‘I pray that the eyes of your
heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has
called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and
his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the
mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and
seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms…’ (Ephesians 1:18-20)
Today we will focus on the third
thing that Paul prays that the ‘Eyes of our hearts’ would be enabled to focus
on: ‘His incomparably great power for us who believe…’
Paul prays that we would know
three things about this power:
i) Great power- ‘Incomparably great
power’
What is the most powerful thing
that you can think of? Most people, when they think of power might think of
things like splitting the atom, a volcano, an earthquake, the Big Bang etc.
Many people live with a fear of
power- what might happen if…? Or with a sense of lacking power- the battery on
my phone is dead! I don’t have the power to do…!
Many in Ephesus, and it would
have been a part of their pre-Christian experience, to look to magic and the
occult to gain power or to protect themselves from malevolent spiritual forces
(see Acts 19:19).
Paul prays that our hearts would
see the superior power that God has for us- we have enough and we can be protected
from all lesser power.
ii) Available power- ‘For
us who believe’
If we believe, God’s power is
already working in us and is available to us. We have been given new life by
the Holy Spirit and are united with Christ right now! But we can also pray for
more power in our lives. Jesus invites us to come with great expectation when
He says,
“Let anyone who is thirsty come
to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said,
rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit…’
(John 7:37-39)
iii) Resurrection power- ‘The same as the mighty strength he
exerted when he raised Christ from the dead’
We have the resurrection power of
the Holy Spirit working in us now, so that we live and new kind of life. But
God’s work will only be complete when Christ comes again. Jesus’ resurrection
is the supreme demonstration of the power of God and Paul prays for us to know
that when Christ comes again, God’s great power will resurrect us in glorified
bodies to eternal life with God (see Romans 8:11).
You may want to pray something
like this,
“Father, open the eyes of my
understanding so that I can grasp your great power for me. You have given me
new life and you give me power to live a new life each day. Thank you also for
my future when your power will raise me from death when you come again. Give me
grace to live in the good of the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
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