Great Prayers of the Bible: Paul's Prayer for Power to Comprehend
2 July 2025 · 1 min read · Prayer
Twice in Ephesians, Paul pauses mid-letter and drops to prayer. The second — for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father — is perhaps the richest intercession in the New Testament, and it asks for none of the things we usually pray for.
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
What Paul asks for
Not health, safety, or circumstances — but strength in the inner man, Christ dwelling in the heart by faith, rooting in love, and power to comprehend the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of a love that passeth knowledge. Paul prays for capacity: souls enlarged enough to take the measure of being loved.
To know what passes knowledge — the paradox is deliberate. This love is explored, never exhausted; comprehended with all saints, never completed. The prayer asks God to keep expanding the container.
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
The doxology of more
The prayer ends with the great overflow clause: now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. Whatever you asked while reading this — he is able beyond it.
Borrow this prayer whole for the people you love: strengthen them within, settle Christ deeply in them, and let them grasp how loved they are. It out-asks every request for mere circumstances — and it comes with the doxology attached.
