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.  Now he also invites them to pray for him.  For the first time since verse one of this letter, Paul places himself into the letter personally. Throughout this letter, Paul has been "making known the mystery of the gospel for which he is an ambassador."  Now he asks for help to keep doing it.  Paul needs God's help and theirs if he is to remain free of fear.  He mentions fear twice.  He also needs God's help and theirs to be armed with the sword of the Spirit himself.  That is: to be able to receive and declare God's words, words that can make known the mystery of the gospel. At the beginning of the letter, in Paul's opening run-on sentence filled with the lavish gifts of God for his people, he said it was God who "made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure" (Eph. 1:9).  Paul now ends how he began.  Recognizing that the "making known" 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 "making known the mystery of the gospel." Here we find that beautiful, interdependent circle of faith redrawn for us.  We work out what God works into us.  Not even the great apostle Paul was able to go forward in his own strength.  It was only through the reception of God's gifts, God's peace, and God's words that Paul could declare these mysteries of the gospel fearlessly as he should.   Importantly though, Paul's declaring of the gospel also depended on the prayers of the church.  Only "together with all the saints" can the width and length and height and depth of the love of Christ be grasped and known.  No one can step forward in faith without the prayers of the saints and the gifts of God.  Jesus has reconciled us together into his church for a reason.  Faith is a team sport, as is mission. Asking for prayer is hard though.  We don't want to bother or burden others, draw attention to ourselves, or seem needy.  We'd like to believe we can do it all well enough on our own.  Self-sufficiency is our ideal—all the structures, incentives, and expectations are pointed in this direction in our culture.  Asking for prayer does not come naturally.   Paul's example should give us pause, however.  In order to do any of the things that he has—throughout this letter—been doing, he depends on God and on the prayers of others.  Paul's starting place is his own inability, fear, and need.  He openly admits these things as well as his need for help—he is in chains, after all.  So in humility and vulnerability, he admits to all who can hear: "I can't do this.  Pray for me."  In 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's 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.  These are the things that keep us active in our relationship with one another and with God.  So, at the start of this new week: what do you need prayer for?  Who can you ask to pray those prayers?  Go 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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