Ephesians 1:15 -23
Ephesians 1:15 -23 (New King James Version)
Prayer for Spiritual Wisdom
15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which 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 principality and power and might and dominion, and
every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
My Thoughts:
There are a few things that caught my eye as I was reading the text for today.
- Let’s start with (vv 17, 18 ) where Paul says “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,”
- When I read these two verses I think of Solomon and his request for understanding heart (1 Kings 3:1-15). As a pastor this is one of the three things I pray for every night; I pray for the wisdom to lead my church, I prayer for the repentant heart that David had, and I pray for spiritual strength so I may stand up for the things Christ would have me do. Ok well 4 things, I also as ask for the depth of the love Christ holds for each of us.
- In (v. 21) we read “far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”
- The question I see here is; who are these groups? Well when I read this I read that He was given powers over not only the earthly things but all things. (Romans 8:38), (Eph.v6:12) this series is commonly understood as referring to angelic powers both good and bad. So we see that Christ id superior to all powers, both Heavenly and earthly.
- He is the supreme and universal authority. Paul is anxious at all times to make this very clear to people, that Christ should not be seen as a subdeity.
- And let’s finish with (vv 22, 23) “And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
- It is important that we understand that Christ is the Head of the Church and the body of the Church. As the head of the church He is the ruler the active center of operations. And as the body, each member of the church is part of Him and He apart of them. We may not all be alike but just as the body is made of different parts so is the church, each with their own talent and without one the other parts would not function properly. (Col. 2:19).
Supporting Scripture; I have not removed this section. I am just moving the Supporting Scripture in to my commits.
Personal Reflection and Discussion
- What do pray at night? Do you “Pray to be” or “Pray to get”
- On day 15 of the last 40 days we studied about “Intercessory Prayers” Paul states how he is praying for their “spiritual wisdom.” Do you believe this made a difference in their church?
- Are there any other things you see in the text?
Prayer Activities
- Call your Partner and discuss this devotional.
- Continue to have a prayer list and let the new people know you are praying for them.
- Pray with them and ask for the following;
- For God to bring understanding to your life.
- For God to strengthen your role within the church.
- For the individuals on your pray list.
- For today use the following Bible verse in your prayer (1 Kings 3:9)
About bobh6
40 Days of study 
We have already discussed how important prayer is. I can always tell when I don’t pray first thing in the morning. My day gets pretty rough. When I was young( in Christ) I prayed for me. At the end I would pray for my family but it was always like an after thought. As I grew, my prayers changed. Now my prayers are very rarely for what I want. In fact I have a hard time asking for anything for me. I have since the Holy Spirit bible studies have begun asking for the manifestion of the fruit (this is wonderful). I pray for everyone now who read these studies and Bobby I pray for you every morning the same things you pray for. I do add physical strenght as well as your spiritual strength. I hope that is ok. We can all use the spiritual wisdom as well. Time is coming we will need it as well as so much more.
I do the same thing Rosie, I also as for physical strength, I ask that He hold the Parkinson’s from progressing until I am in my 80’s that way I can keep preaching, because the truth is I love doing it. So yes, I think it is ok to ask for things, now if a man ask God to give him more hair maybe that is too much. But honest request should be asked for and I think He will provide them.
What especially stood out to me was how Paul emphaised God supermacy over all. It struck me that the pagan beliefs and some of even “chrisitian” churches have ranking gods. Like the greeks. The Johovah Witness think of Jesus as a little god (they make a point to emphaises little g). It’s interesting. We still have to be reminded how God is above everything. Even as true christians, it may seem hard while we’re going through something to see God big enough to handle it. Sometimes they think there sin is even to hard for God to forgive. They seem to hold him restricted to the rules. God said he shows compassion on whom he shows compassion. Not to say God doesn’t honer his own rules, of course he does, but He also has loop holes he created especially for us…like Jesus life in our place . I love thinking as this powerful God as my daddy. He looks out for us.
Ok another thought…can’t help but think of God the Father as David and Solomon as Jesus. This was my thought through out the day and I see it fitting here. Maybe in part since Pastor Bobby touched on solomon. It’s a long (day long thought with God) and I am finding it difficult to paraphrase my thought on this topic. I know it’s connects the whole idea of today and of yesterday’s, God even being above time and to some extent even our own destiny…everything. In short David was the misunderstood compassionate person who even showed mercy to his murder son who killed his other son. It was critised since he didn’t stay within the letter of the law. Solomon on the other hand was loved and honered by most, lover of many foreign women- gentiles-(unforunatly human nature made him comprimise his own religion for theirs), he increased his father’s kingdom and always gave him the final glory. He even punished those who didn’t honer his father while he still lived. Solomons riches far surpassed any other king ever, and his influence was felt everywhere.
I see the blending of Christian belief system and other beliefs as the Devil form of “Spiritual Evolution”. He could not deny Christ and he could not kill off the Christians so he said “let’s corrupt it”.
As for your other thought, To me that goes to show the power of prayer, because Solomon asked for this gift with an Ernest heart it was granted and then some. As for the rest we will talk about that when we get into 1 Kings.
Hi, this is a well written post. I just bookmarked your content. To be frank, even though I read many books in this area. I still learned quite a lot today. Please continue the good post and I will be back soon.