Finding Grace In Ephesians: A 6-Day Bible Studyনমুনা

The Power In You

Paul is like a proud spiritual father in this passage.

Word that the Ephesians are serving God and loving one another has reached him all the way in Rome. Imagine the joy and gratitude he felt in light of his final warning to them in Acts 20:29-30. It’s no wonder Paul doesn’t stop thanking God and praying for those he invested in so dearly.

As he prays, Paul first asks that the same God whom he has blessed and who has already blessed the Ephesians would do still more for them.

Don’t miss this: God wants us to ask him for wisdom and knowledge. He delights in answering this prayer. He desires to reveal himself to his children.

Notice how Paul is praying and teaching at the same time. We don’t have to be preaching from a pulpit to teach. The very truths Paul has just preached over the Ephesians in the previous 14 verses are best drawn out into our daily lives through prayer.

We have a habit of going to God with our upload of requests and needs. And that’s fine: Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:6-8 that we are welcome to present our requests to God. But God wants us to draw near and draw out who he is in our lives.

Paul asks God to allow the Ephesians to see differently—not seeing the physical but the spiritual. He knows the Spirit of God is the one who opens our hearts to clear understanding.

Paul wants them to know these things as surely as they know their names. He wants them to see greater things than physical eyes can see. He longs for God to let them see with their hearts.

This is for us as well.

God called us all to embrace with joyful expectation our salvation, which is both future and current. There is great hope in knowing one day we will experience in full our glorious inheritance, when Jesus comes back to rescue us and take us safely home.

But this verse also highlights that God has an inheritance in us. This broken world isn’t the end, and all we have is not merely future-related.

Remember the deposit he’s placed within us in the person of the Holy Spirit? This down payment comes with power. And not just any power, but the same power that raised Christ from the dead.

The Greek word in Ephesians 1:19 for “power” is my favorite Greek word. Dynamis. Dynamite has its origins here.

Think of it like this: All the power a stick of dynamite needs to explode is within it.

The power Paul is talking about, which lives inside you, raised Christ from the dead.

This is our hope: Heaven is coming, and today you have all the power you need in the Holy Spirit to live out your calling until you get there.

Do you know how much you mean to Christ? We lack nothing we need.

Do you know it?

Do you believe it?

Paul was praying the Ephesians would. And I’m praying we do too.

- - - - - - - - 

We hope you enjoyed this Bible study, adapted from When Grace Walks In: Passionately Pursued, Incredibly Loved by Stacey Thacker.

Discover more about the inheritance you have in Christ here: https://amzn.to/2O65CXQ.