Two Prayers

In the epistle to the Ephesians there are two prayers of Paul. Each of them, and the two as a whole, suggest very interesting things to us. Paul's letters are full of spiritual realities that are already the Christian's inheritance. Paul likes very much to speak of what we already have in Christ, through the Holy Spirit. But the fact that there are two prayers here means that there are also things that are not yet a possession of the believer. Prayer is a tacit or explicit expression of a need that we raise before God. It is a demonstration of our littleness, by which we approach the throne of grace.

The first prayer is in chapter 1, and in it, Paul asks the Father to give the Ephesians "the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him" (Christ), so that they may know three things: "the hope to which they have been called", "the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints", and "the exceeding greatness of the power of God" toward them. Evidently, if Paul, through the gifts he possessed, could make up for these deficiencies, he would have no need to pray to the Father.

This tells us that there were things that the Ephesians did not have, but which they should possess. In the life of every Christian - and of every church - this happens. No one has reached the goal, as if to say that he has achieved everything. Then, the apostle's prayer arises on behalf of the brethren so that God may intervene from heaven.

Paul, the apostle recipient of the greatest mysteries of God, is absolutely impotent - and every servant of God is - to communicate to the brethren under his care, the deepest mysteries of God. Only the Father can do so, through the spirit of wisdom and revelation, which is an expression of the Holy Spirit (See Isaiah 11:2; Rev. 5:6).

The second prayer is in chapter 3. This seems to be an even more heartfelt prayer, for he prays it on his knees. The reason for it is that the Father would grant the Ephesian brethren "to be strengthened with power in the inner man by his Spirit; that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that..." (v. 16-17). This "being strengthened in the inner man" is the first rung of a ladder; it is the prerequisite for them to reach certain higher degrees in their church life.

Who and how could grant the brethren this strengthening of the inner man? No one could; only God can, through his Spirit. Paul's helplessness is the helplessness of every man, even the closest and most intimate in the work of God. There is one aspect - and probably many - in which God is sovereign and all-sufficient, but in which it is denied to man to achieve. This should humble us before God, for neither the much nor the best that we do is sufficient to do God's finest work. That finest work, that deepest revelation about Christ, is the work of the Father, through the Spirit, for those whom he wills. For it depends not on the one who wills, nor on the one who runs, but on God who has mercy.

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