EphesiansSample

Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians is that they would know AND experience the power of the gospel that raised Jesus from the dead. Although Paul prayed for the people in the church in Ephesus, through Jesus, that prayer is something we can ask God for today! Paul begins the prayer with the most important thing, praising God for who God is: He is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of glory! This is a powerful and good reminder for us today to begin our prayers by acknowledging who God is.

The prayer goes on to share what Paul hopes the believer would experience as they walk in a relationship with God:

1. The Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God

No matter our age, the Holy Spirit gives us wisdom and knowledge beyond what we could naturally produce. This wisdom and knowledge guides us in the right direction as we walk in a relationship with God. When we seek out this wisdom from the Holy Spirit, he allows us to see more clearly His plan for our lives, and learn about His heart for us. This is “revelation in the knowledge of God.”

2. Be enlightened to the hope He calls us to

Paul goes on to pray that the eyes of our hearts (our very core) would be enlightened to the hope that He has called us to. What is our hope? Our hope is the “riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints”. Although we have an inheritance in Heaven simply by believing in Jesus, Paul reminds the Ephesians that they are precious to God and that He considers them (and us believers today) His own inheritance. In Matthew 13:44, Jesus tells the parable of the man selling all he has to buy a field containing a treasure. God teaches us that the treasure is us, His children, and the person who gave everything to buy the field, is Jesus. Jesus paid the highest price for you and me on the cross to save and redeem us to be His inheritance in heaven.

3. God’s power is available to us all

Paul ends in verse 19 by praying that the Ephesians would know the great power of God is for all who believe in Him. We serve a mighty and powerful God who is working all things for our good, and His own glory.

This passage reminds us who God is, that we have access to His knowledge and wisdom through the Holy Spirit, that God treasures us as His inheritance, and that God is working with the greatness of his power for the believer and we have access to draw from this power daily!

Prayer Points

• Start your prayer today like Paul did, acknowledging who God is
• Pray that the Holy Spirit would increase your knowledge of God and wisdom to walk with Him today
• Remember that God treasures you as His inheritance
• Pray that God would give you His power today as you go through each part of your day