LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for September 12: God’s plan involves power

Of all the responsibilities and worthy projects that compete for the time of a follower of Jesus, the most important of all is prayer.  It is through a Christian’s prayer life where one finds confession, forgiveness, direction and strength. Prayer reveals the things that are important to the one praying.

In Ephesians 1:15-23, the Apostle Paul’s prayer for his readers shows the love and concern he had for them. He prays for them to have a better understanding of God’s plan and power. Today, it is difficult for many believers to comprehend who God is or some of the great truths about him. However, through prayer and studying of the word of God, every believer can have a better understanding of who God is and what he does.

In the first three verses for our text (vv. 15-17), Paul speaks of the news he has heard concerning his readers’ strong faith which was demonstrated in their visible and real love they had for other believers. He then prays God will give substance to that love with his spiritual wisdom and insight as they continue to grow in their knowledge of who God is.

One of the great needs we have in making and developing disciples is many young converts want to “follow Jesus and love everyone,” but never grow deeper in their walk with God. Paul has great understanding of the temptations of young Christians when he intercedes on their behalf to the “God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father” (v. 17), to give them the spiritual insight they need for a better understanding of his plan and power. It is the Holy Spirit who gives “wisdom”—the ability to see life from God’s perspective, and “revelation,”—insight into God himself and his truth.  

Paul then ties in verses 18 and 19 asking that his readers will have “the eyes of your heart” to see the reality of their hope. To the Jew, the heart was the core of one’s personality, which included their inner person, their thought process and the center of their morals.  Paul was asking God that he continually “enlighten” his readers in such a way that they would “know” (v. 18) the truth about the hope of their call (v. 18) and their value to God as his inheritance in the last days (v. 18).

These two realities are based on the completeness of his power (v. 19). The only power that can change weak nonbelievers into strong disciples is God’s power. It is this power that allows believers to surrender to the hope of his call “to make a difference” by sacrificing everything for the one who loves them.  

After describing the completeness of God’s power, Paul, in the conclusion of his first prayer for his readers, demonstrate that power in verses 20-22. First, God resurrected Jesus from the dead. No one else in all of history has ever been brought back from the dead and never faced death again.

Another proof of God’s power is that God elevated Jesus and “seated him at his right hand in the heavens” (v. 20). Christ no longer was the human sacrifice for the sins of the world, or the one to be judged; he now is the judge where “God placed all things under his feet” (v. 22), “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11). Jesus is the king of kings and Lord of Lords.

Paul closes his prayer in verses 22-23 stating that God has appointed Jesus to be “head over everything for the church, which is his body, and the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” The assertion that Christ is the head of the church and the church was his body is both comforting and daunting.

As a congregation, believers have the assurance that our leader is Jesus Christ who is “the head of the church.” In him we find direction and purpose in our obedience and service. As “his body,” we are the visible reality of him to a lost and dying world. When we realize our actions and testimony is how unbelievers see Jesus, we will be more sensitive in how we are perceived through our actions and attitudes.  

It is Jesus who “fills everything in every way” (v. 23). Christ fills all things with himself and his blessings, bringing all believers to the state of obedience and praise for which God created them. The church is being filled by Christ who fills all things completely. He then uses the gifts he bestows on the church to fulfill his mission. In doing this he reveals himself to the world and drawing people to himself by that witness.  

This lesson is scheduled to be taught on September 12. This is also the day First Baptist Church, Galveston is scheduled to have its first worship service in its auditorium since Hurricane Ike struck, September 13, 2008.

From the act of destruction to Galveston Island and First Baptist caused by salty flood waters covering 80% of the island, I have learned many things concerning the plan and purpose of God. I learned about how powerful and destructive an “act of God” can be. I learned how helpless man is when confronted with the forces of nature. I learned how one can become overwhelmed by circumstances resulting from such a disaster. I learned, no matter how deep your faith in God and his purpose and plan, you still can come to a place of fear, frustration, despair and loss of vision.

I learned when one is hopeless; God sends hope in the form of others who desire to show his love through their prayers, sacrifice, sweat, tears and obedience. I learned how to accept help. I learned in the middle of our needs, God gave direction and assets for us to help others who had greater needs. I learned there were folks, Baptist folks, who were willing to put First Baptist Church on their backs and carry us until we could stand on our own. I learned God brings about good change out of bad circumstances.

Most of all, I learned when the local body of believers is at its lowest and most desperate, Jesus has the power to come to it, fill it with his love, comfort it, give it guidance and the ability to obey. Because of this, we are praising the Lord and giving glory to God for filling us with “everything in every way.”