Hi everyone - welcome to our daily devotionals. Today we will be reading Ephesians 1:15-23.
The Apostle Paul writes, "15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love[f] toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all."
Amen.
The Apostle Paul, in most of his letters, will typically start off with some kind of thanksgiving and it's always encouraging to see how Paul always gives thanks to the Lord for the people that he's writing to. And once again in the letter to the to the church in Ephesus, he starts with this thanksgiving section. He says, "I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus in your love for all the saints, and for this reason I remember you in my prayers," and it's through his prayers, that he one, give thanks to the Lord for them. He says in the beginning of verse 16, "I do not cease to give thanks for you." But part of that thanksgiving is also a plea to God, for God to work in them to continue to grow them in their faith and their love towards one another. And so he prays and asks the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, that he might give them the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of who he is. He's praying that they would come to know more and more the fullness of who are God is. Today I want to just kind of dive a little bit deeper into verses 18 to 23. In verse 18, he says that the way that we can receive the spirit of wisdom and of revelation is by having the eyes of our hearts in enlightened, having the eyes of our hearts opened. Now it's kind of a weird phrase to use - the eyes of our hearts. How do our hearts have eyes? He's not making a literal statement but he's talking about spiritual eyes that allow us to see spiritual things and that happens not just in our minds but it happens primarily through our hearts. When our hearts are pure and our hearts are pursuing after God, our spiritual eyes are opened, enlightened so that we might come to know the spirit of wisdom and revelation. We may come to know who He is and he says that when our eyes are open and when we have spiritual sight, we are able to see three things: spiritual hope, our glorious inheritance, and the immeasurable greatness of His power.
He first talks about this spiritual hope. He says that we might know what is the hope to which we have been called. God has given us a hope in Christ. He has given us a hope beyond death, a hope beyond being orphans in this world. He has given us a hope so that we can have life with him as adopted sons and daughters, a hope of eternal life with God.
Secondly, he's given us the riches of his glorious inheritance and that happens through Jesus as well. Our inheritance comes as sons and daughters of God, prince and princesses, a royal priesthood - He has given us a great inheritance in Christ.
Third, when the eyes of our hearts are enlightened and opened, we come to see the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. It is through faith that the eyes of our hearts are opened and we come to see that there is great power that the Lord is working in us and toward us. And what's interesting and encouraging as well, is that this same power is the same power that was worked in Christ. V20 says that it is the same power that God the father worked in his son Jesus Christ. How was this power revealed in Christ? Well it goes on to say that it was revealed when He raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. There's a great there's great power that the Lord is working toward us.
So today I want to ask us to pray and to ask the Lord for our eyes to be enlightened, for the eyes of our hearts to be opened, that we may come to know the spiritual hope that we have in Jesus, the riches of our glorious inheritance, and the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe. Not only praying this for ourselves but praying in the likeness of the Apostle Paul. He prayed this specifically for the beloved church in Ephesus. He's praying that their faith and their love would increase as the eyes their hearts are opened and enlightened.
So let's pray for the people in our lives, specifically the church. Pray for those who you have partnered with in the gospel, those who you can currently serve with in family group or micro church, those who are in your family group and micro church. Pray for the church as a whole and perhaps for churches in the past that you've been a part of. Or perhaps if you are not part of Symphony and are listening to this devotional, pray for the church that you belong to.
Let's pray that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened, that we might come to know the spiritual hope, our glorious inheritance, and the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe in Jesus Christ.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for your Word today and we thank you for giving us the faith and the love to do all that we need to do and all the things that you are calling us to do. Thank you for the brothers and sisters in our lives who have exemplified this kind of love and faith. Lord we pray that you would open our spiritual eyes. Open the eyes of our hearts that we might come to know more and more the spiritual hope that you give us in Jesus Christ, that we might come to know the riches of our glorious inheritance in Christ. Help us to see the immeasurable greatness of your power at work toward us, the same power that was at work at Jesus Christ who was raised at the third day and was seated at the right hand in power and authority. So Lord we want to lean on your spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we might come to know more of who you are and what you have offered to us in Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Thanks for joining everyone - hope you can join us again tomorrow! Have a blessed day.
