Title Paul's supplication / Ephesians 1:17-23
Contents
Paul's supplication / Ephesians 1:17-23
I pray in the name of the Lord that God's answer and great grace will come to you through the content of Paul's prayer. When we pray, we pray for ourselves and we pray for others. In the text, the apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesian church members. Then, through Paul's supplication, we would like to share grace together while pondering the Word about what we should pray for.
First, give me a spirit of wisdom and revelation.
“May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, that you may know God” (verse 17). We pray a lot about our bodies, such as prayers and prayers for our children. But Paul prayed to God for a spirit of wisdom and revelation rather than such a prayer. In a nutshell, I saved a spiritual thing. If we seek spiritual things, please believe that in spiritual grace there is abundant grace not only for the body but also for our hearts.
The word 'spirit' here refers to the 'spirit'. So, he asked for spiritual grace only through the Holy Spirit, so why did he ask for the work of the Holy Spirit who gives wisdom and revelation? It was to get to know God. We need to know a lot of the science of the world, we need to know the way of life, we need to know how to lead people, and we also need to know the judgment of things and reason, but among these things, the first thing we need to know, the most, and the most precious is to know God. will be
The prophet Hosea said, "Let us therefore know the Lord, and let us strive to know the Lord. His coming is as steady as the morning light, and he will come upon us like rain, like the latter rain that waters the earth" (Hosea 6:3). . In a time when the wisdom to know God was lacking, and we did not even want to know God, nor did we know or even want to know the fact that human beings exist in a certain relationship with God, these words spoken by this prophet Hosea and the people we live in today The sad thing about the times is that people who have been created by God do not know this fact that life and death are in the hands of God, who is the source of blessings. I don't know how many people do not know God and do not even try to know God by mistakenly thinking that they are producing blessings with their hands. Thank you for having this heart to know God today and this heart to long for God.
Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." The best understanding is knowing God. Even if you have mastered tens of thousands of books in this world and cultivated all the knowledge of this world, if you do not know God, you are rotten, dead, and spiritually ignorant and ignorant of nothing. Even if all science and knowledge in this world are a bit poor, if you know God directly, believe that He is the possessor of the best knowledge.
Then, when we know God, what should we know about God? ① You must know exactly the existence of God. Please believe that God is the Triune God of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the God who created the heavens and the earth, the God who is the source of blessing, the God who judges, and the God who rules the world forever.
② You must know the will of God. We must know God's will and act according to it. We must always be able to discern the will of God. Romans 12:2 says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, which is good and pleasing and perfect." Those who know how to discern God's will can devote themselves directly to God. “Today, lead me according to your will, and let me live according to your will.” Such faith and prayer must be constant for us.
Genesis 41:39 says, "And he said to Joseph, All these things have God revealed to you, and there is none as understanding and wise as you." It is difficult for a person to understand the dream he had even forgotten, but the reason that King Pharaoh had a dream and Joseph was able to interpret the dream he had forgotten is because God gave him the spirit of wisdom and revelation.
We always believe that God will please and bless us just to know what God is doing and wants for us. If a child tries to understand his father's will and thinks about what his father will be pleased with me today, the father will be very grateful to him.
③ You must know the Word of God. He wants you to know the word that comes out of the mouth of God. Jeremiah 1:4 says, "The word of the Lord came to me." Jeremiah rejoiced that the word of God had come to him. I pray in the name of the Lord that the word of God will come to you every day. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16, 17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, for the completeness of the man of God and for doing every good work. to make it perfect,” he said. Therefore, we must prepare with a spiritual heart and prayer in order to always understand the words of the Bible, rather than open it up on our own.
Second, open the eyes of your heart.
“Open the eyes of your hearts, and what is the hope of his calling, and what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints” (verse 18). It should be bright. Our physical eyes are precious, but our heart eyes are more precious. A person with a bright spirit always thinks about spiritual things and discovers spiritual things. You will see heaven in the distance, and you will also see the blessed hope.
The reason I prayed to open the eyes of my heart is to see what is the hope of the calling. “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden” (Matthew 11:28). These words are also called the invitation of mankind. God has called us humans. Calls us all out of perdition, out of sin, out of temptation and tribulation, out of poverty and privation, out of every curse, to make the needy rich, the sick healed, the perishing one saved, the one who is under temptation God has called you to protect you. So, we must open the eyes of our hearts to see the world of glorious hope God has given us.
② This is so that we can see what the riches of corporate glory are. God never makes us needy. There are two types of businesses. One is a heavenly enterprise. According to John 14:1~3, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions... I am going to prepare a place for you, go and you Prepare a place for me, and I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, you may be also.” Another is the land enterprise. I pray that you will receive abundant blessings both physically and spiritually in the work you do for our God.
Third, let us know what is the exceeding greatness of your power.
“I pray that you may know what is the exceeding greatness of the power which he has bestowed upon us who believe, according to the mighty work of his might” (verse 19). But in verse 20, it says that this power is accomplished in Christ. All history cannot be accomplished apart from Jesus. “I am the vine and you are the branches; if he in me and I in him, this man bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
We must believe in God's power when we kneel in humility before God's great power to create and rule the universe, and to give us true salvation and life. We must also know that when we know the source of our power and believe in the power of the Lord who is always with us, we can glorify God as the victor of faith.
Please believe that there is true life in the Lord, true hope and true answers are fulfilled in the Lord, and that fruit is produced in the Lord. And the power in the Lord is the power to raise from the dead, the power to put all things under his feet. He wants our God to look at this power and let us enjoy it.
Dear saints!
Like Paul, through the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, in order to know the existence of God, God’s will, and God’s Word, to open our minds and eyes to understand the hope of our calling and the riches of the glory of our inheritance. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will become victorious saints while praying to know what the exceeding greatness is like.