Ephesian Prayer

Notice how Paul prays for the Ephesians:

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
Ephesians 3:14-17

Ephesians 3 is a chapter of the Bible that one could spend a whole year unpacking. It is so full, each sentence packed with powerful truths. And all these truths are elegantly woven together by Paul in a symphony of word pictures. This prayer gives us just a taste of it.

For this reason: this phrase connects the prayer he’s about to write with what he has just finished discussing. He’s just completed a section where he explained that the mystery of the Gentiles being included in the gospel is part of the “unsearchable riches of Christ”(Ephesians 3:8). It is not something one could just learn from study. Paul said this mystery had to be “made known to me by revelation”(Ephesians 3:3). And though Paul was the “less than the least”(Ephesians 3:8) of God’s people, God gave Paul “the gift of grace” to preach this mystery among the Gentiles in order to make it “plain to everyone”(Ephesians 3:7-9). So it is “for this reason” that he kneels before the Father to pray for them.

Out of His glorious riches: God’s Kingdom is a Kingdom of abundance. There is always more than enough when it comes to God’s provision. He never struggles with resources whether they are physical, emotional or spiritual. Imagine a massive storehouse of riches that the Father has continual access to. That is God in His Kingdom. There is always more than enough with God.

Strengthen you with power: Paul’s prayer is that the Father would reach back and grab some power out of His storehouse of glorious riches, and that He would send that power to each person Paul is praying for. This power would be sent so that they can be strengthened. But where and how are they strengthened by this power?

Through His Spirit in your inner being: God will bring this strength to the Ephesian believers by giving it to them through the Holy Spirit in their inner being. The strength that will hit them will be an internal strength, a strength of the mind, will and emotions. Some might call it an internal fortitude. This inner strength will come when the Father sends His power, through the Holy Spirit, to each believer.

So that Christ can dwell in your hearts through faith: What is the purpose of sending this power to increase the internal fortitude of the believer? The hope is that this inner strength, coming through the Holy Spirit, will allow Christ to dwell in their hearts through faith. Christ dwelling in their hearts here isn’t about salvation. They are already believers who have the Holy Spirit. Since their spirits have already been united with the Holy Spirit, this is about their souls (mind, will and emotions) being surrendered to Christ.

The idea of Christ “dwelling” is in contrast to Christ “coming and going.” Another way of saying it is that as this power comes and creates an internal strengthening, faith will rise up and allow their soul (mind, will and emotions) to be in continual submission to Christ. Their obedience to Christ will not be occasional; it will not “come and go.” He will, in a sense, have permanent residence on the throne of their hearts because of the atmosphere of faith there.

One final thing to note is that all of this comes from being in the family of God. It comes as inheritance. It comes because of our relational connection to the Father. We can receive this strengthening power in our inner being through the Holy Spirit, establishing Christ as permanently on the throne of our hearts, because we have the same last name as the Father.

Inheritance (Part 2)

Paul writes down some of his prayers for the Ephesians. By looking at what he prays for we can learn more about what parts of our inheritance in Christ are available to us now. These things that Paul prays for aren’t automatic or he wouldn’t need to pray that the Ephesians receive them. Instead, they are available but must be pursued.

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strengthhe exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms…”
Ephesians 1:17-20

Here are more things that come with the inheritance of Christ. Every believer has access to these but must pursue them:

“the Spirit of wisdom and revelation”: this is when the Holy Spirit in us begins to supernaturally download God’s wisdom to us. It is insight that can’t be attained through natural means. God reveals things to us by His Spirit. When we get glimpses of the mind of Christ, we get to know Him better.
“eyes of your heart…enlightened”: this is the ability to see and sense things that we couldn’t before. Sometimes it is sensing things about another person. Sometimes it is an “ah ha” moment when reading Scripture. Sometimes it is just the ability to view a hard situation from God’s perspective. Specifically, Paul prays that the Ephesians would have the eyes of their hearts enlightened so that can come to know two things – hope and power.
“the hope to which he has called you”: hope is part of our inheritance as believers. Part of the reason we can have hope in any situation is because of the riches of this glorious inheritance that has been given to us by Christ. The hope of the gospel is an unconditional hope not dependent on circumstances. But this hope isn’t automatic; it must be pursued and held onto.
“his incomparably great power”: believers have access to the same power that rose Jesus from the dead. This is part of our inheritance! This power comes from the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. Romans 8:11 says, “the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you.” This power is not something to take likely. More power is entrusted to those who are good stewards of what they’ve already been given. Miracles become a more regular part of a believer’s life when they begin to operate in more power from the Holy Spirit.

As one can see, we’ve not only been given salvation in Christ but so much more!

Imagine a teenager living in poverty with a huge inheritance sitting in his bank account untouched. He doesn’t know it’s there and he doesn’t know how to access it. When family members have tried to tell him about it, he doesn’t believe them. When family members tell him that the first step in receiving what’s in the account is believing it is really there, he skeptically responds, “If this inheritance was real, I shouldn’t have to believe it is there for it to exist.” He ignores their response as they tell him his unbelief doesn’t change the reality of its existence but instead hinders his ability to access it. The longer he refuses to access his inheritance (or learn how to access it) the more he struggles in poverty.

This is much of the American church. We live in such spiritual poverty that we struggle to believe in the reality of the inheritance that has been given to us. The “riches of his glorious inheritance” is beyond measure! Are we willing to pursue it and receive it?