Prayer For Spiritual Strength

Excerpt from Sermon:

The book of Ephesians has always been considered one of the most practical books in the Bible because of the application of who we were before Christ, who we are now in Christ, what He has placed within us, and how to apply it to our daily lives. It is no wonder that in the last 200 years it has come under attack for who wrote it, when it was written, its purpose, and the theology of Ephesians.

John Macarthur divides Ephesians into two as the first three chapters emphasize doctrine, and the last three chapters emphasize behavior; of the first half is theological and the second half is practical. MacArthur’s division I agree with, but I like how Harold Hoehner divides Ephesians. He also divides it into two parts, but he suggests the first three chapters is “The calling of the Church” and the last three chapters is “The Conduct of the Church”. I like Hoehner’s division better, because he really captures what is going on in the ‘Big Picture’ of Ephesians. If you look back in the OT, you can see that the church was started with one man called Abram. God had called Abram out of paganism when he was in the Ur of the Chaldeans and promised him that his offspring would be like the stars. God called on Abram so to build a nation built by God and not man.

It was Calvin that said Israel was the church in its infancy and I will agree with him. This is not some replacement theology like some might accuse me of, but it was God’s plan to always have this body of Believers called the church, just as Gentiles were always in the plan of redemption, but it was Israel that was to evangelize the nations. The church was the mystery of God and Jason preached on it last Sunday. It was hidden from those during the OT days. There was plenty of hints in OT scripture, but for Gentiles to be part of God’s people?? This was unthinkable up to this point and God had hidden His plan till now.

The main theme of Ephesians is love, a love for one another that bases its foundation on the love of God and Christ Jesus. A second theme is unity, unity of the body of Christ, but unity without love is not possible. For true unity, an unbreakable bond, there must be a sacrificial, unconditional, selfless love for one another. Two Sundays ago, I preached on Ephesians 2:11-22. At the beginning I described what a Special Forces Detachment was comprised of and how you will have men from different walks of life, ethnicities, religion, lack of it, social statue, but they are considered one. Whether they failed or succeeded, they failed or succeeded as one. Unity is paramount on a Special Forces A-Team, just as unity is paramount in the body of Christ and here in this church.

**Love is what bonds an A-Team. The Team will have that brotherly love for one another, and it will cause you to give your life for one another.

**Share one of the MOH Awardees citations.

**We can understand this love, but the love of Christ is unable to be truly comprehended as we will see.

Paul said that Christ died on the cross to unite two groups, Jews and gentiles, two groups that hated each other. Christ killed the hostility between the two groups and created “in Himself one new man in place of the two” and “reconciled the two” to God in one body through the Cross. This body Paul is talking about is the church. Christ Jesus united the two groups that hated each other into one new man, a new creation, the regenerated Sinner that NOW houses the Spirit of God, there is no need of the temple any longer for now you are the TEMPLE.

We know that Christ Jesus accomplished this through His sacrificial work on the Cross, by His Blood, but why? What was the basis of reasoning for His work on the Cross? Yes, he was being obedient to the Father, but what is the motivating factor? Jesus in John 15:13 said, “Greater love has no one that this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” The motivating factor was His love for those He set His love on in eternity past. In our scripture today, we will we see this, and Paul prays for the Believers at Ephesus to try and comprehend this love that surpasses all knowledge and understanding.

Here is Paul’s second prayer for the Believers at Ephesus. The first prayer, Paul’s desire was for them to deepen their relationship with God and to understand “the riches of the glory of His inheritance” that He has placed within each Believer. Paul picks back up from verse 1 in Chapter 3 when he paused to elaborate more on the mystery of Christ and Paul’s role in revealing this mystery. This prayer, starting in verse 14, was to come right behind the last verse in Chapter 2. He was about to pray for unity and to know, experience and demonstrate the love of Christ. As powerful as this prayer is, it is even more powerful after Paul reveals that the Gentiles were always to part of the true Israel, and it was not fully realized or implemented until after Christ’s death and resurrection.

In verses 9-18 of Chapter 2, (ESV) “to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” What Paul is saying is what was hidden in God for ages is now revealed to the angelic leaders, good and evil, and humanity, the hidden mystery was the church, composed of believing Jews and Gentiles into one body, the church. This manifold wisdom, or the multisided, sophisticated, or intricate wisdom is more now known to the angelic leaders through the instrumentality of the church, or to put it plainly, it is the church that God will use to serve His purpose in His plan of redemption.

We must make sure we interpret these verses (v14-21) in light of the end of Chapter 2 and that we connect Paul’s teaching there with Paul’s prayer. So, the last verse of Chapter 2, verse 22, “In Him (meaning Christ Jesus) you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God be the Spirit.” The new creation, the new man is a temple for the indwelling of Christ and is why Paul prays for the Ephesian Believers “to be strengthened with power through His spirit, in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts.”

Paul begins his prayer by taking a posture of reverence and worship when he said, “I bow my knees.” This does not mean that Paul is setting the only standard for posture in prayer, because Jesus prayed standing, but He also prayed on His knees and His face in the Garden of Gethsemane. Here Paul is indwelt with this passionate, moving, stirring, prayer, a deep desire for the Ephesians Believers “to know the love of Christ that surpassed knowledge” and they “be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Have you ever been to a point in your life when you seem closed in on all sides, there is nowhere to run, you have exhausted all means to solve this problem, a trying trial, and you turn to the person you should have started with in the first place? Or you have been praying for loved ones for God to open their eyes, soften their hearts, and save them? These are the times that the only place you can go is on your knees and maybe on your face to petition our Creator and Father.