A PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL INSIGHT

One respect in which modern churchmen are likely far short of the New Testament ideal is the attitude toward and practice of prayer. Not only do we generally not pray enough, we do not usually pray to the best advantage.

God is our Father and He will hear and answer prayers that meet His approval. While we content ourselves in asking for physical things, He waits patiently for us to request His spiritual treasures. The rich resources available to the child of God go practically untapped as we live on a lower plane, seemingly ignorant of their existence.

From the verses contained in this lesson (Eph. 1:15-23) we can learn much to help our Christian lives. We see exemplified a prayer life that soared in the heights of spiritual insight. We see the great potential that is ours as sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus. We are able to grasp some knowledge of what we can be, and learn, and know, in Christ.

Body

I. A SPIRIT OF WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM.

   A. Spirit of wisdom and understanding. God would have us be perceptive spiritually. True knowledge is not just "fact-knowledge," it is insight, it is understanding. God will give the Christian a spirit of wisdom and understanding. He can rise above an intellectual level to the point that knowledge is a part of his thinking, not just one compartment or storehouse of facts.

   B. In the knowledge of Him. This might mean the knowledge which is from God, but here the sense seems rather to be a knowledge of the Father Himself. We are first to know the true God, then we learn from and about Him. This is not just knowledge of attributes of God (omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, etc.); it is a knowledge of the Father as a father, as a friend, and as our saving God.

II. EYES OF UNDERSTANDING BEING ENLIGHTENED TO KNOW:

   A. The hope of His calling. The more we know about and understand what the final end of God for us is, the better and more joyfully we can serve Him now. That hope is not just a "paradise" for an intangible "soul", it is a real resurrection of our body - a body transformed like Christ's glorious body, immortal, incapable of pain or death, and not subject to the temptations of Satan (see Rom. 8:23; I Cor. 15:42-57; Phil. 3:20, 21).

   B. The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. This phrase is not speaking of the inheritance which the saints will receive. That was the point of the phrase just preceding it. Here the point is that the saints will be God's inheritance. When all the material universe has been dissolved, when nothing remains of what is temporal, all that God will have for Himself of His work will be the redeemed saints. They are His own inheritance. Paul prays that we might know how much we mean to God, and how valuable we are in His sight, as the end result and goal of His work in salvation history.

   C. The exceeding greatness of his power. Here the words amplify the meaning. We have power. There is a greatness of power. And there is an exceeding greatness of this power.

        1. To the believer. The child of God can be the recipient of the power of God. We have strength for living the Christian life beyond that of our own. If we ask for it.

        2. This power was demonstrated in the resurrection of Christ.

            a. Christ was dead; was raised to life again.

            b. He now sits at God's right hand in heaven.

            c. Christ was placed above every name in heaven and earth.

            d. Christ was made head over all things with reference to the church which is His body.

            e. How much power did it take to raise a dead man? That is the power available to the believer.

III. WE SHARE WITH CHRIST AS HIS BODY.

   A. What happened to Him physically has happened to us spiritually (see 2:1ff).

   B. As the "fullness" of Christ, we (the church) share in the all-sufficient Christ who fills all things. Christ is the fullness of Deity (Col. 2:9); we (the church) are the fullness of Christ. This means that we share in the benefits of all that God has done in the history of salvation.

   C. As Christ has ascended into heaven following His resurrection, so we, too, will one day be resurrected to be with Him forever. His glory will be ours, as members of His body.

Conclusion

Let us learn to pray for better things. Let us seek to know about God, then to know Him. Let us pray for understanding and insight, for power for pleasing Him in our lives, and let us thank God for letting us share with Christ in His glory as members of Him.

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