We saw yesterday that Paul's heart's desire is that the Ephesians may know God better. We realised that this is the best prayer that we can pray for anyone! But Paul helps us further by explaining that nature of the "knowing God" that he is praying for:
Paul is praying that the "eyes of the heart" are enlightened. In Hebrew culture (and the Greek culture to a certain extent) the heart was not the seat of emotions, but the control centre of the soul. The heart was the foundation of one's values and principles.
Paul prays for three key values to be clearly seen and understood:
1. The hope to which we have been called. Hope is the fuel of life. It gives us the "chutzpah" to get us out of bed in the mornings. It keeps us going through adversity and provides purpose for life. Our hope is in Christ.
2. The riches of our glorious inheritance in the saints. Understanding what Christ has done for us and that we are inheritors of eternal life means that we serve God out of incredible gratitude. Because of His goodness to us it is easy for us to offer ourselves as an _oblation_ (a solemn offering of our lives to the glory of God.)
3. His incomparably great power for us who believe. His power is at work in us to guide us, teach us, empower and transform us. This power is resurrection power - it raised Christ from the dead and raises us from our deadness. We become resurrection agents - called and empowered to bring life wherever we go.
So Paul wants us to know God and to know that we have hope in Him, an inheritance that is _glorious_ and that there is phenomenal power lurking to be unleashed in our lives.
Wow! Imagine praying this for those you love!
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
