Ephesians 1:15–21
Paul has just shown believers their security of eternal life
and how much their Creator, not only loves them, but also deeply desires to “lavish” on
them His goodness! Now Paul moves to encourage us, based on our position of
blessing that he has just enumerated, to be fervent in our life to KNOW God!
How is this done?
Ephesians 1:15–21 For this reason I too, having heard of
the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists
among you and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease
giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; 17 that the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of
revelation in the knowledge of Him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that
you will 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 surpassing
greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His
might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from
the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all
rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only
in this age but also in the one to come.
First: It is very important that we, in the Body of Christ seek
ways to affirm one another. Paul does that here:
Ephesians 1:15 For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus
which exists among you and your
love for all the saints, 16 do not cease giving thanks
for you, while making mention of you in my prayers;
When you have been working hard and feel tired, then someone
pats you on the back and tells you what a great job you are doing, those words
and actions are fuel to the soul. You feel reenergized, and the desire to
complete the job takes hold. In an evil world that loves to tear people down,
we should not move in that direction. Paul is employing the attitude he
expressed when he wrote the church in Philippi:
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true,
whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy
of praise, dwell on these things.
Paul now shows us exactly what we should be looking for if we
truly desire to know God intimately.
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of
Him.
This is the ability to
process and apply all the knowledge that we learn from our walk with God. This
includes knowledge of Him, of the world and ourselves. The Holy Spirit will
help us take in all Truth; whether it be from scripture, nature or life, then
process it into applicable Truth. That is where the person with knowledge only
misses it! They have all the data but don’t know what it means or what to do with it.
OK Nate, that sounds great, but how does it work? Good question…and
Paul gives us the answer:
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be
enlightened,
Illumination! What does
that mean? This means that the
Spirit of God illuminates Truth for us. To illuminate means: brightened with light, intellectually
or spiritually enlightened, to make
clear[1].
What’s important here
is that we understand that we cannot do this on our own. This is a work of God
and we need to keep a conscious connection to the Holy Spirit through all the
moments of our life. He will help you see when it appears dark or dim, He will
open your mind to understand the Scriptures…even if it is to simply understand that
this particular issue you will never understand because it is one of God’s secrets! (Dt
29:29) He will take Truth and make it clear!
Paul’s prayer for illumination
covers three specific areas of knowledge.
so that you will know what
is the hope of His calling,
Hope of His calling – Paul’s desire for each believer to
possess a sense of his or her destiny. God has a plan to maximize every
believer’s
life, not just some.
what are the riches of the
glory of His inheritance in the saints,
Riches of His glory of His
inheritance – Paul’s desire is that every believer understands their real
wealth! It’s not of this world; we may have many temporal blessings, because God
is very generous, but our real inheritance begins with how we handle those
temporal blessings. If we handle them in a way that glorifies Him we take the
rewards of that to heaven with us and then we receive our greatest inheritance;
Face to Face relationship with Him forever!
19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who
believe.
What is the surpassing greatness of
His power – Paul’s desire is for each believer to experience real victory over
the enemy and this system. The War is won…Jesus already accomplished that…but
now we live from battle to battle until we are with Him. God does not intend us
to limp to eternity. He has supplied through the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures
and the Body of Christ all that we need to live in victory! What does that look
like? Victory is not happiness for that is a momentary emotion. Life will have
its ups and downs…it did for Jesus, so who do we think we are that it will not also happen to us?
Victory is made up of
three intangible elements. We cannot exactly explain them, BUT we know when we
have them. Joy – that deep sense that nothing can ruin your life because God is
in control. Peace – that deep calm that let’s you know…no matter the
circumstances you are safe in Him. Contentment – the freedom of knowing that in
this life, there is only One opinion that matters, only One Person’s approval
you desire – Jesus Christ! When these three possess your heart and soul – you
will run home to Jesus with strength of soul…even if your body is aged and
broken, the inner man will be renewed day by day until you go home!
Consider: How God sees me as a child
is based on my position in Christ. I either have it or I don’t. The salvation
God has brought is complete and unchangeable. It is more important that I spend
time understanding what has been revealed then spending time debating about
what has not been revealed. My praise and glorifying of God should be in
response to Who He is and what He has done, not in order to gain His favor.
That is what obedience is for. I must see my Christian life as constant growth.
I will be learning more about Him and His works even when I live in heaven.
[1]
Merriam-Webster, I. (1996). Merriam-Webster's
collegiate dictionary. (10th ed.). Springfield, Mass., U.S.A.:
Merriam-Webster.
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