St. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, prays a prayer for them. In this prayer, he asks God to grant the Ephesians many different blessings. Today, I want to offer three of these blessings and suggest that on this Mother’s Day we pray for all our mothers and mother figures in our life to receive these blessings. 

St. Paul writes, “May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him.” Paul first prays for wisdom for the Ephesians, but not just wisdom in general but a wisdom that results in a knowledge of God. We pray that on this Mother’s Day all our moms would come to know God better. Moms, just as you know how your children think, their interests, their unique personality and what makes them, them, may you come to know God in the same way. In the same way you have such a deep bond with your children, may the same bond grow in your relationship with God. May you see that as desperately as you want a strong relationship with your children, God to an even greater degree wants a friendship and relationship with you. Just as you know your children in a way that no else does, may come to know that God knows you in the same way.

St. Paul continues, “May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones.” In the Bible, the “heart” was the center of a person. The heart is the place where all thinking, willing, and feeling originates. As we all know, motherhood is hard work, physical labor sometimes. But even more than that, it’s hard labor on the heart. Mothers know the moments of joy, there is sadness, disappointment, loneliness, and sometimes, even rejection. All that pain doesn’t always feel like it pays off. Moms, we know that motherhood can be hard on your heart. We pray for mothers that they would know deep in the their core, to the depths of their being the hope that comes from being in a relationship with God. Hope means confidence that God will give us victory.

St. Paul then writes, “May you know what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe in accord with the exercise of his great might: which he worked in Christ raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens.” Paul says to hope in God because he has great power. God’s power is so great that it was able to raise Jesus from the dead. The same power is available to every person who believes in Jesus Christ.

Moms we pray that you would believe in God and that his power is available to you in your role as a mother and facing the day-to day difficulties. As you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ you will have access to that power. May you come to understand that this incredible power is available to you and your family and that you don’t have to do all you have to do on your own. God’s power is available to you.

So today let’s all of us commit to pray for our own mothers and all the women we know who are mothers or serve in that type of role. Even if you are not a praying person or don’t usually pray, commit, to pray that they will come to know God better, in a more personal intimate way. Let’s pray that they put their hope in God and not on the uncertain and unstable things of this world. Let’s pray that they put their trust in God so that they will experience God’s power in their work as moms.