Part 2 of Ephesians: A Prayer to Memorize

Ephesians 1:15-23 (CSB)

15 This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.

20 He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens— 21 far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

Today, we are continuing on in the first chapter of Ephesians. Last week, we saw how God predestined the avenue of salvation. To review, we saw how God did not predestine some people and condemn all the other people. God marked out beforehand the route of salvation when He chose to send us Jesus to make the way of our salvation. All who trust in Jesus are given the Holy Spirit as a down payment on our inheritance. So now, moving on in the text, Paul says this, in verses 15-16: “This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.”

I want to note that these words are very similar in wording to what Paul wrote in Colossians 1:3-4 which says, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints.”

Paul is thankful for their faith and wants them to know that he prays for them. Then, he shares what he prays for them by praying right there in the letter. He says in verses 17-19, “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of his strength.”

This is a beautiful prayer, and I want us to look closer at it, for I think once we understand what exactly he’s praying for, we will want to memorize it and pray it for others and for ourselves.

Before we look at the specific things he prays for, I want to point out that, in summary, he’s praying that they would know more of what they already know in part. Earlier in the chapter, Paul told them how they have the Holy Spirit as a deposit, and how the Holy Spirit dwelling in us is part of our inheritance that we look forward to. In essence, I think he is praying that they would have more of the Holy Spirit, even though he doesn’t use those words. Why do I think that? Well, he prays that God would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God. That’s a fancy way of saying, ‘I pray that you would have more of the Holy Spirit.’ He’s praying, ‘May the Holy Spirit give you more wisdom and revelation and more experiences with God, so you know God even more.’ He’s asking God, ‘Give them more of the Holy Spirit so that the eyes of their heart may be enlightened.’

What does it mean to have the eyes of our heart enlightened? This term is the Greek word phótizó, which means, “To enlighten, illuminate, bring to light, make clear.” In other words, Paul wants these believers to better understand God. Isn’t this what we all need? This is why I think we should memorize this prayer. We all need the eyes of our heart enlightened by the Holy Spirit.

Now, let’s get into the reasons why. Specifically, he wants them to understand three things about God. He prays that the eyes of their heart may be enlightened so that they may know these three things:  

· The hope of God’s calling

· The wealth of God’s glorious inheritance in the saints

· The immeasurable greatness of God’s power toward those who believe, according to the mighty working of God’s strength

Knowing these three things is vital to our walk with God. Let’s take them one at a time. The first is that they would know the “hope of God’s calling.” Can you guess why this is essential to our ability to follow God? Paul will talk more about this “calling” in chapter 4, so I want to wait to discuss it in depth, but we should look at the foundation of this term.

The hope of God’s calling begins with God’s call of salvation. He calls all people to come to salvation and faith in Him. Our hope in this calling is hope in our salvation. We are looking forward to the life that is to come. In addition to salvation, God also calls each believer to unique work for Him. Every one of us has a calling on our lives. We need the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our heart so we can see what God is calling us to do. Once we understand what that is, then we have purpose and find hope in the calling.

It makes me think of Proverbs 29:18, which says, “Without revelation people run wild, but one who follows divine instruction will be happy.” We need the revelation of God in order to know what to do and how to follow Him. If we have been given the revelation, if the eyes of our heart have been opened, then we will have purpose. We will have hope for the future. The reason Proverbs says revelation brings happiness is because revelation brings hope and hope brings happiness. For how can we be happy if we do not have hope? We all need a purpose to living. For us Christians, our hope lies in the fact that God has called us to salvation, and He has called us to a purposeful life of following Him.

Oftentimes, it can be a complicated process to figure out God’s calling on our lives. Especially as a new Christian, I often wished that God would just appear to me and tell me what to do. It’s not that I don’t want Him to do that now, but rather I’ve realized that He doesn’t tend to work that way. Instead of obvious or direct revelation, God seems to speak to us in more subtle ways. He wants us to spend time in prayer and meditation with Him. He wants us to dig into His word. I think the reason for this is He wants us to realize that His calling on our lives is more than a work assignment: it is a call to daily surrender, which involves every moment of our lives.

It’s taken me many years to come to this realization: instead of asking, “God, what is Your will for me?” it’s better if I pray, “God, I give my will to You. Bend my will to Your ways. Mold me, shape me, form me into the person You want me to be.” Then, no matter what I am doing, no matter my job assignment, I am fulfilling God’s ultimate calling on my life, which is to be like Him.

Second, Paul prays their eyes may be opened so they may come to better understand the “wealth of God’s glorious inheritance in the saints.”

In MacLaren’s commentary, he writes, “The language in which he describes that future is remarkable- ‘the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.’ He calls it God’s inheritance, not as meaning that God is the Inheritor, but the Giver. He speaks of it as ‘in the saints,’ meaning that, just as the land of Canaan was distributed amongst tribes and families, and each man got his own little plot, so that broad land is parted out amongst those who are ‘partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.’”

What is this inheritance? Is it things we normally associate with earthly inheritance? Not at all. I know a lot of people like to try and imagine what Heaven will be like. People think it will be filled with material treasures or favorite activities they love the most. But I don’t think that’s an accurate idea. I like what MacLaren says when he describes what this inheritance we look forward to is. He says, “the inheritance is nothing less than the fuller possession of God Himself.”

And what will we do after we have “possession of God Himself”? We will fall down and worship Him, overwhelmed by being in His presence, seeing His glory.

Look at what Revelation tells us about heaven. It says in Revelation 4:8, “Each of the four living creatures had six wings; they were covered with eyes around and inside. Day and night they never stop, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come.”

Also, Revelation 5:11-14 says, “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and also of the living creatures and of the elders. Their number was countless thousands, plus thousands of thousands. They said with a loud voice,

Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughteredto receive power and richesand wisdom and strengthand honor and glory and blessing!

I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them say,

Blessing and honor and glory and powerbe to the one seated on the throne,and to the Lamb, forever and ever!

The four living creatures said, ‘Amen,’ and the elders fell down and worshiped.”

I think from those two descriptions, we can clearly see that in eternity, we will spend our time worshiping the Lord. In fact, I think that will be our primary activity. In the book, The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence, he writes, “the end we ought to propose to ourselves is to become, in this life, the most perfect worshippers of GOD we can possibly be, as we hope to be through all eternity.” I really appreciate that quote because it helps me keep the correct perspective on eternity.

The third thing that Paul prays is that these believers’ eyes of their hearts will be enlightened so they will know, “the immeasurable greatness of God’s power toward those who believe, according to the mighty working of God’s strength.”

Why do we need to know this? If we could truly understand the immeasurable greatness of God’s power and strength toward us, wouldn't that make it easier to trust Him? As Isaiah 59:1 encourages us, “Indeed, the Lord’s arm is not too weak to save, and his ear is not too deaf to hear.” We can trust Him to help us. He is able, if we trust Him.

Paul then presents the proof of God’s power and ability to help us. In verses 20-23 he says, “He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens— far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.”

What God has done through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof of the immeasurable greatness of God toward all of us who believe. It should fill us with unshakable hope that God, the One to whom all authority and power and dominion belongs, loves us enough that He came to earth and died for us, making a way for us to become His heirs. This hope translates into trust, or at least it is supposed to.

In Maclaren’s commentary, he makes a point about Paul’s words, “‘To usward who believe.’ Once more we are back at the old truth which we can never make too emphatic and plain, that the one condition of the weakest among us being strong with the strength of the Lord is simple trust in Him, verified, of course, by continuance and by effort.”

We have to believe. We have to have faith, which is more accurately described as ‘trust.’

Paul is praying that the believers, and this applies to all of us believers, would know- would really comprehend- the immeasurable greatness of God in giving us Jesus, for if we can comprehend that, then we can trust in God’s power to help us.

In MacLaren’s commentary, he writes, “That knowledge [of God’s immeasurable greatness] should shame us into contrition when we think of such force at our disposal, and such poor results. That knowledge should widen our conceptions, enlarge our desires, breathe a brave confidence into our hopes, should teach us to expect great things of God, and to be intolerant of present attainments whilst anything remains unattained. And it should stimulate our vigorous effort, for no man will long seek to be better, if he is convinced that the effort is hopeless.”

We need the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our heart so we can see this truth. If we don’t understand God’s power and greatness, why would we hope or trust that He can fill us with all that we need? If we don’t understand God’s great power, then we won’t think He’s strong enough to change us.

MacLaren also explains this more, and because I cannot improve on what he wrote, I include it in its entirety: “The working measure of our spiritual life is our faith. In plain English, we can have as much of God as we want. We do have as much as we want. And if, in touch with the power that can shatter a universe, we only get a little thrill that is scarcely perceptible to ourselves, and all unnoticed by others, whose fault is that? If, coming to the fountain that laughs at drought, and can fill a universe with its waters, we scarcely bear away a straitened drop or two, that barely refreshes our parched lips, and does nothing to stimulate the growth of the plants of holiness in our gardens, whose fault is that? The practical measure of the power is for us the measure of our belief and desire. And if we only go to Him, as I pray we all may, and continue there, and ask from Him strength, according to the riches that are treasured in Jesus Christ, we shall get the old answer, ‘According to your faith be it unto you.’”

I don’t know about you, but I want more of God. I want Him to fill me with more understanding of “the hope of His calling, what is the wealth of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the mighty working of His strength.” Then I can trust Him more. Then I won’t doubt so much. Then I will have faith in His power to work in my life and change me and set me increasingly free from sin.

This is why I think this is a prayer we should memorize and pray often for ourselves and for fellow Christians. We need the eyes of our heart to be opened to understand.

As Paul says, Jesus has all authority and power over everything. Everything is subjected under Him. Jesus is the head of all things for the church, which is the term Paul uses for the body of Christ, which is all of us believers. Not only this but look again at the final verses of this chapter, verse 22-23 which say, “And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills things in every way.”

Jesus is the head of the body, and as such, He is the source. Think of the word ‘head’ as being the headwaters of a river. He is the source of all we receive from God. As such, the church is meant to become the “fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.” As the Pulpit Commentary says, “But it is not meant that the Church has actually received all the fullness of Him who filleth all in all, but only that she is in the course of receiving it […] When the Church is completed, it will be a representation of the fullness of God; all of God that can be communicated to men will be made manifest in the Church. For He whose fullness the Church is, is He that filleth all in all, or filleth all with all. He possesses all things, and He fills all space with all things. He fills the ocean with water, the organic world with life, the firmament with stars, the entire creation with forms innumerable, alike beautiful and useful. So also He fills the Church.”

As Paul says, the church is “the fullness of the one who fills all things.” According to Strong’s Lexicon, this word for fullness is the Greek word pléroó, and it means “to fill, to make full, to complete.” Jesus, as the head and source of all things, is increasingly filling us with all we need to follow Him and become more like Him in character. Just as the Holy Spirit is the deposit of our inheritance that we will one day receive in completion, so too is the church being filled with all the things of God and one day will be made complete.

One day, we who trust in Jesus will receive our full inheritance. We will finally have full possession of God, meaning we will see Him in all His glory, and we will be filled to completion with the fullness of Him. This is our hope. This is our ultimate calling. We can trust that God is strong and mighty enough to do this. As Philippians 1:6 says, “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

If the eyes of our heart are enlightened, then we will understand the hope of God’s calling, the wealth of His glorious inheritance we wait for, and the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will give us greater understanding so we can trust Him even more.

Pray: Heavenly Father, we pray that You would give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so we can better know You. Please open the eyes of our hearts, so we may know the hope of Your calling, the wealth of Your glorious inheritance, and the immeasurable greatness of Your power toward us who believe. Help us to trust You so You can fill us in increasing measure with more of You. Change us, Lord. Mold us and shape us into better reflections of You. We ask all this in the name of Jesus our Savior, amen.