Paul continues in verse 15 of Ephesians 1 by telling the Ephesians that he has heard of their faith and that he continues to pray for them. The question that I have for myself and for others is, is your faith, is my faith such a part of our lives that others that live in other communities have heard of it? Do our actions, deeds and words exemplify Christ? Have you heard of someone’s faith in another community? I wonder what our country would be like today if we had more people with the faith like the Ephesians.
Paul describes how he prays for the Ephesians in verses 15-23. It wasn’t the superficial pray of God bless so and so and so and so, but he prayed prays of great depth with a desire to see the saints at Ephesus deepen their relationship with God. It is this same desire that I have of myself, my wife and children, that we may each grow and deepen our relationship with our heavenly Father. I don’t want myself and my family to have the same kind of “faith” so many professing Christians have, a superficial faith of convenience but a deep intimate relationship with the God of all creation. That our eyes might be opened to His will for our lives (vs. 18) and that we might spiritually see the many blessings that we have as His children (vs. 18). I want my family to see the mighty power of God in their lives daily (19). I want them to see God split the storm clouds as I have seen, I want them to see how God provides water as I have seen, I want them the see God remove Satanic oppression and bring instantaneous peace as I have seen. I want them to know God in such a way that when they pray, God hears and stops all heaven to listen to them. That is my desire.
The next post I plan to rap up Paul’s insights to our relationship with God, followed by a time studying our relationship with Christ.