TWO THINGS AND A PRAYER
EPHESIANS 1:15-20 NKJV
15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
Ephesians is a wonderful book with great insight as to what has been done for us in Christ.
Because this letter from Paul does not address any specific church issues, some scholars have doubts as to who the letter is for. Some of the ancient manuscripts omit Ephesus in verse one. But that is such a minor point. The revelation in this letter applied to the church then and the church today.
In verse 15, Paul wrote that he had heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus. And their love for all the saints. Evidently, their faith and love were two things that Paul deemed very important. Faith and love were also mentioned in Paul's letter to the Colossians.
This tells us a couple of things about faith and love. Faith and love are important. And faith and love are observable. In this church at Ephesus, the believers acted in such a way that their faith in Jesus was evident. And their love for others in the Body of Christ was more than mere words.
Then Paul reveals one of his prayers for the church. He did not pray for them to be blessed. He did not pray for God to help them. Paul prayed, inspired by the Holy Spirit, for these believers to have a revelation of what God had done. That they would begin to see with their hearts the hope, inheritance and God's power towards them. Paul was praying that these Ephesians would see how blessed they already were.
APPLICATION:
This prayer of Paul's is a Holy Spirit inspired prayer. It was a powerful prayer in Paul's day. It is a powerful prayer today.
And there are a couple of ways we can pray this prayer.
We can pray this prayer for others. Everywhere we see you or your substitute in their name. So many do not see what belongs to them in Christ. Let me adjust that. All of us have not seen everything that belongs to us. We can all grow in these areas.
Also, we can pray that prayer for ourselves. We can put in our names. That the God of my Lord Jesus Christ may give to me the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
We can grow in our knowledge of God. And we can grow in our faith and love. These verses apply to our lives.
PRAYER;
Dear Father I so appreciate all you have done for me in Christ. Open my eyes and give me the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You!