PRAY TO UNDERSTAND THE HOPE AND POWER WE HAVE IN CHRIST

Ephesians 1:18-19a-...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, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.

If the Ephesians will know all God has given them in Jesus, it will take a supernatural work. It will require that the eyes of your understanding be enlightened by God.

Paul used a great expression when he speaks of the eyes of your heart (heart is more literal than understanding). Too many Christian hearts have no eyes (places where they gain real knowledge and understanding), and too many Christian eyes have no heart – God wants both to be combined in us.

“The word ‘heart’ in Scripture signifies the very core and centre of life, where the intelligence has its post of observation, where the stores of experience are laid up, and the thoughts have their fountain.” (Alford)

Paul wanted them to know this. Few things give us a more secure and enduring hope in life than simply knowing that God has called us and has a specific calling for us to fulfill.

The hope of His calling has its perspective on the future. The believer has a glorious future of resurrection, eternal life, freedom from sin, perfected justification, and glorious elevation above the angels themselves.

Paul wanted them to know the greatness of God’s inheritance in His people. We usually think only of our inheritance in God, but Paul wanted the Ephesians to understand that they are so precious to God that He considered them His own inheritance.

Several commentators believe that Paul also spoke of God’s inheritance in His people back in Ephesians 1:11. But that is certainly his idea here, with Paul probably drawing his idea from Deuteronomy 32:8-9: When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance.

Knowing our spiritual poverty, we wonder how God can find any inheritance in the saints. Yet God can make riches out of poor men and women because He invests so much in them. He has invested riches of love, riches of wisdom, riches of suffering, riches of glory. These things accrue to a rich inheritance in the saints.

Paul wanted them to know how great the power of God is toward us who believe. Christians should know they serve and love a God of living power who shows His strength on behalf of His people.

Many Christians do not know this power – or they only know it from a distance. God wants resurrection life to be real in the life of the believer. “The very same power which raised Christ is waiting to raise the drunkard from his drunkenness, to raise the thief from his dishonesty, to raise the Pharisee from his self-righteousness, to raise the Sadducee from his unbelief.” (Spurgeon)

This ends the “request” portion of Paul’s prayer. The following section explains more of this mighty power and what it did. Paul asked these things because they were important to ask for. We could say that the prayer of Ephesians 1:17-19 is essentially a request that the promises of Ephesians 1:3-14 be found as real in the lives of the Ephesian Christians.

In the same way, your prayers for the spiritual growth and enlightenment of others are important. If Paul believed it was important to pray these things for the Ephesian Christians, it is important for us to pray them for others – and ourselves.

Prompt: Pray Ephesians 1:18-19a. Pray for a deeper understanding of the hope we have in Jesus, both in your life and in the lives of the people around you.

Based on the Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik.