The Most Powerful Prayer You Could Pray (Ephesians 3:14-21)
What if your prayers could be powerful, not pointless? Ephesians 3:14-21 on praying with humble confidence, the Spirit's strength, God's love, and praise.
Have you ever felt like praying is pointless — like you are talking to a wall instead of a person? Pastor Josh Smith admitted there have been times in his own life when it felt that way. The purpose of your life, he said, is to have a personal relationship with God, and the way you are meant to live out that relationship every day is through prayer. We know we should pray. Sometimes we want to pray. But at times it is hard to pray. What if your prayers did not have to feel pointless? What if they could actually be powerful?
This week Pastor Josh was reminded of a professor from his Bible college days, Dr. Mobley, who had been at the college for over 40 years. He gave good lectures, but what Pastor Josh enjoyed most was the way he prayed at the beginning of every class. It was not a performance for the class, and there was no pretense. It felt like listening to someone having a conversation with a person who was in the room with him: a personal prayer, directly to God. Pastor Josh wants you to know you can experience that in your life too. God can bring power to your prayer life.
As we continue our Grace for You series, our verse-by-verse walk through Ephesians, we come to Paul's prayer in the second half of Ephesians 3. What makes it powerful is not just the words Paul uses — and there is a lot of talk about power — but the circumstances. Paul writes this from prison. And instead of asking the church to pray for him, which he could have done, he is on his knees praying for them. Pastor Josh shared four ways you can pray this powerful prayer in your own life.
1. Pray with humility and confidence
Paul begins:
"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name" (Ephesians 3:14-15).
Just a few verses earlier he reminded us that in Christ "we may approach God with freedom and confidence" (Ephesians 3:12). Those two postures belong together.
If you have placed your faith in Jesus, you are not merely forgiven — you are adopted. You are a child of God who can come to the King of Kings boldly, without shame. Yet Paul also kneels. He comes humbly, surrendering his will. Christianity is unique in letting us hold both at once: we come as beloved children, and we come on our knees. Jesus modeled this on the eve of His death on the cross, praying in the Garden of Gethsemane: "Not my will, but yours be done."
Pastor Josh's oldest daughter asks him for ice cream pretty regularly. As his child, she can come to him confidently and ask. But as her father, he reserves the right to say yes, to say wait until after dinner, or to say no. A mature follower of Christ trusts the Father not only when He says yes, but also when He says wait and when He says no — believing His plan is better than ours.
So come to God confidently with what you want and what you need, and come humbly: "God, here's what I want, God, here's what I need, but Your will be done in my life." We love it when the Lord says yes. But what happens when He puts you in the waiting room? What happens when He tells you no about the job, or about the person you wanted to marry? That is when you pray, "Lord, not my will be done, Your will be done. I'm going to trust You. I don't understand it all."
2. Pray to be strengthened by the Spirit
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (Ephesians 3:16-17a).
These were already believers. So why pray for Christ to dwell in them? Because there is always more — a deeper, richer experience of the Christ who already lives in us. The same Spirit who helped you take your first step of faith is the Spirit who strengthens every step after. You never outgrow your need for Him. One of the most powerful prayers you can pray is simply: "Holy Spirit, strengthen my spirit."
Three truths about being strengthened by the Spirit:
You walk closer to Christ. He is not just near you; if you believe, He is with you and within you, and He will never leave you or forsake you. You become aware of His persistent presence.
The Spirit empowers godly character. Godliness is not the fruit of trying harder; it is "the fruit of the Spirit" — "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23). Own your sin, repent of it, and be honest about it, but never make it your main focus. For every look at your sin, take seven looks at your Savior.
The Spirit empowers bold witness. "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly" (Acts 4:31). The Spirit strengthens you not only for your sake but for the sake of others. That is what happened in the early church: they went out and boldly shared the gospel with the people around them.
3. Pray for the power to know God's love
"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 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, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:17b-19).
It takes God's power just to grasp God's love. Pastor Josh said this is not an exaggeration: "I think that this is the most powerful prayer that you could ever pray for yourself or somebody else" — to say, "God, help me to grasp Your love at a deeper level." This part of the prayer shows three life-changing truths about God's love:
The size of God's love. Paul prays that we would grasp how wide and long and high and deep it is. Your sin may be the size of the Grand Canyon, but His love is greater and larger than the entire universe. He loves you not because of your performance, but because of who He is.
God's love is knowable and unknowable. You can know this love personally, not just know about it, because God demonstrated it on the cross: "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). And if you have never known God's love personally, Pastor Josh said, today you can know it. You might not even feel it right now, but if you place your faith in Him, you will receive His love, and it will change your life. And yet this is a love "that surpasses knowledge." You can grow in it every single day of your life and still never exhaust it.
The result of knowing God's love. You experience the fullness of God, and you learn to love Him and others back. "We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). You are not the source of love — you are the stream. When your love for God or others runs cold, do not just try harder; go back to the source.
4. Praise the God who is more than able
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen" (Ephesians 3:20-21).
The prayer ends in praise. Once you are strengthened by His Spirit and once you experience His love, praise is the natural overflow. Our God is not weak. He can do more in a moment than you could do in a decade. Whatever stands before you — your marriage, an addiction, crippling anxiety and worry — no problem is more powerful than Almighty God. He can meet you and change you, and if He wants to, He can even change the situation. And if He is all-powerful, doesn't He deserve our praise? We stand up and clap when someone makes a great play at a game or hits the note at a concert. If we can praise sinful, broken people, can't we praise Almighty God, who is perfect and powerful and more than able? And here is the heart of it: the powerful God specializes in saving powerless people. "At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6). On the cross He restrained His power to rescue us. What held Him there was not merely the nails; it was His love.
A takeaway to carry with you
Maybe your prayers have felt pointless lately. Start here this week: come to God humbly and confidently, and ask the Spirit to strengthen you. Then pray for yourself, "God, help me to grasp Your love at a deeper level," and for the people you love, "Lord, help them to know how much You love them." And end the way Paul ended, in praise to the God who is more than able.
Reflection: Where do you need God to meet you with His power — and are you praying with both confidence and surrender?
If you are anywhere in Livermore or the wider Tri-Valley and looking for a church family to grow with, we would love to meet you at Arroyo Church. Come as you are.
What Is God’s Will for My Life? A Study of Ephesians 1
Many of us get stuck on the same question: What is God's will for my life? We wonder who to marry, where to move, which job to take, whether to say yes or no. We treat God's will like a sealed, private document we are not allowed to read. But what if God's general will for your life is not hidden at all? What if it is clear, written down, and available to anyone willing to open the pages of Scripture?
In this message from our Grace for You series through Ephesians, we looked at Ephesians 1:8–14 and discovered four steps for walking in God's will. This is not about predicting your specific future — it is about the general will of God that is true for every believer, everywhere. And the reason it matters is simple: deep down, all of us want to be happy, fulfilled, and at peace. That kind of life is only found when we stop chasing our own will and start walking in His.
1. Walk in Unity
Paul writes that God made known to us the mystery of His will, which He purposed in Christ — "to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment, to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ" (Ephesians 1:9–10). Part of walking in God's will is walking in unity with others.
But unity is not the same as uniformity. We often break relationships because we demand that people look, think, and act exactly like us before we will be close to them. That is a recipe for more division, not less. True unity comes not from looking the same on the surface but from sharing the same foundation: Jesus Christ. Two houses can have different doors and windows and still rest on the same foundation.
Jesus prayed for this the night before He was crucified:
"I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me — so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." (John 17:22–23)
When Christians genuinely love one another across their differences, the watching world takes notice. It may be the most powerful evidence that our faith is real.
2. Walk for His Glory
Paul continues: "In him we were also chosen... in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:11–12). We were created to display God's greatness, not our own.
Some hear that and bristle — isn't it egotistical for God to want glory? But God is the ultimate embodiment of goodness and greatness. When we live to display Him, it is actually for our greatest good and the good of the world. The difference is whether you want the spotlight on you, or you want to get behind the spotlight and shine it on Him. Even a pastor can preach for his own applause. The point of life is not to get people to see how good you are — it is to help them see how good God is.
3. Walk by the Spirit
"When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit" (Ephesians 1:13). Notice: the Spirit was promised long ago. Six hundred years before Ephesians, Ezekiel wrote:
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees." (Ezekiel 36:26–27)
When you trust Christ, He gives you a new nature — a heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone. This does not make you instantly perfect. If you find yourself struggling against sin, take heart: that struggle is a sign of new life, because a slave to sin does not fight it. The Spirit also assures us of who we are: "The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father'" (Romans 8:15). And practically, walking by the Spirit means letting Him govern your mind. "The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace" (Romans 8:6). You do not have to believe every thought or follow every feeling. As Martin Luther is often quoted, you cannot stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop it from building a nest there.
4. Walk with Confidence
The Holy Spirit "is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession — to the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:14). Your future with God is not a maybe; it is a guarantee. The Spirit within you is a down payment — a foretaste of heaven now, and a promise of the full inheritance to come.
Because God keeps His promises, you can walk confidently rather than fearfully. As Paul wrote, "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6). God does not abandon unfinished work.
A Takeaway to Reflect On
The greatest barrier to walking in God's will is our stubborn preference for our own will. The Titanic was warned about the icebergs; the crew simply chose their own way. Choosing our will over God's always leads somewhere we did not intend. But God, in mercy, sent Jesus — the only one who walked perfectly in the Father's will — and "by his wounds we are healed" (see Isaiah 53:5). Through Him we can be forgiven and put back on the path we were made to walk.
So ask yourself honestly: Am I walking in the will of God? And if not fully, what would it look like to give my life more completely over to Him today?
If these questions are stirring something in you, we would love to walk alongside you. If you live in Livermore or anywhere across the Tri-Valley, come join us on a Sunday — there is a place for you here at Arroyo Church.
Getting to Your Next Chapter: Lessons from Samuel and David
Imagine reading a great book and getting stuck on chapter four. The first time through, it's gripping. The second time, you catch a detail you missed. By the fifth time, you're frustrated—no new surprises, no progress, just the same page over and over. That's how a lot of us feel about our lives. We sense there's a next chapter, but we can't seem to turn the page.
As we close out our Walk Faithfully series through the life of Samuel, we land in 1 Samuel 16, where Samuel himself is being asked to turn the page—both in his own life and in the life of Israel. If you've ever felt stuck in your story, this passage offers three honest, hopeful ways forward.
1. Turn the page on mourning
The chapter opens with God's pointed question:
"The LORD said to Samuel, ‘How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.'" (1 Samuel 16:1)
Samuel had invested deeply in Saul—like a spiritual son. When Saul failed and was rejected as king, Samuel grieved. And grief is not the problem. Mourning is a natural, healthy response to loss; it's actually a sign that we loved something. But God's question reveals that mourning, while necessary, is meant to have an ending. Here are three ways to move through it well:
Let mourning be seasonal. Ecclesiastes reminds us there is "a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance" (Ecclesiastes 3:4). No season lasts forever. Avoid both extremes—rushing through grief so you never truly heal, and sitting in it so long that you never move on.
Don't let mourning isolate you. Paul writes, "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn" (Romans 12:15). Some burdens are too heavy to carry alone. This is one reason God created the church—not just an event to attend, but a community to belong to.
After mourning, get moving. God told Samuel to fill his horn and go. Romans 8:28 promises that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." God doesn't waste your past; He can use even painful chapters to prepare the next one.
A gentle caveat: if you're in the middle of fresh grief, this is not a command to rush. Let the Spirit show you where you are and what step comes next.
2. Turn the page on being superficial
When Samuel arrives at Jesse's house, he sees the impressive oldest son and assumes he's the one. God corrects him:
"Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)
Saul had looked the part—tall and handsome. Samuel was still measuring by the old standard. But God cares far more about the heart, the seat of our thoughts, desires, and emotions, than about how we appear. Jesus reserved His sharpest words for the Pharisees, calling them hypocrites and "whitewashed tombs"—clean on the outside, dead within. The honest question isn't "How do you look?" but "How is your heart?"
And here's the good news: you cannot change your own heart by willpower or technique. You need a new nature. God promises, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26). That transformation comes through faith in Jesus—and it's ongoing. Even David, "a man after God's own heart," prayed after his failure, "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10). We call on Christ to renew our hearts not once, but daily.
3. Turn the page toward His powerful presence
Finally, Samuel anoints the overlooked shepherd boy:
"So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David." (1 Samuel 16:13)
In the Old Testament, the Spirit came upon people. In the New Testament, believers in Jesus receive something greater—the Spirit dwelling within us. That presence empowers us in at least three ways:
To overcome sin. "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). Fighting sin in your own strength is like bringing a butter knife to a gunfight. Walking by the Spirit means staying in step with Him—moment by moment doing the next right thing He shows you.
To share the gospel. "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8). A witness simply says, "Here's what Jesus did in my life—and He can do it in yours." Often what holds us back isn't a lack of knowledge but a lack of love that overcomes fear.
To be secure in your salvation. God "anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come" (2 Corinthians 1:21–22). The Spirit within you is God's guarantee—heaven is not a maybe; it's a promise.
Your story isn't over
If the current chapter feels like a dead end, remember it isn't the end. The author of life was crucified and rose again three days later so that a new chapter could be written in your story. The question isn't whether you can get to the next chapter—it's whether you'll trust Christ to take you there.
A reflection question
What page have you been re-reading for too long—a season of mourning, a habit of pretending, or a sense of powerlessness? Ask the Spirit to show you the next faithful step, then take it.
If you're anywhere in the Tri-Valley and you're looking for a community where people genuinely know Jesus and want to grow, we'd love to meet you at Arroyo Church here in Livermore. Come as you are—there's a next chapter waiting.