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Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6:19-20)

Paul has prayed for the Ephesians and invited them to be praying for all the saints. \xa0Now he also invites them to pray for him. \xa0For the first time since verse one of this letter, Paul places himself into the letter personally.

Throughout this letter, Paul has been \u201cmaking known the mystery of the gospel for which he is an ambassador.\u201d \xa0Now he asks for help to keep doing it. \xa0Paul needs God\u2019s help and theirs if he is to remain free of fear. \xa0He mentions fear twice. \xa0He also needs God\u2019s help and theirs to be armed with the sword of the Spirit himself. \xa0That is: to be able to receive and declare God\u2019s words, words that can make known the mystery of the gospel.

At the beginning of the letter, in Paul\u2019s opening run-on sentence filled with the lavish gifts of God for his people, he said it was God who \u201cmade known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure\u201d (Eph. 1:9). \xa0Paul now ends how he began. \xa0Recognizing that the \u201cmaking known\u201d of the gospel is a work that God has done and continues to do, Paul asks the Ephesians keep asking God to do it again, and for God to use Paul himself in that work of \u201cmaking known the mystery of the gospel.\u201d

Here we find that beautiful, interdependent circle of faith redrawn for us. \xa0We work out what God works into us. \xa0Not even the great apostle Paul was able to go forward in his own strength. \xa0It was only through the reception of God\u2019s gifts, God\u2019s peace, and God\u2019s words that Paul could declare these mysteries of the gospel fearlessly as he should. \xa0

Importantly though, Paul\u2019s declaring of the gospel also depended on the prayers of the church. \xa0Only \u201ctogether with all the saints\u201d can the width and length and height and depth of the love of Christ be grasped and known. \xa0No one can step forward in faith without the prayers of the saints and the gifts of God. \xa0Jesus has reconciled us together into his church for a reason. \xa0Faith is a team sport, as is mission.

Asking for prayer is hard though. \xa0We don\u2019t want to bother or burden others, draw attention to ourselves, or seem needy. \xa0We\u2019d like to believe we can do it all well enough on our own. \xa0Self-sufficiency is our ideal\u2014all the structures, incentives, and expectations are pointed in this direction in our culture. \xa0Asking for prayer does not come naturally. \xa0

Paul\u2019s example should give us pause, however. \xa0In order to do any of the things that he has\u2014throughout this letter\u2014been doing, he depends on God and on the prayers of others. \xa0Paul\u2019s starting place is his own inability, fear, and need. \xa0He openly admits these things as well as his need for help\u2014he is in chains, after all. \xa0So in humility and vulnerability, he admits to all who can hear: \u201cI can\u2019t do this. \xa0Pray for me.\u201d \xa0In so doing, Paul not only gets the strength he needs, but he also helps the body to be built up in maturity in faith and relationship as each saint puts their own prayers to the plough for his sake.

Our mutual need, God\u2019s ever-present gifts, and our mutual ability enabled by those gifts are what keep the body supple, moving, and growing up in love and maturity into the head, which is Christ.

My needs give an occasion for your prayers, and your needs for mine. \xa0These are the things that keep us active in our relationship with one another and with God. \xa0So, at the start of this new week: what do you need prayer for? \xa0Who can you ask to pray those prayers? \xa0Go do it, because in this way, you offer the gift of your need to someone else so that we all grow up into Christ.

For, 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, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:17-21).

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