December 1, 2010 (Ephesians 1-6)

Ephesians - another book like Colossians - rich in truth.

Again, we hear of God's secret plan - a plan centered on Christ. What is God's purpose?

¹² God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. ¹³ And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. ¹⁴ The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

And now, for the prayer verses. How would our lives change if we prayed this for one another? How convicting is verse 16? - "I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly." And now for the complete verses on the prayers we should be praying for one another.

1:16 I pray for you constantly, ¹⁷ asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. ¹⁸ I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people.

¹⁹ I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power ²⁰ that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. ²¹ Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come.

^3:12 Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. ¹³ So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored.

¹⁴ When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, ¹⁵ the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. ¹⁶ I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. ¹⁷ And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots will grow down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. ¹⁸ And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. ¹⁹ May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

²⁰ Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. ²¹ May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.