WHAT PRAYER REVEALS. Ephesians 1:19-23 Spiritual understanding comes through “eyes” that have been brightened with divine illumination. Then the “exceeding greatness of His power,” which God worked in Christ when He was raised from among the dead and ascended into heaven in exaltation, is working in believers. When that spiritual power is at work in our lives, it brings spiritual victory. Opposition from without, doubts and fears from within, and all the pressures associated with living for God in a godless world are then taken care of by God. He uses His limitless power morally, spiritually, and physically for our benefit and blessings.
The first prayer recorded in the book of Ephesians is not one in which requests are obscure and the words too big to grasp their meaning. Paul wanted the saints to lay hold on hope for themselves and understand there was something for God when referring to the riches of His glory. Also, he wanted the believers to recognize the greatness of God's power that comes from Him to us. Whatever supernatural beings the Ephesians had believed in were all lesser and subservient to the Christ of God whom He raised from the dead.
The same extraordinary power by which Jesus was raised is at work in and through the people of God. “Incomparably great power,” “Mighty strength,” “raised from the dead,” “seated at God’s right hand,” and “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that can be involved,” are all to teach us of the place into which we have been brought. This has been done for us by our Lord Jesus Christ. His name is the highest authority in this present evil age and will be in the coming kingdom when there will be righteousness on earth. Psalm 9:5-6 tells of the destiny of human beings, and the corresponding scripture in Hebrews 2:6-9 teaches us that the Son of Man who will rule over all things is Head over the church today.
We are not powerless to do what God wants or to bring glory to Him now and in the future. God's mighty power has been directed to those who believe in Him. In the plans of God, the Church has been placed with Christ in the heavenly places, accepted in Christ, and through the saints, God is demonstrating the fact that His will is being done on earth as well in His people. The Holy Spirit demonstrates God's power to the world through His people; also, the Church is associated with Christ in His glory in heaven. Angels look on and see evidence of the Headship of Christ in those who obey Him.
Even more profound and affecting to us right now is that the church, all believers in Christ, is the fullness of Christ. He that fills the church fills all things. The hope we have is real. The inheritance we have is real. The power to bring all of this to pass in a display of God's sovereign electing grace has already been seen in a great demonstration of power. God's "exceeding great power" was seen when our Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead in spite of the feeble attempts of men to keep Him in the grave. Christ's resurrection was accomplished in the final part of the victory over sin, death, and hell.
The saints "who believe" are being made aware by God to whom this petition was raised that we have been redeemed by the same mighty power, preserved in this world by the same mighty power, and will be glorified with Christ by the same "exceeding" great power. Imagine, millions upon millions of people who have been saved and kept by the power of God will be raised from the dead by this same power and, together with changed believers still living, will put on public display the riches of God's grace and the glory of His grace. All of this will be done in perfect unity and harmony because of our relationship with Christ, the Head of the Church.
The Holy Spirit can “work mightily” in believers who have put on “the new man,” which God made righteous and holy. We have the divine nature that enables us to share life with Christ. When we realize all the power available to us when we are in Christ and live accordingly, we have all we need to live victoriously despite the spiritual warfare in which we are engaged. This power is limited only by our lack of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Victorious living is intended to be the experience of believers all the time. Abundant life can be lived daily when we use the resources we have in Christ.
The all-powerfulness of God is sufficient to meet our every need. No one needs to live a defeated life, but if we do not yield to God’s power that is available to us by the indwelling Holy Spirit, we will be defeated. It is God’s intention that we live above the circumstances of life with its temptations, sinful habits, and pressure to conform to the ways of the world. We need to remember three things: Christ, who was dead, is on the throne. He is “God manifest in the flesh.” Also, Christ is Head over all things. “It does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him…” Another thing is that Christ is the Head of the church, which is His body, that is corporately, not individually.
Christ has not only been raised out from among the dead but He has been placed at God's right hand on the throne of the universe. Justice has been done legally by Him. Sin has been dealt with righteously by Him. We have died in Christ vicariously. A new nature has been given to us morally. The grace of God has been displayed universally. Because He was physically resurrected, so shall we be resurrected. Because He lives, we live. Because He ascended to the right hand of God, we have access to the throne of grace at all times to find the grace we need. and we are raised and seated with Christ eternally. The eternal life we have and live is actually the life of our Lord in us. He gave us eternal life – His life.
Our position in Him is established and will not be compromised in any way. "Mighty power" indicates there is no stopping that which has been done for us. No government, no force of demonic opposition, no authority can overcome that power which has been directed toward us and establishes and keeps us. God is all-powerful, and our Lord has been raised in the power of endless life. "Because He lives, we shall live also."
God’s power is also evident by the fact of Christ’s lordship over every rule and authority, power, dominion, and every title conferred on anyone in this life or in the future. What He did on the cross renders every form of opposition powerless. He even conquered death by laying down His life by His own authority and by taking it back again.
The Lord has also already been glorified above everything or every personage that has ever been or ever will be known. All the ranks that angels or men hold fall far short of where our Lord is established in His gracious, just, and holy position. No exceptions to His universal authority will ever be given, not even in the "ages which are yet to come." In that position in which He has been placed, not only are people and authorities put under Him, but every created thing. Everything we associate with creation: gravity, magnetism, atomic power, earthquakes, tsunamis, water power, and powerful animals - every kind of power that is uncontrollable as far as man is concerned, is under the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ’s headship reveals the exceeding power of God. All things are under His feet, and He is the Head of the church of which every believer is a member. For His own reasons, Christ has limited Himself to accomplish His purposes at this time through the church – “the fullness of Him.” He has given the church His power, gifts, and energy to live abundantly. He is to be first in everything so that we may be able to make visible the life of Christ through the way we live.
Even far more astounding is that He has been given to us as Head of the Church. What the head is to the body, He is to the Church, which He has purchased with His own blood. There is a bond, a relationship that unifies every Body member to the Head. Every person is saved by God's grace from the day of Pentecost until the Lord comes, for His Church is in this union with Christ. Every part of the Body has a role to fill, and everyone has the ability to function perfectly without any lack, if that part so chooses to do so. The Lord fills every part so that it can be to "the praise of His glory." He knows what is needed and fills that need through willing body members.
Our Lord is head over all things, and He alone is the Head of the Church. He has filled the Church with the gifts needed that the Body would function as a compliment (fullness) of Him. He fills all things and yet uses those He has brought as members into His Body to share with Him and accomplish what He has planned. The Body is working today in God's work in the world, but it is not His intention that we be free-lance individuals doing what we want independently. He intends us to work "according to the counsel of His will" in coordination with all other parts. We have a problem now with people thinking their own way is best without considering or submitting to what God says in His Word. The Body only properly works when all its activities are directed by the Head, who reveals what He wants through His Word and His Spirit.
The Body is established on the foundation of our Lord's sovereign design. We have been "predestined to be to the praise of His glory." When looked at through eyes that see what God sees, this new creation is a "glorious Church," a unified Body that displays the glory of God in a limited way now but will be seen in the future in all its glory with the Lord Jesus Christ as the Head.
There are a lot of things we can't see here because of human limitations, but in the coming day, we will see Christ's Church brought out from among all the nations. The millions of people in the church will be seen by every person, by angels, and by demons. They are those whom God has made a "one new man" for His sovereign reasons. The Church is not to be looked upon as mere individual humans. It is and will be seen as a body with the Head working His will through them. Each part is different from the next, but all work in coordination under the authority of the Head as He pleases in each situation.
We can't see that Body now, as most of it has gone on to heaven. To a certain extent, we can see enough to grasp what is in store when the dead are resurrected, the living believers are changed, and the Body becomes one to be known as the bride of the Lamb. It will then be presented to God's Son as the bride, which He has purchased with His own blood. One thing is obvious about a body: in it, there is diversity. A body is composed of millions of parts, each one differing from the others. When each part is functioning properly, there's a special unity. That unity makes the difference so the body is able to glorify the Lord. The yielding of all parts to the Head, as controller of all the parts, makes it possible for the church to bless others.
There is confusion now when one part contradicts another. A glimpse of what God intends the body to be is seen locally when we gather as members of one body under the Holy Spirit's divine control. In the local assembly of believers, when each one uses the gifts God gave, there is comfort to the whole. The universal Body is still in the process of being built. It is not yet complete. We pray for the hope that is to come and for needed power as we gather at the throne of grace. We know the day is coming when all will be just as God desires. Working with that glorious day in view is what inspires our souls.