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The Light
Dr David Wood
MY
PRAYER FOR YOU – PART SIX
I
bring greetings to our partners and friends in the name of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. It is the first of May, the year is speeding by and God is on the
move. The Holy Spirit of God is moving across the land and through our
obedience and submission changing us and in turn bringing the light of the Word
to those around us. This month we will continue our study of Paul’s prayer for
the Church at Ephesus and our prayer for you. We will pick up our study this
month at the end of the seventeenth verse.
Ephesians 1:15-23 (KJV)
15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus,
and love unto all the saints,
16 Cease not to give 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 unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know
what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward
who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and
set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion,
and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is
to come:
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to
be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
Paul is praying that each of these partners would have “the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of him:” When we are born again we receive the
spirit of wisdom and revelation along with many other spiritual organs but we
will focus on these for now. These are not separate spirits within us but
separate parts of our spirit, the real us and of our soul. You can think of
this the same as the organs of our physical body. In addition we can receive
the gift of Wisdom which is of the Holy Spirit. Our wisdom and revelation is
developed the same as anything else, with use and practice. The more you seek
after wisdom and seek after revelation of spiritual matters the more wisdom and
revelation you will have. Paul goes on to say that having the spirit of wisdom
and revelation is integral to knowledge of him. Now who is “him”? That is the
Lord Jesus. This word knowledge is the transliterated Greek word epignōsis
meaning full
discernment. So we can have full discernment of Jesus. Jesus and His ways do
not have to remain a mystery to us. In fact later in this book of Ephesians we
find that full discernment of Jesus will be the condition of the Church at His
coming.
Ephesians 4:13 (KJV)
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge
of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fulness of Christ:
We the Church are to come into unity of the faith which is the way of the
Kingdom of God. We will come to a full discernment of the Son of God, our Lord
and Savior Jesus the Christ. We will come to be perfect men (and women),
meaning we will be complete in Him. And finally we will come unto the measure
of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Not “a” measure but “the” measure. We
can be just like Him and many shall be just like Him before that day when He
appears in the clouds of heaven and calls us to the Marriage Supper of the
Lamb. Praise the Lord, what a day that will be!
Now let us explore verse eighteen.
Ephesians 1:18 (KJV)
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know
what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints,
The eyes of our understanding are the eyes of our soul and our spirit. So just
how is this to happen? The Word of God! The Word of God is a lamp, a light,
unto our feet and lights our path that we walk as He walked and walks.
Psalms 119:105 (KJV)
105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Proverbs 4:18 (KJV)
18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that
shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Job 22:28 (KJV)
28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto
thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.
Isn’t the Word of God wonderful! Our understanding is another part of our
spirit man as well as a part of the mind of our soul. What a deal! So light
comes to our understanding by the Word of God. Paul says this is important so
that we will “know what is the hope of his calling,” So that we will know the
hope of our calling in Christ Jesus. The word know in verse eighteen means to
see. So we could say it this way; “That ye may see what is the hope of his
calling,” We speak and think in images. It is important that as we read and
speak the Word of God that we meditate on these images. These images are the
parts of the Kingdom of God which belong to us. This process is integral to
bringing them, our inheritance, the things hoped for into this physical realm.
Hope in the Bible is different than worldly or earthly hope. Hope in the
natural world is a gamble, a big lottery. In the Kingdom of God it is a whole
different story. It is not a question of if the thing hoped for is going to
occur it is a matter of when. God gave me a working definition of hope some
years ago which I will share now. Bible hope is an earnest expectation of
imminent manifestation. Now let us deal with the “hope of his calling,” What is
this calling? We will hardly scratch the surface of this aspect but in short it
is salvation and the joy that comes with taking our place in the body of Christ.
We can all be equally anointed much of it in common, but also in the part of the
body to which we are assigned, our calling. You may not be called to preach but
you may be called as an accountant. In your calling you can be as anointed as
anyone else in the body.
Now what about this final phrase, “and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints,” The word riches is possessions, abundance and so
on. Glory can mean many things but in short it means goodness. The inheritance
spoken of here is God’s inheritance through us or in us. We are who He has been
seeking all along. Church, if we don’t have it, God does not have it either.
In other words, if we don’t have a dollar, God can not spend a dollar in the
earth to bring glory to Him or to show His goodness. We have a responsibility
to step into the riches given us by our covenant with the Father through Jesus.
Because the Church has been sick and broke we have not been the witness He
needed in the earth and there are people in hell today because we were deceived
by the devil or just too lazy to find out the will of God, claim it, and walk in
it for His glory. We have a responsibility to demonstrate the goodness of our
God. Let us look briefly at another verse here in Ephesians that demonstrates
this as well.
Ephesians 3:21 (KJV)
21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout
all ages, world without end. Amen.
The “him” here at the beginning of verse twenty one is the Father. Glory is the
manifested goodness of God, the manifested presence of God, honor, riches and
power. And all this is because we, the Church are in Christ Jesus. So, in
short, the real majesty, the magnificence of God can only be demonstrated by the
Church. So this verse could read as follows; Father, all manifested goodness,
manifested presence, honor, riches and power is to demonstrate You and it is all
possible because of Christ Jesus. Remember in the seventeenth verse we were
told that He, the Father, is the Father of glory. Remember the glory is all
manifested goodness, manifested presence, honor, riches and power.
Yield to Him, seek after Him and abide in His Word and you will walk in the
glory! Praise His name, what a deal! Remember we love you; do not hesitate to
call upon us with your prayer requests. Until next month the Lord bless and
keep you.
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