Introduction. (Read the reference)

This is a very different prayer to the one Jesus taught his disciples to use. Where the Lord's prayer is simple, Paul's prayer for the Ephesians is complex.

I can understand why Ephesians is the favourite New Testament book of Theologians like Calvin; it poses so many problems of interpretation. However, this passage does provide helpful guidance on how to pray for fellow believers. Christians certainly do pray for one another but not often in the way the apostle prays for the Ephesians. When I pray for my believing brothers and sisters it is for matters like: good health for the sick, justice for the persecuted, comfort for the bereaved, blessing upon a Christian ministry, encouragement for the disappointed. I am afraid I often overlook run-of-the-mill Christians who are not sick, persecuted, bereaved, discouraged or engaged in special service. I scarcely pray for them at all! Bearing this in mind it might be profitable for us all to look at Paul's prayer for the Ephesians. HE PRAYED:

(A) With thanksgiving for them.

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. v15.

We should thank God regularly for our blessings. One of our greatest blessings is to know Christians who are strong in the faith and full of love for their fellow believers. I often pray for my brother, Paul, and his wife, Ruth. I thank God for their hospitality, interest in people, many friends and commitment to prayer and Bible study. When I pray for Simon and Christine I thank God for their zeal, enthusiasm and love for the lost - a love expressed by Christine's willingness to baby sit and Simon's willingness to host men's evenings to watch England football internationals.

But I really should add to the list members of my own fellowship whose faith remains strong and who express their love for God in numerous small ways: Carolyn visiting old Ivy, Dennis taking groups of us out to lunch at the local pub, Pat running Gerald home so that he can stop to communion, Judy driving 12 miles out of her way to bring Jesse to church, Peter taking services in old people's homes, Edna for preparing the communion meal - and so on.

I think it would be a good idea to emulate Paul and thank God each day for what some fellow believer is doing in faith and out of love.

(B) That they might know God better.

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

In any relationship it is important that two people know one another. I taught for 15 years in a school whose headmistress was Miss Applegate. Eventually she retired and I moved to another school in rural Suffolk. After a while I began sending her a card and my annual letter at Christmas. (Recent samples of which are found in the Personal section of this website) In reply Miss Applegate said that she found my letters very revealing and it was evident from them that she never really knew me. I found this very, very sad. Miss Applegate realised that I was a strict, aggressive, fiery-tempered teacher - liable to lash out at disruptive, arrogant boys. But she was not aware until she read my letters of the strong, warm affection I had for many of my pupils. Miss Applegate's lack of knowledge affected our relationship. It was not as good as it might have been!

(1) The benefits of knowing someone well.

We need to know someone well to:

(a) Be at ease with them. I was never at ease with Miss Applegate! On the other hand when I am out walking with my friends John and Marion whom I have known for nearly 40 years I chat happily, naturally, frankly and freely.

(b) Be confident of getting what you ask for. I certainly knew my last head teacher, Mr Crawshaw, better than Miss Applegate. I knew it was no good asking for a day off school to play cricket for Suffolk over 50s but I could always get time off to conduct a funeral. It is a pity when we are inhibited from asking a favour of a fellow Christian because we do not know them well enough.

(c) To be aware of how to ask. I learned as a teacher that I was less likely to have a request granted if I demanded it as a right than if I begged it as a favour.

(d) Trust them. I found as a teacher that it took children quite a long time before they had confidence in me. I recently had a letter from an old student who admitted that for many months she was very wary of me but eventually, as she got to know me better, she felt safe.

(e) Appreciate what will be unacceptable behaviour. For over 35 years I was the secretary of Brockley Cricket Club. I persevered through many ups and downs. I often put up with things that I disapproved of. But the day came when I resigned. I resigned because my fellow committee members didn't know me well enough. They didn't realise how much I hated indiscipline. One of the first eleven players made to head butt one of the opposition. I considered the offender should be banned for 6 matches as recommended by the league code of conduct. My fellow committee members wouldn't back me. They were surprised and shocked when I resigned.

(f) Realise what gives pleasure and satisfaction. My brother and his wife have different priorities in marriage. Ruth likes romance - a nice card on her wedding anniversary expressing the appropriate sentiments - Paul desires affection - cuddles and kisses. It is important for each to realise what makes the other happy.

(g) Enjoy a warm relationship. One of the things that was very noticeable to me as a teacher was that some pupils needed to know me quite well before they warmed to me. Of course, a few pupils were friendly from the word go and some were never very friendly but the majority warmed up slowly. Sometimes months would pass before the first smile. The clouds would break and the sun peeped through!

Em Griffin in the Mind Changers told how a kindergarten teacher asked the class to draw something that was important to them. In the back of the room Johnny began to labour over his drawing. Everybody else finished and handed in their picture but he didn’t. He was still drawing. The teacher graciously walked back and put her arm around Johnny’s shoulders and said, “Johnny, what are you drawing?” He didn’t look up; he just kept on working feverishly at his picture. He said, “God.” “But Johnny,” she said gently, “no one knows what God looks like.” He answered, “They will when I’m through.”

There are people like that little boy. Ask them how to know God better and they will say, "You will when I'm through."

This is the attitude of some in the media. They portray God as a bumbling, incompetent, meddling, old fellow who needs to get a grip.

This was the attitude of the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages - a church that portrayed God as a vengeful tyrant who took bribes for letting men and women into heaven. Anyone who didn't pay would suffer unimaginable horrors in hell.

This is the attitude of some intellectuals who argue that God is like an impersonal "force" that may be behind everything but takes scant interest in us.

As distinct from all these portraits the apostle John wrote: No one has seen God, but the Only Begotten Son, who is at the Father's side, HAS MADE HIM KNOWN. Jn1v18. This is a truth Jesus, himself, affirmed. When Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered, "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." Jn14v9.

It might appear from this that we can know God by studying the life of Jesus as revealed in the gospels. It is certainly important to study the deeds and teaching of Jesus and to meditate upon them. But more is needed. We require, as did even Jesus' disciples, help from the Holy Spirit of wisdom and revelation - or, as Jesus, put it, "The Spirit of truth." Jn14v17. That is why Paul prays for the Spirit to enlighten the Ephesians more and more about Jesus as by this means they will know God better and their relationship with him will deepen and mature.

(3) Reasons why a good relationship with God is so essential.

We need a good relationship with God:

(a) To feel comfortable with him. To this end Jesus taught us to address God as, "Our Father." My good friend and fellow elder, Edward, always used to start his public prayers with, "Dear, loving, heavenly Father." It was evident as he progressed that this was how he knew God. It was the bedrock of his relationship.

(b) To trust him in the difficult times. We are able to look during dark days to the One who raised Jesus from the dead.

(c) To know what we can ask for. In this respect the Lord's Prayer is our guide.

(d) To appreciate what conduct he detests. Jesus loathed a group of related sins: formalism, legalism, hypocrisy, self-righteousness, pride, self-advancement and greed.

(e) To comprehend what pleases him. Jesus was pleased by the humility of a little child, the gratitude of a certain poor widow, the devotion of Mary, the repentance of a rich tax collector, the worship of a prostitute and the faith of a Roman centurion.

(f) To feel real warmth toward him - to love him as a little child might love his father. This is where some of us, including myself, are lacking, but where my friend Edward excelled.

(C) For greater spiritual insight.

I pray also 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 the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead .... .

When the writer uses the clumsy expression, I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened he is simply praying for his reader's spiritual enlightenment. He wants them to be fully aware of three things:

(1) The future for which they have been chosen. The hope to which he has called you.

What a future every believer in Jesus has - a future summed up for me by the words of John: But we know when he (Jesus) appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 1John3v2. This is as much as I want. I don't expect to receive the decorations other Christians will qualify for. If I can just share Jesus' nature - free from every inclination to sin whatsoever and intent on pleasing the Father in everything - that will be glory for me.

O that will be glory for me, glory for me, glory for me,
When by His grace I shall look on His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me.!

We are exceedingly precious to God. He paid the highest price for us - a broken relationship with his Son as he bore our sin in his own body - suffering for us upon the cross. It is possible that Jesus told the parables of the Hidden Treasure and Costly Pearl to illustrate the price God was prepared to pay for the Church. He forfeited his dearest possession to ransome a great number for glory. Paul writing to the Romans put it like this: He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Rom8v32.

(3) God's enormous power for those that believe.

Paul does not refer to the creation of the universe as the supreme example of God's mighty strength - and what power and wisdom that great act took! No, the writer considers God's incomparable power is shown to best advantage in the instantaneous resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Paul prayed for the Ephesians to take hold of these truths because of the comfort they give:

(1) When the present is bleak.

In every age some Christians are poor, ailing, persecuted or bereaved. Life is difficult and even unrewarding in many ways. In such circumstances we need to hold on to our hope of glory. Jesus was helped to endure the cross and shrug off the shame for the joy set before him. We all have, whatever our situation, a joy set before us. Such knowledge should sustain and strengthen us.

(2) When others do not value us.

The world is increasingly contemptuous of Christians. We are seen as a nuisance or even as a threat. We may not even be appreciated by our fellow Christians. What a comfort then to realise that we are so precious to God.

How this knowledge cheered the hearts of slaves in the Roman Empire and much later the slaves in the U.S.A.. The black slaves knew that even if the white plantation owners treated them like trash they were precious to the God and Father of mankind.

How this knowledge has reassured prisoners for Christ's sake through the centuries. Some are held captive so long that they are almost forgotten by even their fellow Christians. But God forgets and forsakes none of his own. In the words of the hymn, 'How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord':

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I cannot desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavour to shake,
I'll never, no, never, no, never forsake!

This knowledge should hearten impoverished pastors of desperately poor churches in Africa, India and Pakistan. I get emails from some of these pastors hoping for financial support and encouragement. Unfortunately it is impossible to discriminate between those who are genuinely involved in Christ's service and fraudsters. However, I can understand how the contrast between the status and prosperity of many pastors in the United States and the hand to mouth existence of a minister in rural Pakistan can be a snare to the latter.

(3) To the weak and helpless.

Millions of Christians have been in this situation for the last 2000 years. They have faced persecution from tyrannical rulers or militants of another religion.

How strong Stalin seemed in the 20th century when he set about eradicating Christianity from the U.S.S.R.. What power he had. The whole state apparatus was arraigned against the church. Hitler, Mao Tse-Tung and Pol Pot were others intent on destroying Christianity. Today militant Hindus and Muslims do their utmost to intimidate Christians and prohibit the preaching of the gospel.

Jesus life ended through a combination of religious fanaticism and an all powerful political system. Judaism and Roman might conspired to get rid of Jesus!

But what happened? What happened? God raised Jesus up. The good news of his saving work was set free to travel the world. God is more powerful than any earthly power or any religion antagonistic to Christianity. God brought down the iron curtain. God inspired rapid church growth in China even as Mao Tse-Tung was trying to stamp out the Faith. Hitler and his evil system was defeated.

The Good Friday service in Dampara Baptist Church, Chittagong, Bangladesh, was packed. Little children sat on the floor in the aisles and across the front of the church. Rows of people stood in the back, craning their necks to see the crucifixion scene as depicted in the "Jesus Film." Weeping and gasps of unbelief could be heard in the shocked hush as Jesus was crucified. As the Bengalis watched, they were feeling the agony of Jesus’ pain and the disappointment of the disciples. In that emotional moment, one young boy in the crowded church suddenly cried out, "Do not be afraid. He gets up again! I saw it before." A small boy’s encouraging cry gave new hope to the viewers of the film. "He is risen!" is the cry that gives new hope to all. (William D. Barrick, Christian Reader)

(D) For greater awareness of Jesus' exalted status.

Paul wants his readers to remember that Jesus is:

(1) God's right-hand man.

He (God) raised him (Jesus) from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Jesus as God's right-hand man has unique authority because it:

(a) Surpasses that of any other power whatever that might be - whether it be on earth or beyond.

(b) Is of never ending duration and will never be challenged or superceded.

God has appointed Jesus to be head over everything FOR the church. In other words Jesus has been given supreme authority over all things for the benefit of the church.

The church resembles his body insofar as it is full of his life. When Jesus fills something he does so in every way - completely. He doesn't half fill, almost fill or nearly fill but fill completely. Jesus practices what he preaches. He gives good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. Lk6v38.

Christ's love floods the church. He is in his church in the same way the life of the vine is in the branches grafted into it. Jesus gives vitality, vibrancy, vigour, growth and fruitfulness to his church.

It is surely encouraging and invigorating to fully appreciate that as members of his church we collectively have a powerful, highly motivated, completely committed benefactor at God's right hand. We should be secure in the certainty of final victory with a sponsor like Jesus.

However small and beleaguered the church might be locally it shares in the very life of Christ. It can never be destroyed any more than Jesus could be destroyed. His abiding life means that the very gates of hell - the full force and fury of every evil and malign spirit - cannot prevaill against it.

I love the prose poem of Alexander Solzhenitsyn found in his book, 'Matryona's House and other stories'. This is what he writes about, 'The Elm Log': We were sawing firewood when we picked up an elm log and gave a cry of amazement. It was a full year since we had chopped down the trunk, dragged it along behind a tractor and sawn it up into logs, which we had then thrown on to barges and wagons, rolled into stacks and piled on the ground - and yet the elm log had still not given up! A fresh green shoot had sprouted from it with a promise of a thick, leafy branch, or even a new elm tree. The elm log had a life within that no manner of rough treatment could extinguish. Over and over again the Christian church has been attacked and reduced to much the same condition as that elm log only for Christ's life within to produce a fresh green shoot, a thick leafy branch - a sturdy new tree.