Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 227

Life In Christ – 5

SPIRITUAL GROWTH IN ANSWER TO PRAYER

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Ephesians 1:15-19
(15)  Therefore I also, hearing of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all the saints,
(16)  do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers,
(17)  that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
(18)  the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
(19)  and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us, the ones believing according to the working of His mighty strength

Spiritual growth happens in answer to prayer. 

Paul prays an amazing prayer for insight, understanding and revelation to be granted to the Ephesians – presumably because he believed that such a prayer would work!  Paul obviously believed that men and women could be deeply changed, at a distance, by a Christian praying on his or her knees.

Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China called this “moving men through prayer”. So fundamental is this skill to Christian ministry that Hudson Taylor would not accept a missionary candidate unless they knew how to “move men through prayer”.

Consider your own life – when have you changed most? Has it not been when someone has prayed for you, in specific and earnest ways, for that change to take place? 

This is why it is important to have a regular prayer partner who prays with you -  for your life, spiritual walk and ministry.  This can be a friend, your spouse or your pastor. Meetings should be face to face, if at all possible, and at least once a week. Praying for each other, in mutual love and edification, is a great way to grow.

When my wife and I were newly married, Minda (who is meticulously tidy), despaired of my untidiness, which no amount of “reminding” improved. Minda took advantage of the fact that I sleep deeply and prayed for me, laying hands on me as I slept and praying for the changes she desired, sometimes for hours. I did not know this was going on, but I began to change, and am now much tidier than before.

Well what did Paul pray for? He prayed for the Ephesians to have a renewed mind.  He prays for things such as wisdom, understanding, revelation and knowledge. He prays for increased spiritual perception “that the eyes of their heart may be opened” and for a deep grasp of what God had prepared for them. 

He prays that they may know God (v.17), and may understand the hope of His calling, the riches of His glory and the surpassing greatness of His power on behalf of believers (v.17-19). In other words Paul is asking for a complete reversal of the worldly mindset. 

Prayer can make a person heavenly-minded and filled with God.  Prayer opens up our mind to the true spiritual realities and enables us to know holy things and understand the spiritual realm. The knowledge of heavenly things is a powerful encouragement for godly living. The knowledge of God fills us with love, the hope of His calling fills us with joy, the riches of His glory makes us worship in adoration and His great power fills us with assurance, confidence and hope. 

(Unfortunately such knowledge is lowly esteemed in today’s pragmatic world. Saints may not be successful in terms of “net worth” to a financial institution but they become holy and of “great worth” to God.  Which value system you chose depends on whether you want your life evaluated by a banker in a three-piece suit -  or rewarded by the Lord of Glory.)

If we pray for others, then we ought also pray for ourselves. None of us knows too much about God. We can all use more wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Pray for your daily needs - but also pray for your soul. Pray that you will come to really know God and hear Hs voice and know His ways.

This knowledge of God is personally imparted by the Holy Spirit in answer to believing prayer (James 1:5-8). When I was a young missionary the first place I was sent was right out in swamps of the Aramia River in Papua New Guinea among a tribe that only had about half the bible in their own language. Out there people did not know Greek or Hebrew or own commentaries or have computers – but they still knew God and were resonant with Him – because they were taught by the Holy Spirit in dreams and taught by one another with the few Scriptures they had. I arrived full of my theological education and quickly realized that the barely literate village elders knew a lot more about God than I did and were better Christians than I was. This “set me to thinking” that the knowledge of God comes through the Spirit in answer to the believing prayer of desiring saints -  and not so much through books as I had thought (though there is still value in books).

We grow through prayer, we grow through hearing the Word, we grow through speaking the truth to one another in love, and we grow as we obey the Word and put it into practice in our lives. 

I sense that there is a terrible lack of praying virtue into one another in the church today. When was the last time you opened yourself up to having the grace of God prayed into your soul? And when was the last time you did that for someone else? Paul has some magnificent prayers that we can use to pray for others (see also Ephesians 3:14-21) so lets start laying hands on one another and praying for God to impart Himself to the souls of our brothers and sisters in Christ.  A good place for this is in a home or cell group.

We need a touch of eternity in our spirits.  We need our minds renewed to really understand God. And it is terribly difficult to do that on your own.  We need prayer. I need your prayers and you need mine. Prayer unleashes God’s ”mighty strength”, which is available to transform us through the Holy Spirit, who is God resident with the human personality to change it and make us into saints. Prayer and the Word and the Spirit will make us holy. So start praying! 

Blessings,

John Edmiston <johned@aibi.ph>

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