Ephesians #13 Power of Prayer
December 3, 2023Pastor Patrick presented this morning's message, "Power of Prayer." It was the 13th (and last) message in a series studying the book of Ephesians. A video of the message is here.
The Greek word for "to pray" (proseuchomai) is interesting in that it clearly inplies interacting with God (as opposed to praying as in wishing). The intent is to shift human wishes to His wishes. The word is also closely related to faith (pistis). Strong's Concordance.
This is on the Words page... Prayer (tefilah, תְּפִלָּה) and to pray (hitpael, לְהִתְפַּלֵּל) are very interesting words in Biblical Hebrew. The verb form is reflexive, that is the action goes back onto the subject. For example, "I cleanse" as reflexive means "I cleanse myself". So, praying comes back to the person praying. The other wrinkle is that there are two forms of reflexive verbs, direct and indirect. Direct is when the subject acts on himself. Indirect is when someone else acts on the subject. So depending on which form of reflexive you think this is, you are asking yourself to have an effect back on you, or, you are asking an effect on you from someone/something else. The key to understanding prayer is that it is for you, the one praying. God does not need our prayers. It's additionally interesting to note that "to pray" in Biblical Hebrew can also mean to think or assess, to intervene, or to judge.
As you might imagine, there are all kinds of prayers in the Old Testament. A good list is here. The mention of prayer, or in this case "calling upon the Lord," starts very early in the Torah: Genesis 4:26.
Bonus
First Sunday of Advent - Hope
There are a number of words in the Hebrew Bible that are translated as hope. Let's look at some of these words and where/how they're used...
Before we jump into those, however, let's also point out the notion of hope does not have to include the word hope. Take for instance, in Deuteronomy 31:6, "Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you." Sounds like "have hope" to me.
First up is tiqvah (תִּקְוָה). Its root is qavah which literally means a cord (as in string), but figuratively can refer to expectancy or hope. This word is used 34 times, most in Job, Psalms, and Proverbs.
Next up is a noun, tocheleth (תּוֹחֶלֶת). It is not used often in the OT, but is translated simply as "a hope" or "an expectation."
Third is yachal (יָחַל). It comes from a primitive root that means to wait, to be patient, to hope, and to trust. This word also has a less common notion of be pained or waste time. It's the word used in the Noah story in Genesis 8:12, "He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him." There are about 40 uses of this word, mostly in the Psalms.
Lastly (for now), sabar (שָׂבַר). In addition to being translated as inspect or examine, it is often translated as hope, as in Psalm 119:166, "I hope for Your salvation, O LORD."
When you see an English translation of the OT that uses the word hope, know that it could have said wait upon, trust in, be patient with, etc. And vice versa.
One last text: Isaiah 40:31, "but they who wait [hope] for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."
There was plenty of hope in the Old Testament, including hope for a Messiah.
Bonus2
Christmas Movies
Lynn and I have always been crazy (in a good way) about Christmas movies. The other day, I made the glorious mistake of wondering just how many Christmas movies there were. The first search return was to a list on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). The list is here. And it contains 1,116 entries! And that's not all; they don't include Die Hard (and all others of its ilk, I assume)! By the way, I have an IMDb entry for being in "Voices Beyond the Veil: The Story of God, Humanly Speaking (2020). I played Joel (as in "Book of") and Bildad (one of Job's buddies).
I compiled a list of Christmas movies for our family back in 2016: here.
So why am I bringing this up? Well, the list of our favorites is growing. And just recently we've spotted some more uniquely interesing ones. Take the three we watched just last week... (I know...)
This Is Christmas
Here's the IMDb entry. There are a number of unique aspects to this movie. One, maybe just for me, is the amount of railroad scenes. Two, the story is about the interactions of a group of passengers on a commuter train in England that see each other every day and, up till now, haven't really even spoken with each other let alone get to know each other. Three, this "social experiment" unfolds before your very eyes. And four, it's a fairly compelling rom-com that's more serious than most. Often the Spirit of Christmas needs both a key flame starter and a little effort from all the rest of us.
A Christmas Dance Reunion
Here's the IMDb entry. If you're into dancing and Christmas movies, you've got to see this one. I would categorize the dancing as Broadway dancing, especially since the lead male is a Broadway dancer in the story.
Christmas in Paris
Here's the IMDb entry. This one is a little more the typical Christmas movie rom-com, but I really enjoyed the background of Paris and the amount of French spoken along the way. The lead guy character is Parisian and the lead gal character is from Montana. Yes, a 1-horse open sleigh is included (briefly).