Lessons on Prayer (2)

You’ll have no doubt heard the expression before, ‘the longest distance is between your head and your heart’! And that is particularly true in the Christian life! We can know the truth of the gospel, we can affirm the doctrines of Scripture, we can believe the teachings of God in His Word. But, so often they can seem distant, we don’t quite get the enjoyment and nourishment from them that we should! We’ve just read one of the most breathtaking passages concerning our salvation in the Scriptures, hearing that in Christ we have been blessed with every spiritually blessing in the heavenly places, we’ve been chosen before even the foundation of the world, we’ve been predestined to be adopted as sons and daughters of Almighty God! We’ve been bought and freed by the blood of Jesus Christ, we’ve been given an inheritance and that inheritance is guaranteed by the Holy Spirit whom we have received!

If you’re a Christian this morning, it doesn’t get better than this! No matter what you experience in your life, no matter what amazing news you hear, a multi million pounds pay out, an all clear from the hospital, a marriage proposal, a new pregnancy, straight A+s in the exams! Nothing comes even close to the wondrous truths that this passage contains! And yet, if we’re honest, so often they sail over our heads, and fail to impact our hearts! We have this wondrous truth and it’s as though we leave it like an unwrapped Christmas present, never truly getting to enjoy it!

Paul knew the reality of this, and so in his letter to the Ephesians, he begins with this amazing unpacking of the gospel, but he doesn’t stop there. His work is not done in just the telling forth of this truth, it continues into the place of prayer! And if we and the people we share with, are to enjoy the reality of these truths, the same must be true of us, We must pray!! So let me give you just a few encouragements from this passage to press on in prayer, that we might know the reality of what we have in Christ!

Pray because God delights to give (v.15-17)

Paul at this stage of his life is under house arrest in the city of Rome. His missionary journeys are finished, his days of travel and proclamation largely ended! But His work is not done! From his place of captivity, he can still write and he can still pray! As you think of the life and ministry of Paul, by God’s grace he was an extraordinary example! Sacrificing all to go to the ends of the known world and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, planting churches, discipling believers, establishing leaders, all at great cost to himself! Beatings, ship wrecks, stonings, sleepless nights!! Then he was inspired by God’s Spirit to write at least 13 maybe 14 (if you count Hebrews) of the letters in the N.T. But one aspect of his work that is often overlooked, is his prayer life! He prayed for these churches constantly, he was earnest to cry out to God on their behalf!

…and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,

But we pray to God that you may not do wrong... Your restoration is what we pray for...

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

...we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?

I don’t know how he got the time to do anything else!! Prayer was central to His ministry, He knew this was God’s work not His, He knew God was the only one able, not him! But he also knew that God delights to give! Paul has recognised the fruit in the Ephesian believers lives (v.15), he knows God has begun that good work, that they have been chosen, predestined, adopted, blessed in Christ. And therefore he knows that his Father, and their Father, the Father of glory, will give! He delights to give! ...

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

If God has brought us to Himself through the gospel of Jesus Christ, you can be share that He wants us to grow in our enjoyment, wonder and delight in that same gospel! He wants us to know Him, He wants us to taste and see that He is good, He wants us to experience the truth not just affirm it in our heads! And if we know He wants this, then we must pray! We must ask Him! And Just note also that this is not a one time prayer for Paul, I do not cease to give thanks for them, remembering you in my prayers… He keeps asking, keeps pleading, keeps working in prayer for these believers!

Maybe this morning you’ve lost hope in the things of God really gripping your heart. Maybe you’ve resigned yourself to what you know and taste now. Let me encourage you, God wants to take us deeper, He wants to give, He delights to give, especially when it leads to greater enjoyment of Him! Or maybe you wonder, what ministry can I be involved in...

Pray because God delights to give...

Pray because it’s only His Spirit that Enlightens (v.16-18)

What Paul asks of God is that He might give these believers the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened…

Light is such a wonderful thing, we go into a room at night and everything is is darkness, the items in the room are still there, our ability to see them doesn’t change their reality. But it does change our capacity to benefit from them. We stumble and grope in the dark, but then the light is switched on and we see! We see what was already there but yet we missed it!

Unfortunately often our hearts are like that! That place in us where knowledge, emotions, will, all come together, the control center of our lives, often seems to have the curtains drawn and the lights dimmed! The truth is there, God has spoken, He’s revealed Himself! We don’t need any new revelation! What we’re in need of is enlightenment to the revelation that is already there! A realisation and belief of the blessing we already have in Christ! Paul was writing to a church that was located at the center of idol worship, occult practices, magic! It was a place that revelation and enlightenment was prized so highly! And Paul doesn’t diminish that, but He does define and focus it! The enlightenment needed is only given by the One True God, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it comes only through the Holy Spirit! He is the Spirit of wisdom and revelation!

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

These believers had already been sealed by the Holy Spirit, but now Paul prays that that same Spirit would work in such a way that He would turn the dimmer switch up, and enable them to grow in their grasping of the wonders that they already have in Christ Jesus.

And we need the same! Only God by His Holy Spirit can enlighten, only God by His Holy Spirit can take the things God has already revealed, and illuminate them, so that we can see, grasp, wonder, enjoy, delight in! Only He can do it, so we must pray!! We must pray for ourselves, our brothers and sisters in this place, those that we share the gospel with! This is not within our power, so we must pray!!

Do you find yourself in that place of apathy, a bit of indifference, the things of God seem a little dim? God in His grace doesn’t want to leave you in that place! So pray!! Let’s make it our prayer together as a church! Father give us in MBC the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you, enlighten the eyes of our hearts! Make the truths we affirm in our heads explode with joy and passion in our hearts! Pray that, and not just as a one off!!

Pray because what He has for us is precious. (v.18-23)

Paul asks for three things that these believers might know through the enlightening work of the Holy Spirit! And they are incredible! The first is v.18b ‘…that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you...’

How often have you read the words, he ‘…has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places...’ And you’ve thought, ‘wow that sounds amazing’ and then you move on to something else! It sounds amazing, you believe it to be true, but you’ve never got it, you’ve never unwrapped it and wondered at it, been in awe about it! That’s the very work God through His Spirit wants to do in us! He wants us to know, not just in our heads, this great hope to which He has called us!

Back to the Future 2 came into my mind as I was thinking about this. If you’ve seen that movie you’ll remember that the Biff of the future (stay with me), travels in the Dolrean to the past and there he gives His younger self a book. In this book it has all the results of the major sporting events for the next 50 years. And if this younger Biff uses it correctly, he stands to win endless amounts of money! But the his younger self doesn’t see the worth and value of what he’s been given, he pays little attention to the book and the older Biff has to give him a slap to help him see what he has at his fingertips!!

And so often we’re the same, we don’t realise what we have in Christ! We have been chosen! Out of all the people that have ever lived, He has chosen us to be His people. The God of Heaven and earth, has adopted us, to be His sons and daughters! He has wiped away all our sin, so that we can be holy and blameless before Him! He has lavished upon us good gifts that we don’t deserve! He’s promised us that He will work all things for our good, that He will keep us and never allow any to snatch us from His hand, that we will one day see Him face to face in a place where there will be no more tears, sorrow, sin! Everything is going to be ok! In fact it’s going to be better than ok, because of Christ we will experience the fullness of joy in His presence that we were created for! Oh that we may know the hope to which He has called us!

The second thing we see Paul ask for, is that we might know, what are riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints...’ Now some read this as meaning the inheritance that we will receive in glory, that Paul has mentioned in v.11. But it seems more likely given the way Paul writes it, that He is praying that we would know how God sees us as His inheritance!

That’s how the people of Israel were described in the OT, For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’

…for they are your people, and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace)... For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be your heritage, as you declared through Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”( )

God wants us to know, that we are His inheritance, we are treasured, precious, loved! As a King might glory in his riches and possessions, the Lord glories in us! Do you remember King Hezekiah when the envoys from Babylon come, and he shows off his treasure! It’s as though the Lord says, look at my people, look at what I have done with them! Not because we’re class, but because we are the demonstration of His glorious grace! He’s taken us from the dungheep, from nothing, and He has set His love on us and made us new in His image. Yes we fail, we look at ourselves at time and despair, but He doesn’t! We are His prized possession! …the Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love;… ()

What a wonderful thing that God wants us to know this! He wants us to ask for this!!

And the final thing we see that Paul asks for and the main one here, is that we might know ‘…what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe...’ Power and might was sought by many in Ephesus involved in the occult and magic! They believed that through various rituals they could receive supernatural ability that could be used to avenge themselves on their enemies!

And that is the power God has demonstrated in the gospel of Jesus Christ! He’s given us

But Paul reminds His readers here, and prays that they would come to know that real power, the immeasurable greatness of his power is at work in those who believe! And in case they wonder what that power looks like, Paul shows them it’s demonstration in Christ! God has put His power on display when He raised Him from the dead, defeating our biggest enemy, our greatest foe, death itself!

God has put His power on display by seating him at his right hand in the heavenly places! The One in whom we are blessed, has been given the place of honor above all! Above every authority, every spirit, every form of evil, every practice of the occult, or force that would seek to destroy us, and that are just too powerful for us! Christ is enthroned above all!

God has put His power on display by putting all things under his feet! A citation from …You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet. Jesus reigns over His enemies, over our enemies, no matter what whose enemies are, and will soon put them away forever!

And finally God has put His power on display in giving this exalted Christ, to His Church! The One who reigns, is our head, our ruler, our Lord! And He will use His authority over all for our benefit!!

That is the power that Paul wants these believers to know is working in us!! And how we need the Spirit to see it!

So let me finish, if you are in Christ this morning, what you have in Him is more than you could ever believe! In fact it’s so much more that the only way we can taste of it, truly know it, is by a work of His Spirit, enlightening our hearts! And if that is true, like Paul teaches us here, we must pray!!

Christian do you want to know Him, do you want to go deeper and see these wonderful truths transform everything?! If you do, then pray! He delights to give, only His Spirit can enlighten, and what He has for us is too good to miss!!

And if you’re here still not in Christ, one day you’ll see Him, one day you’ll know that He is God! But you’ll know as one of His enemies, under His feet that He destroys for their rebellion! But it doesn’t have to be that way, because today He offers a pardon, He offers mercy, He calls you to come. To bow to Him now, to call upon His name now, and He will save you, and bless you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places!