Ephesians 1:15–23 (ESV)

15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that 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 rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Yesterday, we examined Paul’s motivation for praying for the Church. That motivation was two things: he had heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love toward all the saints.

Paul then prayed for four specific things. The first must happen before the other three can.

1. He first prays that God may give them the ability to know Him personally and fully.

Ephesians 1:16–18 (ESV)

16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened,…”

As believers, they already had the Holy Spirit indwelling them. Paul’s prayer is that they might be receptive to allow God to deepen their understanding of HIm. The goal is to have the knowledge of God deepened in their minds and hearts. Their hearts would be made to see, that is enlightened to knowing God more clearly.  This again is the idea of knowing God in an intimate personal way.

Paul wants the church to have wisdom in its knowledge of God, as well as revelations in the knowledge of God. Revelation deals with the imparting of knowledge; wisdom has to do with the proper use of it in our lives. The apostle is not thinking of knowledge in general, but of the specific knowledge of Him. He wants the believers to have a deep, spiritual, and experiential knowledge of God—a knowledge that cannot be gained by intellectual ability, but only by the gracious ministry of the Spirit.

With this in place, the believers can experience the other three requests in Paul’s prayer.

“that you may know…”

2. “what is the hope to which he has called you,”

3, “what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,”

4. “and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe,”

For the rest of the week, we will look at these three aspects of Paul’s prayer.

One more thing. Paul said to the church that these were the things that he was “remembering you in my prayers.” Paul didn’t just pray this prayer once. He was constantly bringing the church before the Lord, that these specific things might develop in the church. Let’s pray these same things for our church and for other churches