Transcription
We're gonna be looking at Ephesians chapter 1, verses 15 through 23. And the message I'm entitled, "Paul's Prayer for Knowledge and Power." I'm hoping before we come to the end of this passage, something's gonna awaken inside of your heart as you begin to think about praying this prayer for yourself.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your love and grace and mercy. And Lord, we're so grateful for all that Jesus has done for us. And Lord, even as this particular passage points out, Lord, I pray that you would fill our hearts with wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus. Lord, I pray that you will open the eyes of our understanding, and that, Lord, we would begin to understand all that we have, all that we are, all that we're promised in Jesus.
And so, Heavenly Father, I pray for that person who tonight is facing some profound difficulties, some extreme challenges. Lord, they might have physical issues, or financial issues, or family issues. Lord, I pray that by your Holy Spirit, you will speak to them, and you will comfort them, you will remind them, Lord, that they can trust you. And so, Father, we commit this time to you, and we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Ephesians chapter 1, beginning in verse 15. It says, "Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, 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, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 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. And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all."
Paul opened this chapter describing our blessings in the Father, our benefits in the Son, our belongings in the Holy Spirit in verses 1 through 14. Remember, we learned that we are blessed in verses 1 through 3, chosen in verse 4, adopted in verses 5 and 6, redeemed and accepted verses 7 and 8, sealed and sanctified in the Holy Spirit verses 9 and 10. Jesus sacrificed himself on our behalf that we could praise God in verses 11 and 12. In Christ, we are the beneficiaries of unimaginable riches.
So Paul's song of praise gives way to a prayer for knowledge and power and understanding for the believers who are in Ephesus. Paul knew that in order for the believers in Ephesus to recognize their vast spiritual resources in Christ, they needed to know God in an ever-increasing wisdom and revelation, and then connect the resources to the person and the work of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. Guinness writes, "Faith does not feed on thin air, but on facts." And the simple fact is that the believer's growth and maturity is linked to knowing God in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. So Paul's prayer for the believer in Ephesus is that they would grow in the knowledge of God in order to appreciate who they are in Christ and what they have in Christ.
By the way, if you read Paul's prison prayers here, that we just read, Philippians chapter 1, verses 9 through 11, Colossians chapter 1, verses 9 and 12, in all three of those instances, the focus is never on material things or material provisions, but rather on spiritual things and spiritual perception, maturation, the perception of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Or as Warren Wiersbe wisely puts it, "He does not ask God to give them what they don't have, but prays that God will reveal to them they already have." That's amazing.
Now, when we say that though, don't be discouraged. Don't think for a moment that you can't pray for your loved ones, that you can't pray for health, that you can't pray when you're disconnected. That's not what the passage is is basically pointing to. But I want you to understand this passage in its context. Let me do that by relating a story that Warren Wiersbe shared.
Long ago, he tells the story of William Randolph Hearst. I don't know if you know that name, but he was the newspaper mogul who was instrumental in Billy Graham's early ministry. He owned a chain of newspapers, and when Billy Graham was first starting out on on ministry, he just basically gave his editors two words: "Puff Graham." In other words, cover him, cover where he's at, cover what he's doing. Hearst had invested heavily in California real estate. He had treasures from all over the world. I don't know if you've ever been to Hearst Castle. It's one of those magical places that if you said to yourself, "If I had a magic genie and I could just imagine a place where I could live and what it would be like and and the riches that it would contain," you would come up with Hearst Castle.
Well, he found a description of a valuable treasure, and he thought to himself that he had to have it. And so he sent one of his agents out with the task of finding it and purchasing the treasure. And after months of research and tracking down the item, he discovered that Mr. Hearst already owned it. It was in one of his vast vaults. That's amazing. He was looking for something that he already possessed.
He wanted earthly treasure. We long for treasures in heaven. In Christ, we want Christ's character. We want victory over sin. We want the power to overcome temptation. We want the power to overcome depression or addiction. We want an attitude of worship and Thanksgiving. We want to serve the body of Christ. We have the promises and the provisions of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit. All the treasure is yours.
Remember in verse 3, read it again: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies." You'll notice in your text, "places" is italicized. That means it's not in the original text. The translator just uses that as a place so that you understand the context.
In Paul's prayer for the saints in Ephesus, he asks that they would have the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him in verse 17, that they would understand their wonderful future that God has promised them in verse 18, that they would comprehend the greatness of God's power in verses 19 and 20, that they would begin to understand and embrace Christ's authority in verses 23 through 23.
So look again at verse 15. "Grow in the knowledge of God." He says, "Therefore," which again harkens back to verses 1 through 14. "In light of everything that you've already studied and understood, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for the saints." Paul begins by pointing out their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love for the saints. So again, when Paul uses the term "therefore," it's on this account. That's what that means. Based on what I've already said, and on this account.
And so when he says, "When I heard of your faith," he's not just simply talking about belief in Jesus. He's not just simply knowing the facts about Jesus and saying, "I understand that you've heard about Jesus and and that you understand that he lived and he died and he came back to life." He's not talking about that simple faith. He's also talking about not just simply what you believe, but he's also talking about the walk of faith, which is demonstrated by love.
So when he says, "After I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for the saints," he's talking about the kind of faith that results in love, demonstrated by love. And he uses that very, very familiar Greek term, agape, which speaks of God's love, God's selfless love. Two things mark the Christian and the true church: love for Jesus and love for the saints.
I think there's a loyalty towards Christ that doesn't always result in love and care and affection for one another. This is the kind of loyalty that says, "I love Jesus, but people give me the creeps." "I love Jesus, but I'm not very fond of human beings." I was listening to my friend Dennis Prager, and he says, "I despise humanity," and he says, "but I have a real fondness for people, for individuals." Some people are willing to live a life of isolation or seclusion, like the Desert Fathers. They detach themselves from friendship and fellowship. Church isn't a priority. Fellowship with the saints doesn't really matter to them. They say they love God. They're not fond of human beings necessarily. They may not even be aware that their earlier to love the brethren is a sin.
The Bible makes it clear that we can't really love the Lord Jesus unless we love one another. John makes that pointed observation in 1 John chapter 4, verses 20 and 21, where it says, "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" And this commandment we have from Him, that he who loves God must also love his brother. Again, Paul writes in Philippians chapter 2, verse 2, "Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind."
When Paul uses the term "the same love," it means love towards all. Some say, "You know, I love the person of the Lord," or, "They'll say, 'I love that person in the Lord.'" Here's what here's what they were. This is how that translates: "I hate their guts, but I know that God wants me to care about him." We mouth the word absent any sense of affection or commitment towards that person. But real faith in the Lord Jesus, coupled with knowledge, results in real love towards others, not just some sort of spiritualizing of the word "love."
John MacArthur writes, "To truly love a person in the Lord is to love as the Lord loves them, genuinely and sacrificially." And by the way, sound theology is never supposed to serve as a substitute for love. Well, I believe the right things. I read the right Bible, and I believe the right things. No, according to the Bible, you've got to have, you have to have right doctrine and right practice.
One of the great tragedies of the New Testament is that the love that Paul commends towards the Ephesians, right at the beginning of this chapter, he says, "I've heard about your faith and I've heard about your love." It ends in tragedy because that love begins to wane, and then it eventually dies. In Revelation chapter 2, verses 2 and 4, if you just turn there just for a second, some of you are very familiar with that passage of scripture. I should have marked it, but in Revelation chapter 2, verses 2 and 4, he says to the people that he, remember, at the beginning, he says to the Church of Ephesus, "Write." And then in verse 2, he says, "I know your works, I know your labor, I know your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil, and you've tested those who say they are apostles and they are not, you've found them liars. And have and you have persevered, and you have patience, and you have labored in my name, and you haven't become weary. Nevertheless, I have this against you: you left your first love."
And so, is it possible that you can start out right and end up wrong? A loveless faith in the end winds up being no faith at all. And so, look what it says in verse 16. He's talking about a love and a faith, and then he begins to pray for them. He says, "I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers." So Paul thanks God for the saints in Ephesus.
And so, right from the start, here's where you should land on the text. You should say, "Oh, Paul prays. His life is a life of prayer. Paul prays. He understands the power of prayer." Vance Havner writes, "We carry the checks on the bank of heaven and never cash them at the window of prayer. We lie to God in prayer if we do not rely on God after prayer." I like that. The way I would put it is, the moment you pray, you acknowledge that you can't, and God can. The moment that you say, "Lord, I can't do this, but you can," you begin to understand the power of prayer.
And then in verse 17, look, look as he begins to pray, "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and the revelation of the knowledge of Him." Paul begins his prayer by referencing the God of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Father of glory. In this brief statement, Paul makes it clear that the Father is not the Son, and that the Father imparts the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him.
Well, really, the real difficulty in the passage when he 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 difficulty lies in the reference to "Him." Is it a reference to the Father? Is it a reference to the Son? Is it a reference to the Holy Spirit? Whatever it means, it means that the knowledge of God is the highest kind of knowledge.
So let me point something out to you very quickly. According to the Bible, typically we pray to the Father in the name of the Son. Well, does that mean you can't pray to Jesus? No. We know that Paul prays to Jesus. We also know that Stephen in Acts, when he's getting ready to be killed, he lifts up his head to heaven and he says, "Lord Jesus, into Your hands I commit my spirit." Stephen prays directly to Jesus. The Bible talks about prayers to the Holy Spirit, in the Holy Spirit setting aside Paul and Barnabas for the work of the ministry. Can we pray to the Father? Yes. Can we pray to the Son? Yes. Can we pray to the Holy Spirit? Yes. We normally pray to the Father in the name of the Son.
And so Paul prays, and he prays for the knowledge of God. Now, this is important because the atheist doesn't believe in God. The agnostic doubts the existence of God, but certainly believes that there might be a God, but they can't really know for sure. Paul has met God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sad truth for the unbeliever is that they can't know hardly anything about God. They can know literally what's available through general revelation. The unbeliever or the make-believer can look around the world and they can go, "Hey, I think that there is probably a God. I don't have a good explanation of why there's a universe, and I can't explain the sun and the moon and the stars."
Paul wrote to the Romans, and he described the consequences when people willfully reject the knowledge of God. People aren't content simply to deny God. They create an idol. It says in Romans chapter 1. In other words, when people deny God, that doesn't mean they have no God. They simply invent a God that serves as a substitute inside of their heart.
So when Paul prays, and he prays for the Ephesians, and he says, "Here's what I want you. I'm praying that God would give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." The more we know about God, the more satisfying is our life. And so when he asks that the Father of glory may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, true wisdom about God comes from the revelation that God has given about himself. Later, the writer of Hebrews would say, "God spoke in times past through the prophets, but He has in these last days spoken to us by His own dear Son." And so for for you, and for people that you know, if they ever ask you the question, "What's the best way for me to get to know God?" the right answer is, "Get to know Jesus." When you know Jesus, you know God. And the more we know God, the more satisfying is our life, and the more of God isn't simply.
And so here's where I want to go with this. Knowing more about God isn't just ammunition to defeat our enemies. It's nourishment to feed our friends. Don't get me wrong. I'm one of those people who want to know, and I want to know everything. As I was praying today, I just became very frustrating to me that I don't know everything about everything. And the Lord reminded me that I'm not God, and and that I I can trust Him to make the right choices and decisions, and that I don't need to know everything about everything. But I do need to know something about the most important thing that can be known. How can we know God? How can we know Jesus?
And so he continues to pray to understand the wonderful future that God has promised to you in in verse 18. He says, "that 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." Now, Paul links his prayer for the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Remember, knowledge is knowing something. Wisdom is known is knowing what to do with that information. Knowledge is knowing something. Wisdom is knowing what to do with the information that's been given to you.
So he links the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of God to having our eyes opened, enlightened. Several years ago, I learned that the British use the term "torch" the way we use the word "flashlight." Two different words, the same meaning. Torch, flashlight. What do they have in common? They both shed light. What else do they have in common? They both dispel darkness. And so when he talks about the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, he's using the Holy Spirit as a type and a picture of that which brings light, that which dispels the darkness.
It is the Holy Spirit who brings light to the Word of God. So the Holy Spirit is the spirit of wisdom. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of revelation. So when we talk about the spirit of wisdom and revelation, in a very real sense, we're using two other words as titles for the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches that the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit because they are spiritually discerned. The human mind apart from God cannot understand the things of God. So the Bible teaches that our minds are darkened and soiled by sin.
And this prompts me to say one other thing. You all have unbelieving family and friends. Don't trust their understanding of God. Don't accept their statements. In this sense, the most naive child who knows and loves Jesus has more spiritual understanding than the most profound unbeliever. Let me repeat that. The Christian has more spiritual information than the smartest unbeliever. When you read the statements by unbelievers about God in Christ, they should not be your go-to person when it comes to understanding the things of God. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 14, it says, "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
So the Holy Spirit is the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. So we need the Spirit of God to enlighten us. That means shed light on the Word of God and the things of God. Paul's prayer is that the Holy Spirit would reveal God's truth from God's Word and then give us wisdom and knowledge on how to apply those truths to our life. So the Holy Spirit enlightens the heart of the believer. Literally, the verse reads, "the eyes of your heart being enlightened." Wiersbe writes, "We think of the heart as the emotional part of man, but in the Bible, the heart means the inner man and includes the emotions, the mind, and the will. The inner man, the heart, has spiritual faculties that parallel the physical senses. The inner man can see (Psalm 119:18; John 3:3), see in the spirit (Matthew 13:9, 'Remember he who has ears to hear, let him hear'), taste (Psalm 34:8, 'Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good'), and smell (Philippians 4:18; 2 Corinthians 2:14, 'You are a fragrance,' or think about the your fragrance for those people who are perishing, aren't you glad the Bible uses the word fragrance and not odor). So so touch in Acts 17:27."
So again, when we think about seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, and the inability to see and understand spiritual things is not the fault of intelligence, but of the heart. The eyes of the heart have to be opened by the Spirit of God. We sing the song, "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, open the eyes of my heart, so that I can see You."
So Paul prays that you may know what is the hope of His calling. Remember, hope in the Bible is a fixed certainty. So here, hope is synonymous with that which is certain. So it isn't like, "Oh, I hope I get a bicycle for Christmas," or "I hope I get a Harley-Davidson for my birthday," where it may or may not happen. We use the term hope with the expectation that we may or may not get something. Here, Paul is using it that we are certain of His calling. And what is His calling? What we've already learned in verses 1 through 14. You're saved, you're chosen, you're adopted, you're accepted, you're going to heaven, you're not going to hell. It should inform you every single day. When you go to Burger King, you should be smiling so that people look at you and they go, "What in the world are you smiling about?" You go, "I just realized." It should surprise you every day. Paul told Timothy about his holy calling. Paul also talks about your calling. You've been called out of death, from what? To life. You've been you've been called out of darkness into light.
At the end of verse 18, "What are the riches of His glory, or what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints?" This is an unbelievable passage. The reference here isn't to our inheritance. We learned about our inheritance in verse 11, remember, "In Him we have obtained an inheritance." We have our inheritance in Christ. Here in this passage, at the end of verse 18, it's God's inheritance in the saints. This is maybe one of the most amazing and humbling truths in all of the Bible. God considers us to be His treasure.
In the early church, when the Romans came and they were persecuting the Christians, and they thought that the Christians were accumulating gold and silver, the emperor said to the leader of the church, "Give me your treasure." And they said, "Come back tomorrow, and we'll give you you we'll give you our treasure." And there were the blind and the lame, the widow and the orphan, and the poor. He says, "Where's the gold and silver?" He says, "I thought you asked for our treasure. These are our treasures."
I've always been fascinated by what people value. I've always been fascinated by what makes something so valuable to so many people. But I'm even more amazed, even speechless, that God finds me, and no offense, you, valuable. God looks at you, and you are His treasure. In our culture, we value fame and fortune and favor. A person's position or possession or power brings glory. Paul says that we're God's possession, and that we glorify Him. This is interesting. The Bible teaches that God will glorify Himself in us based on what? Based on what He's invested in us. And what exactly has He invested in us? Jesus. He sent Jesus. Jesus has lived and died and come back to life.
God deals with us not simply according to our past. He doesn't deal with us according to our sin. The Bible says He hasn't dealt with you according to your iniquity. He hasn't rewarded you according to your sin. He doesn't deal with you specifically just about your past or even your present. Paul says that He invests in us, and then He speaks to us about our future in Christ.
Let me give you an example. God, in the Old Testament, speaks to Gideon. Gideon is terrified. And then He says to Gideon, "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor" (Judges 6:12). The Lord tells Peter, "You are Simon, you shall be called Cephas," or Peter, "a rock." Here's Gideon, terrified. Gideon, you have courage. Peter, you're a rock. But wait a minute, he's wishy-washy, inconsistent. This is shocking. God characterizes Gideon and Peter not exactly for what they are, but for what they will be, and He sees it as a certainty.
So here's part of what Paul is saying. As as crazy as this sounds, it's right there in the text. "You're going to be glorified in Him, and then He's going to be glorified in you." Paul brings this up to motivate us to live a life of dedication, separation to Christ. Paul's prayer, in effect, is, "Imagine I'm praying this, and Heavenly Father, I wish that you could, I wish they could see themselves the way You see them." That's what he's praying. That through His eyes of love, not simply through the lens of what you used to be, or what you've done, or your failures, but what you will be in Christ. And so Paul's prayer is that you are His treasure, and you are His wealth.
And then he says, "to comprehend the greatness of God's power" in verses 19 and 20. Look what it says, "And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ." Pause. Let's catch up with the text. Understand, you're God's treasure. Comprehend God's great power. Now, the reason why this becomes important is particularly when you're praying and you go, "God, I'm hurt. I'm sick. We're in trouble. We have needs. We're having difficulties."
Wuest translates this, "And what is the super-abounding greatness of His inherent power to us who are believing ones, as measured by the operative energy of the manifested strength of His might, which might was operative in Christ when He raised Him out from among the dead and seated Him at the right hand in heavenly places." How powerful is God? This is the God who took Jesus and brought Him back to life and raised Him from the dead, and then set Him in heaven where He's seated at the right hand of God. His power. It's the Greek word, dunamis. According to the working, it's the Greek word, energeia, which we get the word "energy" from. Mighty power, it's the Greek word, kratos, which was used to describe the the incredible might and power of inanimate objects, like when a volcano explodes, or when continents move, or the ocean swallows up a continent. It's talking about intrinsic power.
Paul speaks of a divine, eternal, powerful resource. But what good is any of it if you don't access it? If you don't tap into it? John D. Rockefeller was America's first billionaire, but do you realize he drank milk and ate soda crackers because he was so sick to his stomach worrying about his vast wealth? He hired a person to guard his door. He had people surrounding him because he was always afraid that someone was going to take his wealth. He was wealthy and he was miserable. And then he started giving away his wealth, and you know what happened? The moment he started giving away his wealth, he could sleep through the night. He began to eat real food again. He began to enjoy his life. In direct proportion to the amount of money that he gave away, happiness, contentment began to flood his life.
Here's part of what Paul is saying: You have unspeakable resources in God through Christ. The power that Paul speaks about is most clearly seen in the text concerning the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Now, remember, in the Old Testament, people measured God's power by His creation. You would walk outside and say, "Look at the sun and the moon and the stars," or "Look at God's ability to deliver His people out of Egypt." God's power is still seen in creation and miracles, but the awesome power of God is seen in Christ's resurrection from the dead.
But what does this mean? Paul is convinced that the power of God in Christ is a sufficient power. That God raised Him from the dead in history and in reality. And because He raised Him from the dead in history and in reality, this is a power that's available to us in reality. He says, "Apprehend the place where Jesus holds authority." Look at verse 2, at the end of verse 20, and verse 23. "When He raised Him from the dead, seated Him at His right hand in heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come."
When Paul is writing these words, Nero is the emperor in Rome. He literally tears down a vast portion of Rome that's made out of wood, and he rebuilds part of it in marble. He sets aside himself 10 acres. Let me just put it in perspective for you. 50,000 square feet is an acre. He creates a palace that's 10 acres long. And here's what he says when he builds his palace: "Finally, I can live in a house like a real human being." Yeah, we laugh. How much room do you have to have?
Now, Paul writes this: Jesus is far above every principality and power and might and dominion. You know, he's talking about supernatural beings. He's talking about angels and demons. He's also talking about human beings. He's talking about that Jesus has all authority over every being. He says, "And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all."
Again, what's Paul's Paul prays: You're God's treasure, verse 18. Comprehend God's power, verse 19. Christ's authority in heaven and earth, right now, and as far as you dare to think into the future, Jesus is going to be in control of things. So you're thinking, "I'm concerned about North Korea." Jesus is in control of everything. "I'm concerned about world events." Jesus is in control of everything. "I'm concerned about health and other issues." Jesus is in control of everything.
When God raised Jesus from the dead, God seated Jesus at the right hand in heavenly places, verse 3, verse 10, verse 20. Note what Paul has is going to do throughout this chapter. Jesus is in heaven, verse 3. He's in heaven in verse 10. He's in heaven in verse 20. He's in charge. He is, if I may be so bold, he is large and in charge. He's raised far above, think carefully, all wickedness and evil. Jesus is raised above everything temporal. Jesus is raised to the place which is eternal. Jesus is promoted to the place of supreme authority, executive control. He's far above every rule, verse 21. No physical rulers on earth, their spiritual rulers and spiritual realms can compromise Christ's sovereignty or authority. Let me just put it as bluntly as I can: Jesus is subject to no one. That's what Paul is saying. No physical rulers on earth, in heaven, can compromise His sovereignty.
So this verse speaks of the absolute supremacy of Jesus. And this is the practical application that Paul gives in the prayer. All believers, that's you, are in Christ's church. That's His body. Jesus is the head over everything. Paul says He's the head over the church. He is the living, thinking, ruling connection between Himself and His body. That's you. That's you. Have you ever experienced a head injury? Traumatized? A concussion? In a physical or a natural sense, the head controls the body. If you injure part of the head, you handicap or limit the body's ability to function. Jesus is our spiritual head. He can never be traumatized. He can never be hurt. He can never be taken advantage of. Christ is our head. Through the Holy Spirit, we're united to Him. And because through the Holy Spirit, we're united to Him, we're united in His resurrection, we're united in His ascension, we're united in His exaltation.
And so Paul is going to take this to its logical conclusion and say, "You're in heaven at this very moment." Heaven isn't just simply a place where you're going to go when you die. In a very real sense, you're there now. The power of the Holy Spirit is available to all Christians who believe in what Jesus has done for them. Grace supplies the wealth, but it's faith that lays hold of the wealth and wisdom and knowledge and understanding that provides the instruction of how to utilize your wealth.
You probably heard the story of this woman named Henrietta Green. She took her son to it's not a hospital, it was like a clinic for very, very poor people, and he lost his leg. She would save little scraps and pieces of stove. She wouldn't take her son to a real doctor. When she died, they discovered that she had over $5 million. You know, it's interesting to me about that. Again, here's a person who has this unbelievable wealth, but she is so stingy that she wouldn't even use it to save her own son.
Paul's prayer for the saints in Ephesus is that they would live in Christ's unmatched power. So we're going to pause for a moment, and I'm going to give you some instructions by asking you a question. Do you want to live in Christ's unmatched power? Then here's what I'm gonna suggest that you do. Then pray Paul's prayer. Pray that prayer. Tell me about your faith in Jesus. Say, "I'm gonna tell you about my faith in Jesus." And then show your love for the saints. So it be so this is not, remember, this is how the prayer begins. People who who are people of faith and people who love each other become candidates who get to participate in the prayer.
If you have faith in Jesus and you love each other, pray that the Father will glorify that, that the Father of glory will impart the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of both the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Pray that the eyes of your heart will see the light and the hope of His calling and the riches of His inheritance, that's you, that you're His treasure. Pray that you'll comprehend God's power and then apprehend God's authority that is in heaven and earth in this present world and then in the future world.
Over the years, I've been given special privileges to teach at different schools across the country, including at Columbine High School. I was a first responder at Columbine, and I have a standing invitation from the principal and the teachers, and every once in a while, I'll go there and I'll teach their advanced placement classes. Most people in our community are familiar with how the tragic shooting affected our life and the nation. But a recent visit to Columbine too reminded me of another school tragedy that took place a long time ago, just after World War II.
You see, Columbine isn't the worst tragedy that's ever happened in the United States school tragedy. It happened in a little town called New London, Texas. There, a fire claimed the lives of 263 children. The Itasca residents had neither the drive or the resources to rebuild their school. The nation was at war, the resources were scarce for everyone. But by the end of the war, there was new hope, and the residents planned to rebuild their school. The fire wasn't forgotten.
So in the design of the of the new school, they installed the finest sprinkler system technology that was incorporated into every area, every section of the school. And when the project was complete, people came from everywhere to see the new school and the new sprinkler system. Parents sent their children to class with confidence, secure in the knowledge that this school would never, ever be destroyed again by fire and claimed the lives of their children. Just seven years later, the town had grown, and and already the school needed to be enlarged. And as workmen began correction, they discovered this appalling fact: the sprinkler system, the best that money could buy, had never been connected. It was never attached.
It should give you the creeps. You should shudder. But most Christians live with a similar disconnection. This is Paul's point at this prayer. You've been given everything. You've been given unmatched power through the Holy Spirit, power for prayer, power for life. When we accept Jesus as Savior, we have access to the person who created the heavens and the earth and that raised Jesus from the dead.
There was an American with an English gentleman who is watching Niagara Falls and the whirlwind and the rapids, and he said to his friend, "Come, I'm gonna show you the greatest unused power in the world." He was talking about the at the foot of Niagara Falls, and he says, "This is the greatest unused power in the world." And he said, "Not so, my brother. The greatest unused power in the world is the Holy Spirit of the Living God." How do you know if you're connected to this power? Are you growing? Are you praying? Are you changing?
Now, let's go all the way back to the top. Has your faith changed you? And is it noticed by the way you love each other and that you care for one another? God's power is best demonstrated in weakness, in doubt, and difficulty. That might surprise you because if God has allowed trial in your life, it's almost certainly so that you'll connect with the power and admit your own lack of power and say, "God, You're the one who can help my head. You're the one who can help my heart. You're the one who can walk with me into the future."
Charles Haddon Spurgeon once implored his congregation with these words. He said, "Dear brothers and sisters, go home and never ask the Lord to make you strong in yourselves. Never ask Him to make you anybody or anything, but be content to be nothing and nobody. Next, ask that His power may have room in you, and that all those who come near you may see what God can do by nothingness and nobody-ness." He said, "Live with this desire, and then glorify God." You know what he's saying? Do you feel inadequate? Good. This means you've taken your first step to tapping into God's strength and power and the Holy Spirit. Because the moment that you concede, "I can't," it's a confession, profession, and an expectation that He can.
My challenge to you: Go home, pray this prayer. See what happens. You ready? Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, Lord, there's only one thing that I desire, and that that is that You would be glorified. Lord, I want Your power, Your grace, and Your mercy, Your anointing, Your favor. Lord, we know that we judge and we evaluate things by this world's standard, by hoots and hollers and cheers and lights and camera and action. Lord, I pray that instead of an eloquent tongue, You would give me favor. Instead of riches of this world, that, Lord, I could understand and apply the riches that have been supplied to us in Jesus.
And so again, Lord, I pray for these men and women. I pray that You'll use them in remarkable ways. I pray that they would grow not just simply in the knowledge of You, Lord, but that they would grow in power, and it would be evidenced by their work, the way their life has changed, and by the evident love that they have for one another. And so again, Lord, we we pray that we'll take this time, but Lord, instead of being all upset over our weakness and our difficulty and our setbacks, that we would use them as an opportunity to trust You and depend upon You and rely upon You in every way, whether we're facing physical or financial or relational difficulties. And so, Lord, again, I I commit these men and women to You, and I pray these things in Jesus' name. And all the saints said.
And guess what? We're done with the first chapter, but there's gonna be way more. Let's stand.