Passage: Ephesians 1:15-21
The Big Idea
After laying out everything God has done for us, Paul prays that we would actually see it. He doesn’t pray for better circumstances; he prays for revelation: that we’d know God, and know the hope of His calling, the riches of His inheritance, and the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe. That power is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, and it’s available every day to those who trust Him.
Talk to God About People
Ephesians 1:3-14 laid out the threefold charter: the will of the Father, the work of the Son, and the witness of the Spirit. Now Paul prays a threefold prayer, asking that those promises would become real in the lives of the Ephesian believers.
Paul says that because he had heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love for all the saints, he never stopped giving thanks for them and mentioning them in his prayers (Ephesians 1:15-16).
Here’s an important lesson: after you talk to someone about the Lord, talk to the Lord about that person.
My heart is probably a lot like Paul’s. After I talk with someone about the Lord, I can so easily slip into the flesh. I can get proud, or discouraged and despondent. Those aren’t the fruit of prayer.
This is very practical in marriage, too. Bathe every discussion in prayer. Get away and ask the Lord to work in the situation. Maybe in your marriage or job it feels like everything you say falls on deaf ears. J. Sidlow Baxter made the point that people may reject our message, argue with us and even despise us, but they are helpless against our prayers.
Pray. Pray. Pray.
In Solzhenitsyn’s novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, set in a Soviet prison camp, a believing prisoner is mocked for praying, since prayers won’t get him out any sooner. He answers, in effect, that he doesn’t pray to get out of prison, but to do the will of God.
Paul’s prayer gives us amazing insight into what’s really going on in the spiritual world.
Revelation to Know Him (Ephesians 1:17)
Paul prays that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
His prayer starts with a simple request: that they would receive revelation from God Himself.
- God does the work of bringing wisdom into someone’s life.
- God does the work of revealing spiritual truth to a heart and mind that doesn’t know it yet.
- We can share the truth with great arguments and proof texts and people still won’t believe. But when the Father draws them, as Jesus said He would (John 6:44), they just get it.
Know God. Many people think the solution to their problems is to know themselves. But Paul goes to the real heart of the issue: the solution is to know God, His grace and His character.
When you really get to know yourself, you find problems you can’t solve: sin, selfishness, a deceitful heart. Looking for the solution by staring at the problem doesn’t work. Much worldly wisdom says, “Look inside. Go back to the painful memories.” But Paul and Jesus say, “Look up. Ask God for revelation, and wait to receive a gift of grace.”
That idea frustrates a purely humanistic mindset. It can’t imagine that kind of humble dependence, because it hasn’t learned to trust the Lord who makes these promises. If the soul just evolved, no wonder no one can fix it. But God made the soul. It’s a spiritual thing. He knows how to heal it, and He does that soul surgery through relationship with Himself.
Henry Alford wrote, “For philosophy comes to man with the message, Know thyself; the Gospel meets him with the far more glorious and fruitful watchword, Know thy God.”
The Threefold Prayer (Ephesians 1:18-19)
Paul prays that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened, so they would know:
- The hope of His calling,
- The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and
- The exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.
1. Hope
This is what every carnal believer struggles with. It’s why they’re so caught up in the things of the world.
When we forget we’re going to heaven, we lose perspective. Remembering heaven establishes our hearts on Jesus.
Without that hope, we’re never satisfied. We’re always chasing the bigger house, the faster car, the better job, even a different spouse. When we think our hope is here on earth, we’re consumed trying to find it.
But when heaven is first in our hearts and minds, contentment and joy come along as a byproduct. It’s amazing: when we give up our lives, we find them in Christ (Matthew 16:25).
When He comes back, we get everything! And I believe that could be soon.
2. Inheritance
Paul prays that they’d know the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.
It takes wisdom and revelation from God to grasp this, because we can’t see it! Any investor will tell you not to invest in something you can’t see. But when Jesus comes, we’ll see it.
Why do I think He could come soon? I’m so glad you asked! It’s one of my favorite topics.
Peter reminds us not to forget that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord isn’t slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but patient, not wanting anyone to perish but all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:8-9).
By that measure, it’s only been about two “days” since Jesus ascended! That keeps us close to Him, thinking about our inheritance and living with urgency for the Lord.
But it can also feel like a thousand years, especially in a hard season. How long am I going to be stuck in this job? This life? This slow car, this small house? (Even this Bible study can feel like a thousand years!) The promise of an inheritance might feel as distant as the farthest star.
But the Lord can bring revelation and wisdom to your heart through prayer.
If I offered my son a piece of candy or a check for a thousand dollars every day for the rest of his life, which would he pick? At a certain age, the candy! That’s where his heart and mind are. But I have the ability to help him see better.
The Lord does the same with us. He knows that when we go through trials that seem to last a thousand years, we’re making deposits in heaven that will last for millions and billions of years.
That’s how we endure and glorify the Lord in the middle of trials: knowing He’s giving us the better inheritance. The checks are being set aside for the day He is revealed.
That’s a life of faith: believing that God sees what you do in secret and will reward you (Matthew 6:4).
3. Power
A story is told of a Rose Parade where a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and stopped. It was out of gas, and the whole parade was held up until someone found a gas can. The funny part? The float represented a major oil company. With all its vast oil resources, its float was out of gas.
If misunderstanding hope and inheritance lets carnality thrive in Christians, misunderstanding power is, I believe, ten times more crippling.
Paul begs God to reveal the exceeding greatness of His power.
It’s been said that God’s commands are His enablings. He provides every resource needed to live the Christian life.
Yet many Christians don’t know this power, or only know it from a distance. Spurgeon said, “The very same power which raised Christ is waiting to raise the drunkard from his drunkenness, to raise the thief from his dishonesty, to raise the Pharisee from his self-righteousness, to raise the Sadducee from his unbelief.”
“That’s great, but I want proof! I wish there were some example of how great this power is…”
Resurrection Power (Ephesians 1:19-21)
Paul says this power toward us who believe is according to the working of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above every ruler and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
F. F. Bruce observed that if the death of Christ is the supreme demonstration of God’s love, the resurrection of Christ is the supreme demonstration of His power.
The power at work in us is according to the power that raised Jesus from the dead. Not just a little bit of it. The same power.
And that’s exactly where I want to be: seated in the heavenly places, relaxed and at rest from my striving, enjoying the Lord and His goodness. That’s where Jesus is, and that’s where I want to be too.
This is the glorious truth in this prayer: the power that physically raised Jesus from the dead is available to you every day to live a resurrected life! We never lack resources to live the Spirit-filled, Christlike life. They’re fully given to us when we believe. That’s grace.
But when we don’t believe or surrender, we trust our own resources and abilities, and it’s a life of tiredness and disappointment. I long to see that banished from the Church everywhere. I’m committed to praying and declaring the truth of His grace available to His people, because I hate seeing people push their cars around town.
Pushing Your Car
Imagine you get a brand-new car. You show it off to your friends in the garage. “Let’s take it to the park!” They climb in, and you get behind it and start pushing. Two miles an hour, max.
They look at you like you’re crazy, climb out, and ask what you’re doing. Then they pop the hood and show you the engine, the power source. That’s what it’s designed for!
We won’t be a church that says, “Just push your car around like me! It’s fun!”
Do you believe? Can you trust Him to live this Christian life through you?
Let’s pray that God reveals this to our hearts, that He gives us the ability to trust Him, and that He opens our eyes, and the eyes of all believers, to the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe!
Grace Takeaway
Paul didn’t pray for easier circumstances; he prayed that we’d see. Know God. Know the hope that frees you from chasing this world, the inheritance that makes every trial an investment, and the resurrection power already at work in you. Stop pushing the car. The engine is Jesus, and His power is yours when you believe.
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