PAUL’S PRAYER FOR THE EPHESIANS.
We have speech,
human thought and the words of our Bible, and when we meet and talk about a
given passage, to someone may be given the Divine Word for one or for all.
Our last lesson
was from Eph. i:15-23. The prayer of Paul for those who had faith in the Lord
Jesus which they could and did show towards the saints.
This prayer has
in it a promise of fulfillment for any who, having like active faith, receive it
as a Divine Word to their souls.
The first word of
this chosen passage, “Wherefore”-for this cause-turned our attention to Paul’s
reason for his conclusions-to Paul’s incitement to this prayer.
In his statement
of the condition of these Ephesian Christians, he says:
-God hath blessed us with every
spiritual blessing;
-Hath chosen us to be holy and
without blemish;
-Hath foreordained us unto adoption;
-Hath freely bestowed on us the
glory of His grace;
-Hath made grave to abound towards
us in all wisdom and prudence;
-Hath made known unto us the mystery
of His will;
-Hath made us His heritage that we
should be able to praise His glory;
We,
Who had hoped in Christ
Who had believed in
Christ;
Who had been sealed by
Christ,
With the Holy Spirit according to
His promise.
Wherefore-for
this cause-having heard of the effect of the new life in those who were part of
God’s purchased possession, His chosen heritage, his heart is moved to prayer.
Immediately Paul
loses sight of the Ephesian Christians and their possessions, of their
experience and relations to each other and to God; and, having a new glimpse
for himself of the other side-God’s part in man’s redemption-he asks strange
petitions, and full of marrow and fatness for those who, finding the Word therein,
eat and live thereby.
And, first: May
God give you the spirit of wisdom, not in the affairs of this life, not in your
personal walk, but wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; and the eyes
of your understanding-your heat-being enlightened; that ye may know what is God’s
hope in calling you; what His plan, purpose, desire, hope in granting you to
this salvation.
Again: May God
give you to know what are the riches of the glory of His own inheritance in the
saints. Not what mansions of glory are prepared for you; what treasures are
waiting in the city paved with gold and radiant with precious stones; not what depths
of knowledge and fountains of understanding are opened to your mind; but what
are God’s riches of glory in His inheritance; what will he have
to show through eternal ages, to angel and archangel, seraphim and cherubim,
and all the mighty host of the principalities and powers-and immensity of
creation, measured only by the stupendous thought and creative energy of the
Lord of Hosts; what will He have to show of His inheritance in His purchased
possession, the saints.
And yet again:
May God give you to know what is the exceeding greatness of His power to
us-ward who believe; power exhibited once to all who wondering stood to view
the awful scene when He raised up Jesus from the dead and set Him high above
all rule, and might and dominion, and every name that is named in this world
and in that which is to come, even at His own right hand, with all things in
subjection at His feet! Power to be used again and again in raising you from the
dead and in making you ascend to your place in the body in true relation to the
already risen Head!
One with these
Ephesian Christians, believing and hoping in Christ, and sealed with the Holy Spirit
of promise, may this prayer come to each with fresh energizing life, and may we
know in deeper, truer measure what is the hope of His calling, what the riches
of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power
towards us.
***
COMMUNION.
My life is going from
me,
Like the pouring out of wine
In the golden cup
of communion
At the Christ-feast’s scared time.
No drop shall
overflow it,
And the steady Hand will raise,
To the sacred
lips that drink it,
The wine of my earthly days.
Adele Gleason.
***
When my heat is
overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock that is higher than I. – Psalm lix:2.
Be of good
comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. – Matthew ix:22.
My soul shall be
satisfied with marrow and fatness. – Psalm lixxx:5.
