Today we begin a verse by verse study on apostolic prayers that Paul prayed for believers. They were specifically for the churches that he started, but they apply to all of us.
A little background and timeline on Ephesians.
Acts 18:19-21 Paul first preached at Ephesus
Acts 18:24-28 Apollos comes after Paul and ministers at Ephesus
Acts 19:1-8 Paul returns to Ephesus, finds some believers (probably converts of Apollos) and tells them about the infilling of the Holy Spirit, which they were ignorant of. Preaches in the synagogues for 3 months.
Acts 19:9-10 After opposition, Paul stops preaching in the synagogues, and holds “classes” in the school of Tyrannus for two years.
Acts 19:11-17 Special miracles done by Paul. Cloths from Paul healed bodies and cast out demons. This impressed people, some Jewish exorcists tried to copy Paul by using the name of Jesus. But since they had no right to that name, the demon jumped them and beat them all up.
Vs 17 This story went out and had a great effect. Converts, people forsaking the practice of magic arts.
Acts 19:21-40 Silversmiths that made idols of Diana (another name for Athena) grow jealous, and start a riot.
Acts 20:17 Paul on his way to Jerusalem stops by Ephesus to speak to the elders (meets them at the boat).
At Jerusalem Paul is arrested, put in prison, appeals to Caesar, and eventually is sent to Rome.
The letter of Paul to the Ephesians was written when he was in his first imprisonment.
Ephesians 1
Ephesians 1:15-23 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,
21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Vs. 15 Paul is in prison, but he gets reports of how the Ephesian church is thriving. He writes the letter to the Ephesians in response.
Vs. 16 He starts out by giving thanks for the Ephesians. This was a pattern in Paul’s letters. They only letter where he did not start out by giving thanks was Galatians, because he was so upset of the reports of the Judaizers coming in and corrupting the Galatians.
He says he mentions them in his prayers. Paul prayed for all the churches he started on a regular basis. Sometimes he made lengthy prayers, and other times he made mention of them.
Making mention in prayer for someone has power, if you have a connection with them, and have laid a groundwork of deeper prayer for them previously. You can continue to remind God of what you have already prayed for them, making mention of them in your prayers on a daily basis.
A spirit of wisdom and revelation
Vs. 17 he says that God the Father of Jesus Christ would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Notice it doesn’t just say He would give us wisdom and revelation, but a “spirit” of wisdom and revelation. That is because God’s wisdom is spiritually discerned. The world doesn’t understand it, because they don’t have the capacity.
1 Corinthians 2:14 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Praying for God to impart this spirit of wisdom and revelation was the most important thing Paul could think of to pray for the Ephesian church. Why?
First of all, wisdom and revelation in what? “…in the knowledge of Him”, i.e., the Father. The word in the Greek is epignosis, which means true knowledge.
Vine’s Expository Dictionary: “indicates a relation between the person knowing and the object known; what is known is of value and importance to the one who knows, and hence the establishment of the relationship.”
So it’s not just knowing about God the Father, but knowing God (i.e., a relationship). The NIV says “that you may know Him better.” The Passion Translation says “to know Him through your deepening intimacy with Him.”
The eyes of your heart
Vs 18 NASB and NIV say The eyes of your heart being enlightened…
The NKJV says the eyes of your understanding.
Passion Translation says the eyes of your imagination.
What is the heart? According to Hebrews 4:12, it is the division, or boundary, between soul and spirit. It contains elements of both. It is the very core and center of your being (for more detail see Where Real Transformation Comes From Part 2, and Man in 3D).
And it is interesting that that core of your being has eyes. Eyes of course are associated with seeing, and vision. But these eyes see things that are not visible in the physical world. We are familiar with the expression, “the mind’s eye”, and the Passion Translation talks about imagination, which is what the mind’s eye is. The mind is part of the soul. But the eyes of the heart is deeper, because it is connected to your spirit also. And our spirits is where the Holy Spirit lives, and where we communicate with God. So it has to do with our communication with God.
“…being enlightened…”
“Seeing” has always been an analogy for understanding and enlightenment. Even the word “enlighten” carries the concept of illumination, flooding with light so that something may be perceived that was hidden or unknown. To be brought to a greater level of knowledge and understanding.
Paul goes on to iterate some of the things that he prays we should be enlightened of.
The hope of His calling
“…that you may know what is the hope of His calling…”
Notice it doesn’t say the hope of your calling, but the hope of His calling. There are a couple of ways we could look at this. Probably the most common would be that it is He that is doing the calling, and we are the recipient of that calling.
But there is another way to look at it – that it is Jesus’ calling. What is Jesus called to do? We know what He has already accomplished in dying for our sins and being raised from the dead. Romans 6 says we died with Him, and rose with Him. So we had a participation in that part of Jesus’ calling in that He was our substitute, but it was credited to our account as if we did it.
The other part of Jesus’ calling was His earthly ministry. And since He ascended into heaven, that part of His calling has been turned over to the Church. We are to be doing the works of Jesus (and according to Him, even greater works John 14:12). It is outlined in the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20).
So basically, His calling is our calling.
So the other part of that – the hope of His calling. Hope is the happy anticipation of good We are familiar with this verse:
Proverbs 13:12 12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
Kris Vallotton: “It’s not the deferring of the things that you are hoping for that makes the heart sick, but when you defer the hope. Even when things you are hoping for are delayed or deferred, if you still have hope, your heart will not be sick. It’s when you cast away or abandon hope that depression comes.”
Inheritance
Vs. 18 … what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.
Glory is equated with riches. In the temptation in the wilderness, Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of this world and their glory (Matthew 4:8). It is the riches of the glory of His inheritance.
Whose inheritance? Jesus’! We’re not talking about our inheritance, we’re talking about Jesus’ inheritance. So Jesus has a glorious inheritance. What is it?
“… in the saints.” We are His inheritance, His prize. We make Jesus rich. We can understand the feeling that Jesus made us rich, but that feeling is reciprocated – we make Him feel rich! We were the joy that was set before Him, that enabled Him to endure the cross (Hebrews 2:2).
Think of it this way: when you already have the riches of heaven, when material wealth is trivial, it has to be gaining something you didn’t have before: the people!
Exceeding greatness of His power
What is the next thing Paul wants us to have a revelation of? Vs. 19 The exceeding greatness of His power. We can all imagine the greatness of God’s power when He created the universe, but look at what is added: “…towards us”.
NIV: “…His incomparably great power for us”
AMPC: And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us…
That exceedingly great power is directed toward and in behalf of us!
Paul adds a qualifier: “… who believe.” This power is available to those who believe. There has to be faith involved.
Passion Translation: I pray that you will continually experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power made available to you through faith. Then your lives will be an advertisement of this immense power as it works through you!
A couple of ways to look at “those who believe”. First, it is targeted at all believers in Jesus Christ. That is who it is available to. But those that will actually get to experience that power are those who are looking for and believing for that power to be working for and through them.
One reason Christians wouldn’t believe for that power is because they don’t know – which is the reason Paul prays for a revelation of it. The other reason is because in modern Christianity we have relegated that kind of power only to work in “the greats” – the apostles in the Bible, and certain anointed ministers in history and today. But we don’t expect it to work through “little ol’ insignificant me.” It is an identity problem.
Paul then goes on to make a comparison to another time when God’s power was at work:
Ephesians 1:20 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
Christ’s resurrection required much more power to accomplish than the other resurrections in the Bible (Lazurus, Jairus’ daughter, the widow’s son). This is because all the demons in hell were in opposition to it, to keep Him down there. It was also the time when Christ defeated Satan in his own domain and took from him the keys of death and hell.
Colossians 2:13-15 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Revelation 1:18 18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.
Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father in heavenly places. But look at this:
Ephesians 2:4-6 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
We are there too! He won the victory, but we experience the benefits of being conquerors. But what does that mean, we are seated with Him in heavenly places? Certainly we are not in heaven physically (yet). The next verse explains further:
Ephesians 1:21 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
AMPC: “… above every title that can be conferred.”
Paul refers to these principalities powers later in Ephesians 6:12. We see in vs. 21 that Christ’s resurrection was more than just bringing Him back to life, but about Him gaining all authority.
Matthew 28:18 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
The Age to Come
Vs 21 “… not only in this age, but also the age to come.”
The Bible end with the story of God creating a new heaven and new earth, we entering “eternity”. It doesn’t say much about what goes on in that age to come, other than 1 Corinthians 2:9 Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.
Vs 22: And He put all things under His feet.
This is another expression of Christ’s extreme authority.
And gave Him to be head over all things to the church – which is His body.
He is the Head, we are the Body. What part is the feet? The body! So all things have been put under our feet as the church. Remember the context – Paul is talking about the principalities and powers.
The fullness of Him who fills all in all.
What is the fullness of Him? He’s still talking about the body!
AMPC: for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself.
Colossians 2:9-10 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
The word complete in vs. 10 is the same root word as fullness in vs. 9 (plērōma and plēroō). In Him we are made full with His fullness.
