Pillar Church Podcast

What do you pray when life gets hard?

For most of us, the instinct is understandable: God, change this. Fix this. Get me out of this. But in Ephesians 3, Paul shows us another way to pray.

In “The Prayer You’re Not Praying | Learning To Pray For What Matters Most,” we look at Ephesians 3:14–21 and one of Paul's most powerful prayers for the Church. Writing from prison, Paul doesn't pray for his chains to fall off or his circumstances to change. Instead, he prays that believers would be strengthened by the Holy Spirit in their inner being, rooted and established in the love of Christ, and filled with the fullness of God.

In this sermon, you'll discover:
What Paul's posture teaches us about approaching God in prayer
Why difficult circumstances should never keep us from praying
What Paul didn't pray for—and what that reveals about spiritual maturity
Why strengthening your inner life matters when life's battles come
The difference between Christ being present, prominent, and preeminent in your life
How deeply knowing God helps us understand the depth of His love
What it looks like to pray for God's will and glory above our own

Paul's prayer challenges us to look beyond what is happening around us and pay attention to what God is developing within us.

Because sometimes the prayer we need most isn't, “God, change my circumstances.”

It's, “God, strengthen me in the middle of them.”

There will be moments when life feels overwhelming. That's why our inner life with Jesus matters. We strengthen ourselves in the Lord through His presence and His Word, allowing Christ to become more than simply present or even prominent in our lives. We surrender until He becomes preeminent—the One around whom everything else is ordered.

And the more deeply we know Him, the more we begin to understand a love that Paul says surpasses knowledge—a love wider, longer, higher, and deeper than we could ever fully comprehend.

Paul ends his prayer by turning his attention completely toward God's glory: to the One who is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine.

So maybe the prayer isn't only, “God, get me out of this.”

Maybe it's also:
Strengthen me here.
Become preeminent in me.
Let Your will be done.
And be glorified through my life.

What do you pray when life gets hard?

For most of us, the instinct is understandable: God, change this. Fix this. Get me out of this. But in Ephesians 3, Paul shows us another way to pray.

In “The Prayer You’re Not Praying | Learning To Pray For What Matters Most,” we look at Ephesians 3:14–21 and one of Paul's most powerful prayers for the Church. Writing from prison, Paul doesn't pray for his chains to fall off or his circumstances to change. Instead, he prays that believers would be strengthened by the Holy Spirit in their inner being, rooted and established in the love of Christ, and filled with the fullness of God.

In this sermon, you'll discover:
What Paul's posture teaches us about approaching God in prayer
Why difficult circumstances should never keep us from praying
What Paul didn't pray for—and what that reveals about spiritual maturity
Why strengthening your inner life matters when life's battles come
The difference between Christ being present, prominent, and preeminent in your life
How deeply knowing God helps us understand the depth of His love
What it looks like to pray for God's will and glory above our own

Paul's prayer challenges us to look beyond what is happening around us and pay attention to what God is developing within us.

Because sometimes the prayer we need most isn't, “God, change my circumstances.”

It's, “God, strengthen me in the middle of them.”

There will be moments when life feels overwhelming. That's why our inner life with Jesus matters. We strengthen ourselves in the Lord through His presence and His Word, allowing Christ to become more than simply present or even prominent in our lives. We surrender until He becomes preeminent—the One around whom everything else is ordered.

And the more deeply we know Him, the more we begin to understand a love that Paul says surpasses knowledge—a love wider, longer, higher, and deeper than we could ever fully comprehend.

Paul ends his prayer by turning his attention completely toward God's glory: to the One who is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine.

So maybe the prayer isn't only, “God, get me out of this.”

Maybe it's also:
Strengthen me here.
Become preeminent in me.
Let Your will be done.
And be glorified through my life.

What if you understood that the way you live today is putting the wisdom of God on display in ways you cannot even see?

In Ephesians 3, Paul reveals something that had been hidden for generations: God's eternal plan was always Jesus. Through the Gospel, He would redeem a people, unite them together as His Church, and then use their lives to display His wisdom to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm.

In “God Has ZERO Rivals | The Arrogant Audacity of God's Once Hidden Plan,” we unpack the mystery Paul couldn't stop talking about and what it means for the way we live today. God's plan was never altered, adjusted, or threatened by the enemy. What looked like defeat at the cross became the very means through which Jesus secured victory—and the Church now stands as an ongoing testimony that God's wisdom and power have no rival.

In this sermon, you'll discover:
What Paul means by the “mystery” that God kept hidden for generations
Why the Church is central to God's eternal plan
How our lives display God's wisdom to the heavenly realm
Why Satan is neither all-knowing nor all-powerful—and cannot stop God's purposes
What it means to fight from victory instead of fighting for victory
How access to God should produce boldness and confidence in everyday life
Why Paul urgently tells believers not to lose heart

Paul gives us an incredible picture: you have an audience. The Church is God's object lesson, displaying His manifold wisdom before both the visible and unseen world. Every act of obedience, every step of faith, and every time God's people remain united and continue following Jesus, His wisdom is being put on display. That means if you still have breath in your lungs, your place isn't in the stands. You're meant to be on the field.

And you don't step onto that field wondering who will win. Jesus has already won. Satan is not God's equal opposite. He is a created being who cannot outthink, overpower, or overturn the eternal purposes of God.

This changes the posture of our lives.

Ephesians 3:12 says that through Christ, we have boldness and confident access to God. We can come into His presence knowing we belong there—and then leave His presence carrying that same confidence into whatever is waiting for us. The secret place was never meant to make us bold only while we're in it.

We enter boldly. We leave boldly. And we keep going because we already know who wins.

So don't lose heart. Your circumstances haven't caught God off guard. The battle you're facing hasn't rewritten His plan. Keep your eyes on Jesus, keep walking in obedience, and keep showing up for the life God has placed in front of you.

God has ZERO rivals. His plan is still unfolding—and you get to be part of it.

What if you understood that the way you live today is putting the wisdom of God on display in ways you cannot even see?

In Ephesians 3, Paul reveals something that had been hidden for generations: God's eternal plan was always Jesus. Through the Gospel, He would redeem a people, unite them together as His Church, and then use their lives to display His wisdom to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm.

In “God Has ZERO Rivals | The Arrogant Audacity of God's Once Hidden Plan,” we unpack the mystery Paul couldn't stop talking about and what it means for the way we live today. God's plan was never altered, adjusted, or threatened by the enemy. What looked like defeat at the cross became the very means through which Jesus secured victory—and the Church now stands as an ongoing testimony that God's wisdom and power have no rival.

In this sermon, you'll discover:
What Paul means by the “mystery” that God kept hidden for generations
Why the Church is central to God's eternal plan
How our lives display God's wisdom to the heavenly realm
Why Satan is neither all-knowing nor all-powerful—and cannot stop God's purposes
What it means to fight from victory instead of fighting for victory
How access to God should produce boldness and confidence in everyday life
Why Paul urgently tells believers not to lose heart

Paul gives us an incredible picture: you have an audience. The Church is God's object lesson, displaying His manifold wisdom before both the visible and unseen world. Every act of obedience, every step of faith, and every time God's people remain united and continue following Jesus, His wisdom is being put on display. That means if you still have breath in your lungs, your place isn't in the stands. You're meant to be on the field.

And you don't step onto that field wondering who will win. Jesus has already won. Satan is not God's equal opposite. He is a created being who cannot outthink, overpower, or overturn the eternal purposes of God.

This changes the posture of our lives.

Ephesians 3:12 says that through Christ, we have boldness and confident access to God. We can come into His presence knowing we belong there—and then leave His presence carrying that same confidence into whatever is waiting for us. The secret place was never meant to make us bold only while we're in it.

We enter boldly. We leave boldly. And we keep going because we already know who wins.

So don't lose heart. Your circumstances haven't caught God off guard. The battle you're facing hasn't rewritten His plan. Keep your eyes on Jesus, keep walking in obedience, and keep showing up for the life God has placed in front of you.

God has ZERO rivals. His plan is still unfolding—and you get to be part of it.

What really happened when Jesus died on the cross?

Most of us immediately think about what the cross accomplished for us personally: our sins were forgiven, our relationship with God was restored, and we were brought near to Him. And all of that is true. But Ephesians 2 shows us that Jesus accomplished something else on the cross that we can easily overlook.

He didn’t only reconcile us to God. He reconciled us to one another.

In “What Really Happened On The Cross? | How Jesus Destroyed Hostility and Built A United Family,” we continue through Ephesians 2 and discover how the Gospel transforms outsiders into family. Once separated from God and without hope, we have now been brought near through the blood of Jesus. And through that same cross, Jesus broke down the walls that separated us, put hostility to death, and created one new family in Himself.

In this sermon, you'll discover:
Why remembering how far we were from God changes the way we treat others
What the cross accomplished beyond our individual salvation
Why unity within the family of God is sacred
What it means that Jesus put our hostility toward one another to death
How God can unite people who would otherwise have very little in common
Why the unity of the Church is part of how the world sees the reality of Jesus

Paul describes believers as citizens of the same Kingdom, members of the same family, part of the same house, and together becoming a holy temple where God dwells by His Spirit. We can be beautifully different without being divided because Jesus Himself is our peace.

That means unity is not a secondary issue for the Church. Our unity cost Jesus His life.

When we allow bitterness, offense, division, or hostility to define the way we relate to our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are giving life to something Jesus died to put to death. But when the family of God chooses forgiveness, reconciliation, and love across our differences, we put the power of the Gospel on display.

Jesus prayed in John 17 that His followers would be one so that the world would know the Father sent Him. Our unity has always been connected to our witness.

The Gospel is not only that we were brought near to God.
We were given a seat at the family table.

And now, as one family with one Father, we get to show the world what the reconciling power of Jesus actually looks like.