Paul’s Prayer
Every few weeks I get a small envelope in the mail addressed to the church. As soon as I pull it from the mailbox, I know exactly what it is and what it says. It’s a little note from the local Gideons group, and each time it says the same thing.
Pastor Sindt,
At our prayer meeting this past Monday morning, we specifically prayed for you, your family and your congregation. May God bless you, protect you and guide you as you shepherd His people. We pray that your ministry will bear much fruit.
It feels good to know that someone is praying for you, to know that someone has taken the time, not to merely pray for you as a part of a group, but to pray for you by name. It’s always humbling to know that someone is praying for you. If you think about it, prayer takes time, so when someone says that they will pray for you or that they’ve been praying for you, what they’re essentially saying is that you are important enough to take up their time even when you’re not around.
When someone asks us to pray for them, we’re all quick to say yes, but many times we forget or say a quick prayer right then to make sure we didn’t just lie about praying.So when someone takes the time to pray for you, not as a group but by name, it’s a very special thing. You’re sure they said good things, but a little part of you wonders what they said or what they specifically prayed for.
As we continue through the book of Ephesians, we find Paul offering up this answer to the church in Ephesus. He tells them that he has been praying for them, but he then tells them what exactly his prayer for them is (Ephesians 1:15-23).
He starts off by bragging on them a little. Like I said, Ephesians is one of the few letters Paul wrote where he wasn’t trying to address a particular issue within the church, so he basically starts telling them how proud he is of them. He praises them for their faith and for their love, but he doesn’t just tell them that he heard a good report. He doesn’t just leave it as a pat on the back. He specifically tells them, “ever since I heard […] I have not stopped giving thanks for you.”
He’s almost like a grandparent, completely awestruck by their own grandchildren. I can just see Paul going around showing people pictures in his wallet, “This is the church I planted in Corinth, and here’s the one in Galatia. Oh, and here’s the church in Ephesus. Let me tell you about them. I thank God for them every day, for both their faith in Jesus and their love for the saints.” So, Paul continually gives thanks to God for this church in Ephesus, but he doesn’t stop there. Not only does he thank God for them, he prays for them as well, and once again, he lets them know the topic of his prayers (Ephesians 1:17).
His prayer for them is that God might give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation for the purpose that they might know him (God) better. The word know here is the Greek word epignosei. Typically the meaning of this word can range from a baseline understanding to a basic realization. However, the way in which the word is constructed here gives it more of a spiritual context. When used in this way it goes beyond a simple understanding or realization. Instead, it emphasizes knowing something exactly or completely.
As an example, Barack Hussein Obama II was born August 4, 1961. He graduated from both Columbia University and Harvard Law School. On October 3, 1992 he married Michelle Robinson. Today they have two daughters, Sasha and Malia. Barack Obama took office on January 20, 2009 as the first African-American President of the United States of America.
With all of that being said, how many people reading this would say that they know Barack Obama? This is the difference between depth and breadth of knowledge. We can read about and study about a person, their life, and their accomplishments and expand our breadth of knowledge, but Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus is for more than a surface knowledge of God. What he’s praying for is a depth of knowledge, to go beyond a head knowledge to a heart knowledge, a relational understanding.
A knowledge such as this, while it can be aided by study and research, can’t be accomplished by study alone. No matter how much you study about the life and accomplishments of Barack Obama, you will only increase the breadth of your knowledge. If you want to get a deeper knowledge, you’re going to have to talk to him. You’re going to have to sit down and not only tell him things but listen and converse with him. To gain a deeper knowledge of someone you have to develop that relationship. You have to take the time to get to know them and understand them in a deep way like only a true friend could. This is Paul’s prayer. The wisdom and revelation that he’s praying for only comes through an intimate relationship.
He goes on to pray in Ephesians 1:18-19 for enlightenment, but specifically enlightenment in three areas: the hope of their calling; the riches of His inheritance; and His incomparable power for the believer. We often equate hope with an idea of wishful thinking. When you’re a kid and you look up into the sky at night and you begin to say, “Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight.” You then say your wish in your head and you hope that it will come true. However, the hope for a Christian is not merely an intense desire or wishful thinking. A Christian’s hope is grounded in the certainty of who God is. As he reveals his plan to us, we sit in amazed anticipation as we wait. This is the hope that we have as Christians, and this is the hope that Paul is praying for, but not only hope but the riches of our inheritance to come.
With shows like Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Deal or No Deal, normal, everyday people began to have hopes that they might someday come into a load of money. As we watched the person in the hot seat inch closer and closer to that million dollar mark, we were all on the edge of our seats. We started thinking about what we would do if we had a million dollars. However, while we may think that millions of dollars is a lot, it wasn’t long before we coined the term billionaire in order to describe people who had billions of dollars rather than millions. Today, Bill Gates, the richest man in the world according to Forbes, is valued at $75 billion. We have a hard enough time wrapping our heads around one million dollars, can you imagine $75 billion? It’s hard to fathom that sum of money, yet Paul’s prayer is that we might know the riches of our inheritance from God. If wrapping your heads around $75 billion dollars is mind-boggling, how much more the heavenly treasures that await those that trust in Jesus Christ as their savior?
Paul’s prayer here is more than just, “I pray that they remember the vast wealth that awaits them.” It’s a reminder to the people. Jesus told the people, “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20). Paul’s prayer for the people is a reminder of this, that they might not be distracted by the treasures of this world, but that they might be encouraged to persevere in order that they might receive the inheritance that awaits.
Paul’s final prayer is that we might know the incomparably great power that God has for us. One of the known attributes of God is his omnipotence, that’s a fancy word that means he is all-powerful. This is evidenced through creation. Whether you understand six literal days or theistic evolution, God’s ultimate power was evidenced through his act of creation. With nothing more than a word, God brought into existence everything in the universe: time; space; matter; and energy, all of it. Now that is incredible power. Paul’s specific prayer is that we might know that power, but specifically the power for those who believe, the power over life and death, the power over sin and the grave, the power that Jesus demonstrated on the cross, and the power that he shares with us.
Paul planted many churches and undoubtedly prayed many prayers, but I would argue the most important prayer that anyone could pray is the one he prayed for Ephesus, to know and understand the hope we have in Christ, the inheritance we are entitled to through his grace, and the absolute power of the God we serve. However, it all starts with knowing God and developing that deep, intimate relationship, that we might not just know about God, but that we may know God himself. That was Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus, and that is my prayer as well.