EPHESIANS 1:15-23
REDEEMED, RICH, AND RECALIBRATED
Ephesians 1:15-16 (BSB) For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,
SUSIE: The prayers of Paul are an excellent example of how we, as believers, should pray for one another. When he heard that many in Ephesus had become Christians, he thanked the Lord for their salvation and prayed for them on a regular basis.
SUSAN: Paul commended their faith in Jesus and the excellent way they demonstrated God’s love one to another. Jesus had told His followers that love for the “familyship” of believers was the mark or the acid test of a true disciple.
By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.
John 13:35 (BSB)
SUSIE: By recognizing and praising God for the Ephesians’ Christ-like love for each other, Paul was confirming they were true believers and followers of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:17 . . . that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.
SUSAN: God and Jesus are equally deity—they are both God—and are in a familial relationship as Father and Son.
SUSIE: God is glorious, in fact the angels at the throne of God declare this truth!
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him stood seraphim, each having six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory.”
Isaiah 6:1-3 (BSB)
SUSAN: If two wings were covering their faces, i.e. their line of sight, how did they keep from having head-on collisions and concussions? Hmmmmm. I don’t mean this to be funny. I really wonder.
SUSIE: Not sure the Bible explains that. Perhaps one of our readers has a theory. Back on track: What does Paul ask the Lord to give these newer believers?
SUSAN: He wants the Father to give them wisdom and revelation about the Lord Jesus. Seasoned believers need this layer by layer as well because we will never “arrive” until we see Him face to face.
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12-14 (NASB)
SUSAN: Paul himself, teacher of these believers and human writer of much of the New Testament, did not consider himself as having “arrived” in his Christian walk.
SUSIE: Paul knew much more than these new believers in Ephesus, but he never claimed to “know it all.’
SUSAN: Even in Heaven, I believe we will continually be learning new things. God is so awesome, so larger than life, that there would be no way to encapsulate all the knowledge of Him. The layers of the wonders of God are infinite.
SUSIE: How could we ever exhaust the vastness and richness of God? Read Genesis 1, Psalm 139, or Job 40-41 to get a small idea of God’s enormity.
SUSIE: Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit would teach the disciples and help them remember His words.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
John 14:26 (NASB)
SUSAN: Paul is praying this same understanding will be evident in the Ephesian believers’ lives.
SUSIE: He wants them to have a clear understanding of exactly what they have in Christ, because of their relationship to Him.
SUSAN: Paul’s desire is that they be informed of what Christ purchased on their behalf, their certificate of inheritance, the guarantee they have because of the indwelling Holy Spirit. He wants them to have a greater understanding of their transformation through the power of the Holy Spirit.
SUSIE: Oswald Chambers addressed our calling in this way:
“The only aim of the life is that the Son of God may be manifested, and all dictation to God vanishes. Our Lord never dictated to His Father, and we are not here to dictate to God; we are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. When we realize this, He will make us broken bread and poured-out wine to feed and nourish others.”
My Utmost for His Highest, May 15th
SUSAN: Being a servant of the Lord Jesus is to be broken bread and wine spilled out—to completely empty ourselves of selfish ambitions and agendas—in order to be filled with Him. Then and only then can we truly be salt and light in the broken and lost world of humanity.
Ephesians 1:19-20 . . . and the surpassing greatness of His powerG1411 to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms,
SUSAN: God extends to believers the same power that quickened Jesus’ mortal body after His death on the cross. The power that raised Jesus from the dead.
G1411 – δύναμις dýnamis, doo’-nam-is; from G1410; force (literally or figuratively); specially, miraculous power (usually by implication, a miracle itself):—ability, abundance, meaning, might(-ily, -y, -y deed), (worker of) miracle(-s), power, strength, violence, mighty (wonderful) work.
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
“1411 dúnamis – (C) Spoken of God, the Messiah, the great power of God, meaning His almighty energy (Matt. 22:29; Mark 12:24; Luke 1:35; 5:17; Rom. 1:20; 9:17; 1 Cor 6:14; 2 Cor. 4:7; 13:4; Eph. 1:19; 3:7, 20; 2 Tim. 1:8; 1 Pet. 1:5; 2 Peter 1:3).”
The Complete Word Study Dictionary, Spiros Zodhiates Th.D. ed.
SUSIE: The same power that resurrected our Savior will resurrect us at His return but is available to us each day even now. We are infused with his “almighty energy” in order to fulfill our God given purposes. God not only raised Jesus from the dead but restored Him to His rightful place of honor at the right-hand of the Father.
The Complete Word Study Dictionary, Spiros Zodhiates Th.D. ed.
SUSAN: God’s supernatural presence and power is available to all believers.
SUSIE: Do we tap into that power? Or is the outlet there, but we neglect to plug into it?
SUSAN: We plug into God’s power source in as much as we understand that we are God’s instrument, and He is the One who works in and through us by His grace and for His glory to achieve His purposes. I get around in a pink power chair. However, if I don’t plug it in to recharge its battery, that $30,000+ chair will not move (yes, my vehicle is as valuable as some really nice modes of transportation!).
SUSIE: Practically speaking, we tap into the dynamic power of God by studying His word, prayer, and obedience to what the Holy Spirit reveals to us.
Ephesians 1:21 . . . far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
SUSIE: Since Jesus obeyed the Father in all things, including death on the cross, He has been restored to the highest position.
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:8-11 (NASB)
SUSIE: Everyone will eventually bow to Jesus, but how blessed are we who surrender to His will and honor Him now rather than by force at the end of the world!
SUSAN: Jesus’s name is exalted to the highest place. There is no name equal to or greater than that of Jesus. This is reality now even though many people do not yet recognize it. It is far better to bow your heart now than your knee later, when Jesus returns in His full fearsome power and glory.
God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.
2 Thessalonians 1:6-7 (NIV)
Ephesians 1:22-23 And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
SUSIE: Paul was making a reference to the Psalms:
You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet…
Psalm 8:6 (NASB)
SUSIE: Christ is over all things as the Psalmist prophesied concerning the Messiah. Therefore, He is head over the church which is referred to as the body of Christ. Just as our bodies are controlled by the brain and when working properly obey its commands, so the church is led by Jesus and will only function well when its members live in obedience to Him.
SUSAN: Jesus recalibrates our minds—hits the reset button— as we study His word to prepare us for His service. I am so thankful my mind and spirit are able to hear, understand, and obey the commands of God even if my earth-suit doesn’t always follow the commands of my brain.
Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.
Romans 12:2 (Phillips)
APPLICATION:
- We should thank the Lord for and pray for new believers in our sphere of influence.
- Are we fully surrendered to the service of Jesus? Are we willing to be broken bread and spilled out wine to enable us to minister to others?
- Are we fully surrendered to Jesus, recognizing and submitting to Him as the highest authority, the ruler over all?
ASSIGNMENT: Using Paul’s prayer in this passage as a model, write out a prayer for one of your children or your child in the faith (someone you influence, mentor, disciple). Send your prayer to that person as an encouragement to them.