Our devotional in Paul’s prayers and prayer reports continues!
Ephesians 1:15-19 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17I 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. 18I pray also 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 the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
This is the first of the ‘major’ prayers that most people associate with Paul. It’s so good we’re going to spend two days on it!
First, as we’ve already come to expect, he gives thanks. In this case he is thankful for their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love for all the saints – once again the very basics of the Christian life. How many people do you know that you can sincerely give thanks for in these two ways, people who trust God and continue to love others even in difficult circumstances? I know several.
Paul then gets into his actual prayer, which is directed to God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus and which asks that the people Paul is praying for be given, literally, a spirit of wisdom and revelation in a fuller knowledge of Him. In other words, “Glorious Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that you would give spiritual wisdom to __________. Reveal yourself to him that he may know you more fully.” Or “reveal yourself to her that she may know you more fully.”
The prayer will go on to more specifics of that knowledge, but that’s enough to start. Who do you know who needs this? Whose name will you fill in the blank?
This desire is captured well by Chris Tomlin’s In The Secret. He directs the prayer at himself, which is an important place to start. But don’t lose sight of the fact that Paul directs it to others!