A 2022 Prayer Focus?

Preparing for worship this week brought me to Ephesians 3, specifically verses 16-19. As I’m wont to do, I read the scripture in a variety of translations (the beauty of tools like BibleGateway.com), ultimately landing on the Amplified Version (AMP). As you might recall, the editors of the AMP expanded the English to better align with the richness of the original Greek, helping us experience the writer’s intent – the Apostle Paul, in this case.

As I read Ephesians 3:16-19 in the AMP, I experienced a flood of memories. It was the purchase and use of a pre-owned Amplified New Testament 40-years ago that ultimately lead to my personal purpose/mission/vision statement: To know Him and make Him known; to be Good News to those around me. Reading Paul’s prison letters (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians & Philemon) in the AMP were core to personal transformation. As I read Ephesians 3:16-19 in the AMP on Sunday (1/2/2022), it occurred to me that this would be an excellent personal prayer focus throughout the coming year.

So… I’ve posted it below for your pondering. Though Paul was writing a letter to a group of believers, it seems like it might be a worthy personal focus as well. What could be better than being “filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself]?” Have a blessed 2022!

¹⁶ May He grant you out of the riches of His glory, to be strengthened and spiritually energized with power through His Spirit in your inner self, [indwelling your innermost being and personality], ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through your faith.

And may you, having been [deeply] rooted and [securely] grounded in love, ¹⁸ be fully capable of comprehending with all the saints (God’s people) the width and length and height and depth of His love [fully experiencing that amazing, endless love];

¹⁹ and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself]. Ephesians 3:16-19 (AMP)