Ephesians 1: 15 – 23 NLT
“Paul’s Prayer for Spiritual Wisdom
15 Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, 16 I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, 17 asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. 18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.
19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. 21 Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. 22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. 23 And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.”
Paul turns from his praise of God to his thankfulness for the Ephesian believers. What is he thankful for? The Ephesian church loves believers everywhere. That word everywhere is a challenge. It’s not just their own families, their own friends, even the people in their church. It’s everywhere! Does that describe us today? Are we involved with Christians in many places today, or does everywhere mean just our own friends, our own church? Are we supporting missonaries around the world? Are we supporting Christian organizations locally such as Matthew House or the Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative? Does God look at me/you and is thankful for our willingness to be involved with His plans around the world – not just what suits us close to home?
Paul is also thankful that the Ephesian church is strong in their faith. Yet, he says that he prays for them constantly. What is he praying for? He wants them to have “spiritual wisdom and insight so that they might grow in their knowledge of God”. He also prays that they will be “flooded with light so that they can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called”. He wants them to grow in their faith! Our relationship with God isn’t just an acknowledgement that Jesus died and rose again to provide salvation for us. It’s a growing relationship with God. Paul goes on to explain what that relationship is like. As we grow spiritually, we “will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him”.
Stop for a moment. How much do you really believe that God’s incredible power is available to you? I suspect that most of us run through our days on our own strength and intelligence. We think we have most things under control. It’s when we get nervous or afraid of something that we pray – and then it’s mostly “please help me …”. Paul is praying that we will continue to grow in our relationship with God. Look back over 2023. How have you grown in your relationship with God? Are you in touch with him more often? Is your faith in him stronger? Or are you still figuring things out mostly by yourself?
Paul goes on to once again stress how powerful God is. “This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else – not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.” (v. 20 – 23)
Read those verses over again, and soak in how powerful God is – who Christ is. Actually take time to reread and slowly think about what those verses say. Take time to ponder and pray about your personal relationship with Him. Life with God will become much more precious if we decide to take each baby step to get to know Him better.
Our song for today is What a Beautiful Name by Hillsong Worship.