#DailyDevotion Paul’s Prayer For The Ephesians & For You
Eph. 3:13-21 13So I ask you not to get discouraged by what I suffer for you. It brings you honor. 14 For this reason I kneel before the “Father,” 15from Whom every group in heaven and on earth gets the name of “family,” 16 and ask Him, as He is rich in glory, to give you this: that His Spirit will inwardly strengthen you with power, 17Christ will live in your hearts by faith, and you will be firmly rooted and built up in love, 18so that you and all the holy people can grasp how broad and long and high and deep His love is, 19and know how Christ loves us – more than we can know – and so you will be filled with all that is in God.
You might remember from Acts that Paul had a rough time in Ephesus, as well as a number of citizens there who came to faith through Paul’s message. Of course, Paul continued to suffer for the name of Christ Jesus and for the Churches proclaiming the free gift of God in Jesus Christ. It must be so. Jesus had told Ananias that Paul would be shown how much he must suffer for His name’s sake. So Paul encourages the Ephesians not to get discouraged by what he suffers for them, for it brings them honor.
Paul follows this with a wonderful Trinitarian doxology and prayer for the Ephesians and indeed this is a prayer for you as well. He invokes the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit here showing their individuality and their oneness with each other. As it brings honor to the Ephesians and to us, that is Paul’s suffering, he says He kneels before the Father. Father in the Greek “pater ” and family “patria” the second derived from the first. I imagine Paul brings this up as when Luke does Jesus’ genealogy, he traces it back to Adam, the son of God. So we are all God’s children, some believe and know it and some reject it.
Paul’s prayer to the Father, “as He is rich in glory,” is He would have the Holy Spirit inwardly strengthen them and us with power. That power the Spirit gives us is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is all the promises God the Father has made us in and through Christ Jesus. That power is the forgiveness of sins won for us by Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. The power is the promise of the kingdom for all who put their trust in Jesus. It is the promise of the resurrection to eternal life in his name. It the power of being reconciled to God the Father. It is the power of the promise of eternal life. It is these and more promises the Spirit uses to strengthen us in faith and in power over sin, the fear of death and the devil.
Paul prays Christ would live in our hearts and we would firmly rooted and built up in love. Indeed, when we were baptized and came to believe in Jesus Christ, Christ made his home in our hearts. Through the Gospel, as we see in it the great love the Father and the Son have for us, that roots us in his love and builds us up in love. It builds us up in love for God and then as we see not only His love for us in Christ Jesus but for all people, it builds us up in love for them as well.
As we focus on what Jesus has actually done for us by his suffering, death and resurrection, we can begin to know “how broad and long and high and deep His love is.” This fourfold love is greater than all of creation. Christ love for us is more than we can know. The great riches the Father gives us in love through Christ is beyond our imagination. But it is such that we are filled with all that is in God. He has made us heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.
Heavenly Father, daily give us a glimpse of your great love for us so Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians may be filled in us, and through us, the world may know your great love for them. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.