Ephesians 1:15-23

Ephesians 1:15-23

What we pray about tells us a great deal about our faith. When the priority of our prayer life is getting stuff, health, wealth, and happy circumstances, our faith is very likely shallow. What we see Paul praying for and on behalf of the Ephesians was something very different. His prayer begins that they would have a spirit, not specifically the Holy Spirit, but their own spirit or attitude of “wisdom and revelation.” Wisdom means the ability to apply the truth to life’s circumstances. Revelation means to understand the truth. The man who cannot understand the scripture is no better off than the man who has no scripture. The man who doesn't apply what he knows is no better off than an ignoramus.

Paul prays that they will have the eyes of their heart enlightened or opened. It is sadly too frequent that as believers we are oblivious to what is available to us. Paul wants believers to see with their hearts. “Heart” for the ancients was not the emotion but the desire or the will. What Paul wants is for disciples to have a clear vision of the right desires based on three key points.

The first is the “hope of His (Christ’s) calling.” Hope is a preferred vision of the future. We all have hope. It is that future in which our deep heart desires are fulfilled. God has for us a very specific preferred vision of our future. That hope must displace our self-made hope; there isn't room for two hopes in our heart. Never forget God's hope for us is always better.

Second, and related to that, we see “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” So what is this rich inheritance in us? It is that ‘something’ we all lost in Eden and has been restored in Jesus and will be ours again. It has already begun in us and will be fulfilled in the new heaven and new earth.

Finally, Paul also wants us to comprehend “the power towards us who believe.” An eternity with God would not be very joyful for a person who does not want to be with Him or who does not love Him. But the power of becoming a person who would want to be with God is already at work in us. This gives us the power to cope with the challenges we face. It gives us the power to see not from a momentary perspective but from the holy perspective. It is the power that works out in daily living, the eternal life that has already begun in us. By the hope of His calling, by the riches of His glory, and by His power towards us, we are living from the throne room of Heaven even while here on earth.

“Lord, give me the wisdom to apply the understanding of the truth. AMEN”