Bible Passages. lesson Objective. lesson Overview. lesson 2: Paul s Prayer Ephesians 1: Teaching Group 1: Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)

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1 lesson 2: Paul s Prayer Ephesians 1: lesson Objective In this lesson we will explore Paul s prayer for the church in Ephesus. How Paul prays for the church to know God better and to see their hope and worth in God. It s through Paul s prayer that we can understand and learn to trust the incredible greatness of God s power at work in our lives today. When we rely on that power we can start to see others spiritual needs and lift those up in prayer, just like the apostle Paul. lesson Overview In the second part of Chapter one we see the apostle Paul s prayer for the church. Paul s prayer is that God would give us spiritual wisdom and insight to grow us along in our faith. Paul s prayer continues from thanksgiving to the eternal hope that our faith would give birth to the confident hope in knowing that we are God s people and His promised glorious inheritance. Paul also prays that we all would understand God s power that was at work raising Jesus from the dead and wants to be just as powerful in our everyday life. It is through the Holy Spirit that we all belong to God and God has put everything under the authority of Jesus Christ. Bible Passages The following passages will be covered in this lesson. Read through them, and use the margin to take notes. Teaching Group 1: Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT) 6 Don t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

2 Teaching Group 2: James 5:16 (NLT) 16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Teaching Group 3: 1 John 5:14-15 (NLT) 14 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for. Small Group Passage: Ephesians 1: (NLT) 15 Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God s people everywhere, 16 I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, 17 asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. 18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. 19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God s right hand in the heavenly realms. 21 Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else not only in this world but also in the world to come. 22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. 23 And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

3 Pause and Reflect Teaching from the Heart After reading these passages, I feel God is teaching me, challenging me, convicting me... Teaching Group 1: Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT) Teaching Group 2: James 5:16 (NLT) Teaching Group 3: 1 John 5:14-15 (NLT) Small Group Passage: Ephesians 1: (NLT) Is your heart ready to teach this lesson? If no, what will it take to get your heart right to teach? Now that you re done, look through your above thoughts and make which ones you feel may be appropriate (should the opportunity arise) to teach, communicate or share with your small group.

4 Teaching Guide Starting Out Begin the lesson by helping your students generate some thoughts about the theme of the lesson. Use the following fill-ins to assist you. Feel free to allow some discussion. Sight is super important, its one of the five senses and often the sense we use the most or at least first. Without sight we trip and fall, without sight we don t have direction and need to rely on others. Paul s prayer for the church in Ephesus is that they would see, see spiritual things as well as physical things. Tonight we are going to look at how to pray for others and truly see the spiritual things that Paul prayed for. Teaching Groups Study This is the time for you to break your large group into THREE different groups. Make the groups random and see to it that these groups change each week. Give the following instructions to your ABS: As you break into groups, don t send any adults with the groups LET YOUR STUDENTS DEAL WITH THE PASSAGE ON THEIR OWN. After a couple of minutes, the teacher should walk around to check on and help each group. Teaching Groups Teach Have each group give their presentation and summary; don t let the other students in the group be disruptive. Since you may experience a degree of CHAOS once the TEACHING GROUPS are done sharing. I suggest you take a few moments to wrap up each passage (you can either do this after each group is done, or after all of them have finished). This will allow you to highlight the important points from each passage and relate them to the theme of the night s lesson. watch the video: then go to small groups

5 Small Group Time Use your small group time to a) discuss the Bible passage and answer any questions, b) make personal applications, and c) share prayer requests and pray. Bible Study and Discussion Read Ephesians 1: Content questions 1. After Reading this passage, does anyone have any questions? What doesn t make sense? What seems strange or weird? 2. What two things has Paul heard of, about the Ephesians, and caused him to not stop thanking God? 3. According to verse 17, what does Paul ask God to give to the Ephesians? 4. Starting in verse 18 what does Paul pray for? 5. How would you describe confident hope? 6. What does verse 18 say that we, as Christ followers are? 7. In verses 19-20, we find the next main point of Paul s prayer. What is it? 8. How does Paul describe God s power? 9. According to verse 23, what is the church?. application questions 1. What four things did Paul pray for the Ephesians to see? 2. Of those four confident hope, their worth as God s inheritance, the greatness of God s power and Christ s rule as head of the church which one do you find the hardest for you to see in your life right now? 3. We see here Paul s prayer for a church, it s a prayer for others and their spiritual needs. How often do you pray for others? 4. When you do pray for others, what gets more of your prayer time, physical needs or spiritual needs? 5. Who are a few people you could pray for tonight? And why? 6. What needs do they have, physical and spiritual? 7. What is one thing in your own life you can pray for that isn t a physical need?