Grace and Truth

Bible Ministries

We are continuing our examination of intercession as a facet of prayer in 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 prayer recorded in Eph 1:18 for the enlightment of the believers at Ephesus so we can use it as a model for our own prayers for other believers.

Though Christ has defeated satan, (Luke 11:21-22; and believers are overcomers in union with Him, but satan has not yet been deposed so he has the power to harass and sometimes even kill the saints' mortal bodies. 1Pet 5:8; 1Cor 5:5; 1John 5:16b;

The way God's power is deployed in the Church age is clearly displayed at the cross of Christ. From the outward perspective, there is no greater overt display of weakness than the Cross.... but in this overt weakness the power of God was being deployed toward mankind.

At the cross, people mocked TLJC and called for him to display his overt power by saving himself. But God's purpose at that time called for the power of God to be manifest through the weakness of the Cross.

This is the same power Paul boasted of in his own life and what he taught the early church. Gal 6:14; 1Cor 2:2-5; 2Cor 12:9;

Paul's prayer for enlightenment regading these three factors of mystery doctrine is meant to supply added incentive and super-momentum to believers who are in or about to enter the adult spiritual life.

Eph 1:18; The word translated hope is (ἐλπίς elpis ) means absolute confident expectation that what God has described in his word is ours.

This hope includes the following which are recorded in the context of Paul's prayer:

We have blessings from God on deposit in heaven from eternity past. Eph 1:3;

We have been chosen by God from eternity past (Eph. 1:4).

We have the eternally secure irrevokable adoption as adult sons Eph 1:5;

We are the receipients of his grace for the purpose of his glory in union with TLJC Eph 1:6;

We have redemption through His substitutionary spiritual death, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Eph. 1:7).

We have been chosen to receive a porton of the inheritance belonging to TLJC. (Eph. 1:11) while simultaneously becoming an inheritance for TLJC... we are his Royal Family see Net note 29. The Church.. the Royal Family of God is his battlefield heritage as part of his 3rd Royal Patent as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Bright Morning Star.

All of which is guaranteed by the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit as a downpayment until the entire inheritance is completely conveyed to us and we receive our glorified bodies at Christ's second coming (Eph. 1:14).

Salvation promises more than an eternity with God; it promises all of the divine

resources necessary for the believer to be a winner believer in time and eternity.

Paul's prayer here is that believers become enlightened by God the Holy Spirit through metabolized Bible Doctrine to the reality of who they are and what they have and advance to spiritual maturity inside the PPOG without being distracted by the cosmic system.

Paul's prayer shows how we can pray for other believers to advance in the PPOG.

Like Paul, we can pray for fellow believers and the work of God the Holy Spirit in their lives through wisdom and disclosure in order that they would come to know the Lord better and that the spiritual eyes of the right lobe of their soul would be enlightened in order that they would come to know the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of their inheritance, and experience the exceeding greatness of the power God makes available to believers in time.

In this process, we will become weak in ourselves, but God's strength is always available. There is no challenge too great for the believer no mission too hard, no test too difficult for the omnipotent power of God that is contiuously available for believers inside the PPOG. Phil 4:13;

Since we know from Bible Doctrine that God wants all believers to come to the epignosis of the truth 1Tim 2:4; We cannot go wrong in our intercession for other believers when we pray for their enlightment regarding their position in God's plan, God's purpose for them in his plan and his provision for them in his plan.

We will now examine Paul's intercessory prayer recorded in Eph 3:14-19; this is a prayer for believers to be fully enabled to function in the spiritual life inside the PPOG for their lives.

Paul is praying from prison for the believers he knows from his ministry in Ephesus about 8 years earlier and for those he hears about in the reports he receives from those who have traveled to visit him in Rome.

Paul considers all that God had done for believers through Christ, and offers a prayer for them to God the Father.

Eph 3:14; For this reason, I kneel/'bow my knees'face to face with the Father {pater}.

His prayer is addressed to God the Father according to the proper protocol for prayer.

(To God the Father, in the name of TLJC in the power of God the Holy Spirit)

He is bowing down not because there is a specific posture for prayer, but because he is addressing God the Father as a king, who is the father of the church... the Royal Family of God.

The words "for this reason" connect this verse in a series of parenthetical phrases to Eph 2:10-22; where he is discussing the formation of the Royal Family of God in the church age.. in Christ.

Eph 3:15; Out from the source of Whom (God the Father - 'pater') the entire {Royal} Family {patria} in heavens {plural} and on earth derives its name/title.

The word translated every is the Greek word( πᾶς pas ) in this case is better translated "whole" because it is referring to the whole or entire Royal Family in heaven and on earth.... see note 1 NASB or Note 40 NET The NKJV and the NIV translate it correctly.

The word translated "named" is the Greek word ( ὀνομάζω onomazo ) in this context refers to the family name of the Royal Family of God. The entire Royal Family takes it's "name" (title) from God the Father.

Membership in the Royal Family of God is established for every Church Age believer at the moment of salvation by the baptism of God the Holy Spirit when the believer becomes part of a new spiritual species.... The Royal Family of God...