Grace and Truth

Bible Ministries

We are continuing our examination of intercession as a facet of prayer as part of our study of the doctrine of Prayer as a mandate for the believer in the PPOG for the church age. Phil 4:6; 1Thes 5:17;

We are presently examining Paul's prayers for believers recorded in his letters so we can use them as models for our own prayers.

Eph 1:15-21 records one of Paul's intercessory prayers for the believers at Ephesus. This prayer is a prayer for them to reach spiritual maturity. It was written about 8 years after he had first been there.

Paul was in Ephesus in 53- 55 AD, the Book of Ephesians is written in 61-62 AD.

The city of Ephesus was the center of the cult of Artemis the mythical twin sister of Apollo and Daughter of Zeus Artimus was the the premier pagan god of Asia Minor in that day. The temple of Artemis drew hundreds of thousands of worshipers there every year. The citizens of Ephesus were also devotees of sorcery and magic ( Acts 19:19-20;

Paul's missionary team had a such a big impact on the city that so many became believers that the businesses of those who made images of Artemis and her temple were threatened. Acts 19:23-41;

These believers who had discontinued their practices of sorcery, magic, and temple worship were now advancing in the PPOG by means of Bible Doctrine and coming to know of the spiritual resources available to them as believers.

Paul encouraged these believers by reviewing the investment each person of the Trinity has made in them and all church age believers from eternity past (Eph. 1:3-14).

He then recalls the prayer that he continuously offered for their enlightenment regarding the Divine resources available to them in the PPOG that is revealed in the mystery doctrine of the church age.

Eph 1:15; Paul knew them well because as we saw in Act 19 he was there when they became believers. He is now writing this from prison in Rome where he has heard of their advance in the PPOG by means of Bible Doctrine.

Eph 1:16; Paul had not stopped praying for them and thanking God for them. The believers at Ephesus were some of the most positive believers in that day.

Eph 1:16b; The phrase "making mention" is translated from the Greek (mneian poioumenos) which implies that that Paul prayed for each individual in Ephesus that he knew, by name.

It is one thing to pray generically for believers and entirely another thing to pray specifically in detail for individuals who we know, or have read about and have specific knowledge of.

Paul's prayer for the believers at Ephesus indicates his thankfulness that they were advancing in the spiritual life and his prayer for them is that they do not become distracted as they cross the threshold into the adult spiritual life through the development of their personal sense of destiny.

He is prayerful for them because they are in a place of great potential but are also in a position of great vulnerability to distraction from the spiritual life.

Eph 1:17; Paul was praying was that God might give them "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation" in order that the Ephesians might come to know know God better.

Paul's prayer for the Ephesian believers and all who would read his letter is that they would be given "a life-style of wisdom and of disclosure in the knowledge [epignosis] from God". This life-style is one of problem-solving competence through the application of doctrine to life and experience in the form of the divinely provided problem-solving devices.

This spiritual life is also a life of continual disclosure from the divine side and continual discovery from the believer's side.

In the life-style of wisdom, the Holy Spirit, as our indwelling mentor-teacher keeps on disclosing the special divine intelligence from God for the Church Age believer by illuminating the mystery-doctrine which is unique to this age which is recorded in epistles to the churches such as Ephesians and Colossians.

The believer's spiritual life is one of wisdom [sophia] and disclosure [apokalupsis].

The believers in Ephesus just like all believers already had a human spirit and the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit. What they needed was to grow up in the sphere of grace and knowledge by means of metablized Bible Doctrine under the continuous mentorship of God the Holy Spirit.

The word translated wisdom is the Greek word (Sophia σοφία ) which is defined as epignosis Bible Doctrine in the stream of consciousness which is available for application in the believer's life.

He was praying that they would have this epignosis Bible Doctrine in their human spirit.... remember the (2) power options of the spiritual life (FHS and BD ) and Operation Z. (The Holy Spirit teaches the Human Spirit which teaches the Soul.)

Paul prayed that the Ephesian believers might be filled with the wisdom and the revelation that only God the Holy Spirit alone could provide through metabolized Bible Doctrine. Paul wanted the Ephesian believers to be filled with the wisdom and the disclosure which the Holy Spirit makes available to all believers by means of epignosis knowledge from him.

The word translated revelation is the Greek word (ἀποκάλυψις apokalypsis) which means to reveal, to disclose or to make known. The word translated knowledge in this passage is ( ἐπίγνωσις epignosis ).

Wisdom comes from the testing and validation of the knowlege that has been disclosed.

To Paul, nothing was more important than for believers to have epignosis knowledge of God. To have an intimate personal relationship with him by means of Bible Doctrine.

This is not simply an intellectual (gnosis) knowledge of God, instead it is a more complete understanding of God that comes through consistent persistent Perception, Metabolization and especially Application of Bible Doctrine in the pressures of life.

Similar to what happened to Job after he passed the disaster testing God permitted satan to inflict on him Job 42:5; Net note 6

This epignosis knowledge of God is where the believer becomes so confident in their relationship with God that they leverage their knowledge of the assets which were conveyed to them as part of their position as believers in union with TLJC and they apply that Doctrine to their experiences and come to have confident expectation in God as they see God coming through for them.

Spiritual Self Esteem --> Spiritual Autonomy --> Spiritual Maturity

Cognitave Self Confidence--> Cognitive Independence--> Cognitive Invincibility

The apostle Paul prayed that this would become the reality for the Ephesian believers as well as all other believers in the church age.