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Praying for One Another Ephesians 1: 15-22

Praying for One Another Ephesians 1: 15-22. Prayer is an important part of our quiet time with God. We often focus on ourselves and our own needs. This is not wrong:

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Praying for One Another Ephesians 1: 15-22

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  1. Praying for One AnotherEphesians 1: 15-22 • Prayer is an important part of our quiet time with God. • We often focus on ourselves and our own needs. • This is not wrong: • Philippians 4:6 [ESV] – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

  2. How much time do we spend praying for each other? • Our theme for the year is HIS CHURCH: United in Passionate Service • United - involves a genuine care and concern for one another. • Paul had a great care & concern for the believers in Ephesus • He was thankful for them • He regularly prayed for them.

  3. v.3-14 - Paul teaches us about the incredible blessings and privileges we have due to our relationship with Christ. • As evangelicals we emphasize that being a Christian has nothing to do with RELIGION • and everything to do with a RELATIONSHIP. • Paul says God has lavished us with all these wonderful blessings: • Our adoption into God’s family • Our redemption and forgiveness • Our inheritance of eternal life

  4. What is Paul thankful for? • a. v.15 - “faith in Jesus” – their saving faith • Faith is a gift from God. • Faith is a gift of God. So is air, but you have to breathe it. So is bread, but you have to eat it. So is water, but you have to drink it. So how do we accept the gift? Not by a feeling, for “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17). It is not for me to sit down and wait for faith to come upon me with a strong feeling of some kind. Rather, faith comes when we take God at His word.”

  5. b. v.15 - “and your love for all the saints” – their practical faith • Paul commends their love for “ALL” the saints. • A command from Jesus: • John 13:34,35 [ESV] – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” • Do we actually live out this command?

  6. We have just enough religion to make us hate but not enough to make us love one another. Johnathon Swift • This was not the case for the Ephesian believers! • Greek: “agape” love • self-sacrificing love • thoughtful, purposeful love • The same love Jesus showed us when He gave His life for us.

  7. “However orthodox a church is, however pure its theology, however noble its worship and its liturgy, it is not a true church in the real sense of the term unless it is characterized by love for its fellow men.” (William Barclay, Letters to the Galatians & Ephesians) • Paul’s thankfulness for these believers moved him to pray for them regularly.

  8. Ephesians 1: 17-19 [ESV] – “…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might.”

  9. A summary of Paul’s prayer: • That God would take them deeper and deeper into an intimate knowledge of Himself. • He prays: • Ephesians 1: 17 [ESV] - “…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him” • Revelation means the “unveiling” or the “discovery” of who God really is. • Wisdom is the proper application of this revelation.

  10. In the Bible, the heart is the centre of intellect – of the mind - the “inner person” • Paul prays that believers would desire to know God deeper and apply that truth to understand the benefits of our relationship with Christ. • Paul specifically wants believers to know: • The Hope of God’s Calling • The Riches of God’s Inheritance • The Power of God’s strength

  11. 1. The Hope of God’s Calling • Ephesians 1: 18 [ESV] – “…having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.” • Paul is speaking about our future. • Paul is praying that we will understand the significance of God choosing us to be His child

  12. Focus is on the outcome  the promise of our future resurrection and eternal life • 1 Peter 1: 3-4 [ESV] – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,”

  13. Our happy ending will not be something we experience in this lifetime but it will be realized in the next life where we will be with God for all eternity. • Revelation 21:4 [ESV] – “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” • Doesn’t that give us hope!

  14. 2. The Riches of His Inheritance • Ephesians 1: 18 [ESV] – “…having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know …what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” • Paul is not talking about our inheritance that we receive in Christ but God inheriting us! • We are God’s rich inheritance! • Think of it: God owns all the heavens and the numberless worlds, but we are his treasures. The redeemed are worth more than the universe! (R. Kent Hughes, Ephesians)

  15. You are God’s treasure. • God values you! • Paul wants us to live obedient lives “worthy of our calling”(Ephesians 4:1) • We obey God’s Word out of a conviction that God sees us as His treasures. • When we know we are loved and valued by God it frees us from living a “performance Christianity” - having to prove ourselves to God and to others.

  16. 3. The Power of His Strength • Ephesians 1: 18,19 [ESV] – “…having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know … what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might.” • God provides us with something of immeasurable worth to us: His power. • Believers would know the amazing, incomparable, immeasurable greatness of God’s power towards us as believers according to the operation of the might of His strength.

  17. We need God’s power because without it, we would be able to do nothing of any spiritual value. • John 15:5 [ESV] – “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” • 2 Peter 1:3 [NLT] – “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

  18. The power of the Holy Spirit is available to all Christians by faith. • Paul wanted to encourage the believers in Ephesus by praying for them • James 5:16 “pray for one another” • What do you think would happen if we as a church began to pray for one another just like Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesus?

  19. Let us commit to pray for each other that we would desire to grow deeper in our understanding of God and motivated to be united together in passionate service: • Confident of the hope we have our eternal future • Assured of the value we have in God’s eyes • Energized by the power we have available to us through God’s Spirit.

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