.” Opposite of being ashamed and self-condemning.

Hebrews 10:19 (ESV)

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,

1 John 5:15 (ESV)

15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

Praying according to God’s will includes the need to pray:

We are strengthened in prayer, when we:

Establish Our Secret Place Prayer Life.

Matthew 6:6 (ESV)

6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Mark 1:35 (ESV)

35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

Luke 5:15–16 (ESV)

15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

“The Holy Spirit will give to the praying saint the brightness of an immortal hope, the music of a deathless song, in His baptism and communion with the heart, He will give sweeter and more enlarged visions of heaven until the taste for other things will pail, and other visions will grow dim and distant. He will put notes of other worlds in human hearts until all earth’s music is discord and songless.” E.M. Bounds

Why Develop a Secret Place Prayer Life?

  1. You find God in the secret place. He is waiting there for you.
  2. You find satisfaction or experience what you were created for.
  3. God reveals His love for you (Psalm 63:3).
  4. The things He cares about and the way He does things begin to rub off on us.

“If you want that splendid power in prayer, you must remain in loving, abiding union with the Lord Jesus Christ.” Spurgeon

Ephesians 3:20–21 (ESV)

20 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, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Read Ephesians 3:16–19 together. What does it mean to be “strengthened with power in your inner being”? How is that different from external strength?
  2. How would you describe confidence in prayer (1 John 5:14–15)? What does it look like practically in your prayer life?
  3. What challenges do you face in developing or maintaining a consistent “secret place” prayer life?
  4. Ephesians 3:20–21 reminds us that God works beyond what we ask or imagine. How does this shape the way we approach prayer going forward?

Application Question:

  1. What is one practical step you can take this week to deepen your prayer life—personally or with others?