We have barely made it halfway through the letter to the Ephesians and Paul is praying again! In the space of a couple of pages, which is all this letter consists of, Paul prays for others, he instructs others how to pray, and he asks that prayer be undertaken for him. Prayer is his first response to his own circumstances (6:20), to the condition of others (1:15) and even to his own thoughts (3:1, 14)! All of this, I would suggest, tells us that for Paul prayer was not something responsive at all; it was the central activity of his life. Paul seems to confirm this when he encourages the Ephesian Church to “pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion” (6:18). It would be a strange thing to tell others to do if it wasn’t his own practice. So we can assume that when Paul says, again, in this section of his letter to the Ephesians, “When I think about all this, I fall to my knees and pray…”(3:14) this is not something that is out of the ordinary.

Prayer, then is clearly something that is deeply ingrained in Paul’s very self. He truly treats it as a conversation between himself and the Lord. In this particular chapter, we find Paul is thinking back over what he’s just said about the eternal plan of God, and he’s so moved by his own thoughts that he falls down in worship to pray. Prayer is the automatic response for Paul, it’s the first thing he reaches for. And this has got me thinking about the first thing that I reach for in the morning, or when I have a question, or when I think of someone else. Unsurprisingly, for me, and perhaps this is true for you too, it’s my phone. I use it for my my alarm in the morning, so it’s the first thing I reach for as I fumble around looking through bleary eyes for the snooze button. If I’m not sure about something, I reach for my pocket and pull out my phone ready for the customary Google search. And when I think of others, I’ll reach for my phone and send that person a message. 

Many of us are now so used to reaching for our phone that there is now a whole technical term to describe this common activity – the “twitch”. Apparently we are becoming so used to picking-up our phones, that our bodies are developing almost instantaneous and automatic reactions to hearing or seeing alerts on our phones. So when our phones “ping”, our hands are “twitching” towards our pockets before our conscious minds are capable of making a decision to do so.

Now I am not going to spend the next paragraph going on about the challenges of living with technology. I actually think this twitch response is something akin to what Paul was like in his own life and what he encourages us to be like when it comes to prayer; that it becomes something more than a discipline, something that we automatically reach for, something that shapes us at the deepest level of our being to look towards the Lord on every occasion. 

In fact, instead of twitching for a phone, there is something that Paul says we have available to us, that sits in a similar position to a modern trouser pocket – the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (6:17). Now obviously it’s not practical to wear a Bible strapped to your belt like a sword, but I think the physical twitch to a phone and the spiritual twitch towards the sword of the Spirit is a helpful comparison. This is because one key way that we can “pray in the Spirit”, as Paul encourages, is to pray with the “sword of the Spirit”, allowing our prayers to be led by and filled with the Word of God. After all, if we are to pray that the will of the Father be done on earth as in heaven, what better way to do that than with what He has revealed of His will in His Word. 

So what do you do when..? When you wake up in the morning? When you think about about the day ahead? About the people in your life? When you’re celebrating? When you’re grieving? When you’re facing a challenge? When you put your head on the pillow to sleep? As followers of Jesus, may we be those who twitch towards the Word of God, praying what we find there our heavenly Father.

Here, then, is my “twitch” prayer, inspired by the prayer of Paul in Ephesians 3:14-21:

“Father of all creation, you are the one who gave each star its name and also the one who counts the hairs on my head. There are no limits on you, your power or your resources, and yet you come to dwell in the hearts of your people by your Spirit. Strengthen us, I ask, Holy Spirit from within by your limitless power. May our hearts be a pleasant home for you, a place where you are welcome because your people have put their faith in you.

Thank you that you have brought us into an environment shaped and filled by your love. Give us the power to understand this unknowable love with which you love us even if it is too great for understanding. More than that, I ask that we would experience your love every moment of every day. It is the only thing in the universe that fulfils us, that brings us life – it’s like a riverbank that provides the perfect soil for trees to flourish. Mature us with your love.

And finally, may each of us be reminded again that we are the place of your power. That you dwell in us, live through us, and that your limitless power will achieve more through us than we could ever ask or imagine. May we be twitchers – reaching to pray in every situation, on every occasion, whether wonderful and challenging. Teach us to ask big of you and expect even bigger answers, so that your glory Lord would be on display forever. Amen.”