Are We Praying for These Things? Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Ephesians Series)

Ephesians chapter one verse 15. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe? According to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come.

And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, to the fullness of him who fills all in all. Let's pray together. Father, we delight in your word. We thank you for gathering the saints today on this precious day. And, lord, we ask for what we just read of, the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of you.

And we ask, lord, as we just sang, tune our ears to hear your voice. Turn our gaze upon Jesus. Lord, it benefits no man if man is exalted, if man is praised. But, lord, we know that Christ deserves it all, and it is Christ that we need to see and hear in this place. And so we ask, Lord, as your word is declared, may it be spoken with clarity, with precision of speech, free of confusion and error, may it be received in hearts that have soil ready to receive this seed.

And may no birds come and rob this seed, father. We pray for a hedge of protection over every mind and life in this place. Father, we also pray for a visitation, something that would change us. We give you, Lord, this day, not just this morning. This is the Lord's day.

You have it all, and we ask, God, that you would meet us as we come to meet with you. We pray this in Jesus' mighty and holy precious name. Amen. You may be seated. In a book that describes the life and ministry of one of the greatest evangelists that has ever lived, DL Moody.

A portion of that book is dedicated to attempting to describe how this man was so successful in his ministry for the Lord Jesus Christ. And in one of those things is listed a testimony of two ladies. When Moody used to preach, the ladies would come and they would pray. And after every service, when Moody would finish preaching, these ladies would come up to this evangelist and say, we are praying for you. And day after day, whenever Moody preached, they would come again and say, we are praying for you.

We are praying for you. And if you think that evangelists can't get in the flesh sometimes, they do because they're human. Finally, Moody just gets irritated because they're praying for him and approach these two ladies and say, why are you praying for me? Why don't you pray for the unsaved? And these two ladies with full confidence looked at Moody and said, we are praying that you may get the power.

And they were speaking of the Holy Spirit. These two ladies believed that this preacher, though he was used by God, though he was a powerful man of God, they believed that there was something for Moody yet to experience and grasp in his Christian walk. And in simple faith, these two ladies would pray that this preacher's life would be impacted. And what they hoped for eventually came to pass because Moody himself joined them in prayer for this, and it began to consume his own life. And eventually, that prayer for a greater measure of power of the Holy Spirit came to pass in Moody's life.

And what these two simple ladies prayed for happened because they believed that there was something more. The apostle Paul believed no different for the church of Ephesus. He believed that there is something more for these Christians, though the subject of his prayer might be different. And to this day, I take great joy in reading the lives of men and women of God who have been used by God in mighty ways whether they are known or unknown. And to this day, every single biography or autobiography or article or testimony that I've read of somebody that's been used greatly by our savior, There is one common thread that never fails to pop up eventually in their lives, and that is this, that those who had an influence on the public were those who were diligent in the closet.

In other words, those who witnessed God reach the hearts of people were first those who knew how to reach God's heart in the place of prayer. Now when we think of the apostle Paul, he was one of those men without a shadow of a doubt. But many titles come to mind when we think of the apostle Paul. When you hear his name, you might quickly associate him with an outstanding theologian, which is true, or an understanding of the fact that he was an unwavering missionary that did not allow circumstances or persecution push him to the left or to the right, which is also true. Or perhaps you relate to him as a spiritual father who gave much to sacrifice for his spiritual children, which is absolutely undeniable.

But there's one thing that you and I cannot forget about this man whom has written 70% of the New Testament, and that is he was a man of persistent and passionate prayer. And he was not a man of prayer because Jesus simply commanded him to do so. No. No. It was because he had an insight.

He had an understanding of what's available, the power found in this thing called prayer. And if you were to sum up Paul's theology on prayer, it would simply be this. When we pray, god moves. No need to get more complicated than that. The moment you try to figure out how god hears a prayer of a man or a woman that is so weak and unworthy and how he moves that in circumstances and in the midst of his sovereign will, you'll go beyond yourself.

But it's a simple truth that when we pray, God moves. And guess who believed it? He didn't just teach it, he did it. Apostle Paul. The apostle Paul was a man of passionate, persistent prayer.

And knowing that the apostle Paul prayed is challenging enough. Why? Because in first Corinthians eleven one, he says, imitate me as I imitate Christ. That's a tall order. But we have to understand that it's not just important to know that we ought to pray.

Hear me. It's not just important to know everybody knows it's important to pray. What is vital also is to know how to pray, to know how to practice the place and the privilege of prayer. And someone wise once advised that if you really want to know how to pray, one of the greatest things you can do is open up this book and study and read and examine and dissect those who have prayed and to see how they address God and to see how God answered their prayers. And this does one of two things for us.

One, it gives us a grid of how we ought to seek God. Like anything else, how should we preach? Go to the word of God. How should we sing? Go to the word of God.

How should we pray? Go to the word of God. It was the only thing that is recorded that the disciples asked of Jesus, teach us how to pray. There is an element of prayer in which we have to learn something. And so we need the word of God to guide us as a grid to know how we ought to seek God.

But it's not just to know how to seek God or to address God. It is also to show us what is available to us in the place of prayer. So when we see certain things in this word and we see the things that are being prayed for by the people of God and we see that God answers those prayers, we have every right because we are new covenant believers in Christ to say, hey, if they prayed for that, I can ask for that. Now there are some exceptions concerning the context. Don't go over to the water there at the end of the city and say, okay, I wanna see this split open in two.

But there are some truths with wisdom and understanding context that when we look at how people pray, that's important, but what they pray for also invites us to pray for the same thing. And this is the purpose of today's message in the series in Ephesians. That as we look at these verses, we would see three things. We would see how, why, and what the apostle Paul prayed for. And it does us no good to just get that intellectually, but to take it and to say, I wanna build this upon my prayer life in which I've been working on since I've been saved.

Why, what, How? Order it how you would like. We wanna cover all angles concerning these verses. And so we begin in verse 16. I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

I do not cease to give thanks for you. What you and I need to understand is that Paul in prayer was a worshiper. He knew how to worship in this place of prayer. Thanksgiving is a form of worship. When you see in the Psalms, thanksgiving is often paired with praise.

Thanksgiving is a form of worship. And the beauty of thanksgiving is that it acknowledges God for his blessings and his provisions that he has bestowed upon us. But it also has a second consequence. When we give thanks to God, it not only recognizes him as a source of all good things, it also bubbles up all selfishness and all self pity from our hearts to the surface. And it replaces it with a revelation of the goodness of God instead.

See, when you and I give thanks and you stay in that place of thanksgiving long enough, something will happen to your heart. Your self pity and your complaining and your lack of gratitude bubbles up to the surface as dross, and that heart of yours is replaced with the goodness of God instead. He gave thanks. Paul and his praying was permeated with thanksgiving. But the subject of his thanksgiving is quite interesting.

The reason why he gave thanks was not in general terms because God is God and we are humans and look at it. No. No. No. No.

No. He was specific with his thanksgiving. Look at verse 15. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards the thanks, I do not cease to give thanks for you. The reason why he was giving thanks without ceasing was because he heard of the faith and the love of the Ephesians church.

Now why would somebody give thanks for somebody else's faith and somebody else's love? Remember the audience. One, he's giving thanks because of the salvation of these souls itself. I mean, that's a reason for us to all give thanks. But specifically, these are Gentiles as we spoke of last week.

These are the ones who have been grafted in. Paul and his missionary endeavors is beginning to see the fruits. Whatever timeline this this was, we know in acts 19 revival broke out, but we see that Paul is beginning and is rejoicing in the fruit of the ministry that is now given over to those who have not had access to the blessings that were given over to Israel in the first place. And so I give thanks that I see that the Gentiles are getting saved now and are coming into communion with the living God. The nature of their salvation, their conversion story alone is worth giving thanks for.

When you read the account in Acts 19, you see that these people were birthed in revival. Oh, when they got saved, they got saved. And god's hand was upon Paul in such a way in which his handkerchief was healing the sick. And their conversion was so radical that they began to take all sorcery and witchcraft craft and all these spells and they threw it into a major fire and they rejoiced over it. And so Paul says, I give thanks.

I give thanks in the reality of your salvation. It actually causes me to worship to think about how you got saved. But it wasn't just their conversion. It was the fruit that came out of their conversion that caused them to worship specifically. Because he says, I have heard of your faith in the lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints.

Paul is rejoicing in the fact that these people are bearing fruit, and this church has built a reputation. When you heard of the Ephesians church, you heard of their faith. When you heard of the Ephesian church, you heard of their love towards one another. And Paul says, I heard of your reputation and it caused me to give thanks. It caused me to worship God.

And I believe as a church, we can relate much to what Paul is saying here. Why? Because God has done mighty things in so many lives and people in this very room right now. But I wanna ask you the question. Does the faith and the love that is being exposed and revealed in your brother and sister in Christ, does it cause you to worship God?

Does it cause you to give thanks? At any time throughout the week, do you ever just meditate upon the people in your life that god has allowed you to run this race with? And has it caused you to say, I give thanks to you, god? I give thanks for the faith of my brother and my sister. I give thanks for the love that is oozing out of them.

Do you thank God that you can burn for Christ in this place and not worry about being judged? Do you thank God that if at any moment you desire to prayer, you desire to grab an instrument and sing unto the Lord, you can find at least two or three people that are willing to join you without hesitation? I can testify in my life that when I hear that somebody in this place has been meeting with God in the word, has been being changed by his word, my heart flutters. And something in me says, I thank you, Lord, that you're working in this person's life. I thank you, Lord, that you're giving this individual an appetite for the scriptures.

I give thanks to you. I can also testify that when I look at your lives, and maybe you don't know I'm watching you. But when I look at your lives and I see the love of Christ so compel you that you, out of a response to that, sacrifice and serve in this place, I give thanks to the Lord. I rejoice. It is literally one of the themes of the reason why I worship.

And I don't say that with the slightest hint of exaggeration. And on some level, I can look at the third letter of John in verse four where he says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in truth. He says, I I feel this joy to know that you're walking in the fullness. And let me tell you on the the flip side, there's no greater grief than to know that somebody's not walking in the fullness of what they have available to them. There's nothing more heartbreaking than seeing somebody who knows the truths of God, yet is walking half heartedly towards him.

But I praise God that when somebody is walking in the truth like Paul, he can give thanks. I wonder, do you give thanks? Is that a part of your devotion to god where you dedicate that time to say, lord, I'm just so overwhelmed by who you've surrounded me with? I'm so overwhelmed what you've allowed my eyes to witness. I'm so overwhelmed with the people that you've allowed me to serve with.

And so in response, I look to you. My heart is stirred and I give you my attention, my gratitude, and say I give thanks unto you. If you were a part of Paul's missionary team, I can guarantee this, maybe I can't, but just for the statement of emphasis, that you would walk over his room at whatever house you were staying for the night. In the middle of the night, you would place your ear on that door and you would hear the apostle Paul giving thanks to the Ephesians church or for the Ephesians church. And Paul teaches us that he worshiped in prayer.

That is an important facet as we seek God. You need to understand something. Worship, especially in thanksgiving, has the ability to crack the seal of our hearts in order for everything else to flow. If you ever struggle in prayer, I encourage you, start by giving thanks. Start by giving thanks, really giving thanks.

I remember my father told me that at church a few years ago, a young lady approached him and said, I just talking and she was just saying, you know, I've been having so much trouble praying. I I I don't feel like I can stay in it. And he looked at her and just advised her, do you worship? Do you know how to just give thanks to the Lord and just love him and adore him for who he is before you ask for anything? Feel free to play music in the background and just worship him.

Just do it. Why not? There's no nothing against it. And she took that advice and came back a few weeks later and said that changed my prayer life. I give thanks.

I do not cease to give thanks for you. Paul was so convinced of this by the Holy Spirit that in first Timothy two one, he says, first of all then, when he speaks to Timothy, who was the pastor of Ephesus, first of all then I urge you that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people. Thanksgiving has its own category when we seek God on a corporate level and on an individual level. I challenge you to give thanks on a consistent basis in a very specific way and watch what will happen to your heart. It's almost like when you were a child and a father, your father or your mother taught you how to give thanks for everything.

Whenever you receive something, even if you went to the restaurant, the person placed the food in your tray, say thank you. Thank you. What does it do? It develops something within you. It develops a mindset of appreciation towards the things that you are thankful for.

Start thanking God for one another and watch how you will have a new level of appreciation for them. I give thanks. I do not cease to give thanks. But he says right after, remembering you in my prayers. Paul was not just a man of prayer.

Paul was an intercessor. There's a difference. Paul was an intercessor, meaning he prayed for and on behalf of other people and their needs. That's what intercession is. When you take the place of another and you begin to pray on behalf of them or for them, And he did that greatly, but not just with the Ephesians church.

Paul was an intercessor on a great level. In Romans ten one, he says, it is my heart's desire and prayer to God that they may be saved. And he's speaking about his his his Israel unsaved brethren. So he prayed for the unsaved. He says, it's my heart's desire and prayer to God that they may be saved.

He prayed for the Colossians in Colossians one three by saying, we always thank God when we pray for you. He prays for the Romans in Romans one nine saying, without ceasing, I mention you in my prayers. He prayed not just for the churches, he prayed for individuals. He prayed for Timothy in second Timothy one three. I remember you constantly in my prayers day and night.

And here we see him that he prays for the Ephesians church. And once again, Paul did not pray simply because Paul had a revelation of intercession. What is that revelation? Pay attention. Intercession is the invitation of god's intervention in one situation.

Let me say that again. Intercession is the invitation for god's intervention in one's situation. When we intercede, we lay out a path for god and man to meet. It is the type of praying that is laborers. For it is like one who lays out a track with its rails in order for the overwhelming power of God to collide with what seems to be an overwhelming circumstance.

It is what Abraham did for his nephew to be delivered from Sodom. It is what Moses did for the nation of Israel when they were exposed for idolatry. It is what Job did for his three friends who wrongly accused him. It is what Daniel did for his city, Jerusalem, while in Babylon. It is what Nehemiah did when he heard about the city walls.

It is what Stephen did when he was being stoned by the very ones who were persecuting him. It is what Paul did for the congregations of his day. It is what Jesus has been doing for the past two thousand years at the right hand of the father, and it is what you and I are called to do today as Christians. Intercession for Paul was not an isolated event. Intercession for Paul was not an isolated event.

Intercession for Paul was something scheduled, so to speak. He was mindful of the people he prayed for, and he constantly reminded himself to pray for them. That's what he's saying here. It's something that he did consciously. It's something that he did consistently.

He had the Ephesians. He had the Colossians. He had the Philippians. He had the Romans. He had his fellow unsaved Israelites.

Even Timothy as an individual mind. So this tells me that a portion of Paul's prayer life was dedicated to showering people with specific requests. And he had all these people. So my question to you this morning is, who are yours? Who are mine?

Is there a portion of your prayer life that is dedicated to individuals, not on an isolated basis, but on a consistent basis in which you storm the gates of heaven for them? And Paul did that. And you've heard me say this before, but I will say it again for the sake of reminder. There are two types of prayer and you can disagree with me if you like, but I like to categorize this in my own life. There is resting in prayer and there is wrestling in prayer.

Resting in prayer is just enjoying Jesus. Loving him, giving thanks to him, adoring him, worshiping him. I don't need to ask him for anything. I'm just there to gaze upon the Lord. And then there are other times in which we have to wrestle.

It requires focus. It requires mental strength. It requires you to engage where you are wrestling with principalities, where you are wrestling against different things on behalf of other people, where you are specific with your request, where you are specific with those that you are targeting with your prayers. And we need both. We need both.

And categorize it in your day how you would like. If you start in the morning by resting in prayer and just enjoying him, and at night you go to war, or you blend the two, may the Lord lead you in that. But my question to you this morning is, who are the people that you were interceding for? Because Paul had a revelation that when I pray for people, things happen. Paul had an understanding, when I pray, God moves.

So who are the unsaved like Paul prayed for in your life that you've been praying for? Who are the brethren in your life, the Israelite brethren that you say, my heart's desire and prayer to God is that they may be saved? Who are the saved people in your life that you're praying for greater sanctification? May I remind you that he is not doing this simply because he is a leader? Intercession to Paul was a manifestation of his love for these people.

It was an overflow of love for the fellow believers. And I believe, and he believes that somehow in God's wisdom and his will, he orchestrates things to happen in somebody's life when he hears another person praying for that person. It's a mystery. And we're not here to try to put the dots together and figure out how God does it. It just happens.

Where a person prays and God hears it, and in the midst of his sovereign plan for the universe and for the earth and his word for things to come to pass, He can intervene in our day, in our time, and make something happen. And I challenge you that otherwise wouldn't have happened if you did not pray. Oh, no. God is sovereign. Everything listen.

You have not because you asked not. Fit that in your theology. He laid it out. He laid out the law of prayer that when we pray, things happen. Now it's important to understand that intercession is not making God do do something outside of his will.

Intercession is not me begging God to do something that's contrary to his will. No. Intercession, in fact, is grabbing a hold of God's will and asking him to manifest it in somebody's life. That's what intercession is. And that's what Paul did.

He prayed. That's why in Isaiah fifty nine sixteen, the Lord says, he saw that was there was no man and wondered there was no one to intercede. He saw that there was no justice, no righteousness, no truth. Truth has fallen in the streets. And it says that he he could not believe that he saw no justice.

And right after he says, he could not find an intercessor. He could not find somebody to pray God's will into the nation, so to speak. What a powerful tool, which brings us to the next point because Paul here prayed for something specific. I do not cease to give thanks for you. Remembering you in my prayers.

What? Verse 17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. I love that about Paul because he's not just praying general prayers. Oh, we can pray for God to bless somebody.

That's great. But Paul was specific. And I think that's important. When we pray specific prayers, guess what you're gonna get? Specific answers.

And when you get specific answers, there is no shadow of a doubt in your mind that God was the one who orchestrated that answer to come to pass. And it was not just happenstance. God almighty, I pray for the spirit of wisdom and revelation and knowledge of you for the Ephesian church. That sounds so great. That sounds so spiritual, but what is it?

What is the spirit of wisdom and revelation? Well, we have to ask a question, what is wisdom? Wisdom is not knowledge. Very simply put, wisdom is the appropriate application of knowledge. Wisdom is not knowledge.

It is the appropriate application of knowledge. Knowledge is information that is gained through experience and through learning. That's knowledge. You acquire something and it's in your mind now, something that you didn't know, now you do know. Wisdom is taking that knowledge and using it properly and, dare I say, righteously.

So for example, knowledge is how to use a gun. You now know how to use a gun. You know how to load it. You know how to shoot it. You know how to do whatever.

Wisdom is knowing when to pull it out and shoot it and knowing when to keep it. There are a lot of smart people in this world that don't have wisdom. There are a lot of intelligent people that lack wisdom because they don't know what to do with that information. And I've bumped into people like that. They're smart.

They're articulate. All these different things, they just open their mouths at the wrong time. I mean, brother, you should not be speaking about this right now at a funeral. People are grieving. Sister, you should not be speaking about this.

This person's going through something. This is probably not the right word to say. It is a lack of wisdom. You can have the knowledge, but we need wisdom to know how to apply that knowledge. And so what is he saying here?

I'm praying for the spirit of wisdom and the knowledge of him. In other words, I'm not just praying that you would know greater truths about Jesus. I'm praying that you would know what to do with the truths that you hear about Jesus. You can hear something about the Lord and it does nothing for you. Why?

Because they lack wisdom. They lack the spirit of wisdom. So you can hear a message on forgiveness and forgiveness and forgiveness. And you have no idea what you're gonna do with forgiveness. You can hear a message about serving and serving and serving and serving, and you never serve because you don't know how to apply the knowledge that you're getting.

And so Paul says, my prayer is that you would get wisdom and the knowledge of him. That when you know truth about the Lord, that you would know how to apply it to your life, how it would be revealed and manifested through your days. And that is something that is so crucial. That is something that we need to pray for. But he's not shy for asking for greater knowledge because he says I'm praying for the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of him.

What is revelation? Revelation simply means to manifest. Revelation simply means something being unveiled to your eyes. If we were to use a very simple picture, I just want you to imagine yourself in your living room for a moment. And it's midday, but you have the curtains closed and you're sitting on the couch, then your mother or somebody walks into the room and flings open the curtains and the front windows of your house expose the street and the grass and the birds and the red shiny car out there on the side of the street, that is revelation.

Something has been revealed to you. Something has been exposed to you. Something is unveiled to you that was hidden beforehand. And Paul is saying, I'm praying that you would receive revelation in the knowledge of him. Maybe some of you have experienced that while reading your Bible.

You're going through the Bible. You're reading it. You're reading it. You're reading it. All for a sudden, full stop, something is just revealed to you that you didn't see beforehand.

You you saw a truth in there, and perhaps you read over it so many times. But in that moment, the Holy Spirit decided to reveal something to you that you need to see. That is revelation. And maybe you've experienced the joy of that where you you saw something go, this is speaking to me right now. This is for me right now.

And you stay on that verse for days. You stay on that verse for weeks maybe even. Even though you're reading through it, it's just in the back of your mind because God spoke to you through his word. If you've noticed, this is something that we pray for almost every bible study. Lord, give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation and knowledge of you.

Why? Because what good is it to learn something about Genesis if you're not gonna apply it in your life? We need your wisdom, God. So you might be going through a book right now in the Old Testament, Isaiah or something, and you're reading this and you go, I have no idea how this applies to me. Let me ask you something.

Are you asking for the spirit of wisdom? Have you ever asked for that? Because it's available to us. The spirit of revelation. When you take this word and you say, lord, reveal, like, pull the curtain back.

Let me see something that I've not seen before. Remember, we're learning this because this is available to us. Paul says, I'm I'm praying this for you that you would receive such a thing. Why? Because God is the source of wisdom and revelation.

James says it in James one five, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given him. So Lord, I need greater wisdom in my life. He's the source. Lord, I need revelation concerning the truths of God. He's the source.

Lord, I want to come near. I want you to peel the layers of flesh from my eyes, that the eyes of my heart may be enlightened. God, bring me there. He'll do it. He'll do it.

He's the one who dispenses it. He's the one who deposits wisdom in us supernaturally. Not just in knowledge of how to operate with the word of God, with everything. That's not the main point of the message, but hear me. Do you need wisdom in your life?

Are you a simple person? Do you not know how to operate in life with the basic things, with money, socially, whatever? Guess who's the source of wisdom? God. And when you come to God and say, lord, I need wisdom in every area of my life, watch what he does.

Watch what he does. Now there is a part of wisdom that comes with experience. Wisdom over time comes with what you learn in life. You've done something, you're like, I'm never doing that again, and you learn that. It's applied to you.

But we we have to understand that wisdom ultimately comes from him. Solomon needed wisdom. He says, who am I to govern these people? I'm a little child, and you're gonna ask me to be a king over this great nation? I need your wisdom.

God says, that's a prayer that I can answer. Let me put it in you. Lord, we need this. And he says he's saying now remember, he's not praying this for himself, though we have the right to pray this for ourselves. He's praying this for other believers.

God, I want them to have a greater revelation of you. I want them to have a greater wisdom in knowing how to apply your truths. And this is something that speaks of the love that the apostle Paul had. And he he speaks of three specific truths that he prays for them to have wisdom and revelation in. Look at verse 18.

Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. Now stop. We talked about that last week. We talked about what we are predestined to, the hope that we have that is destined for us because we are in Christ. But not just the hope, it says right after, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints?

Stop. We talked about that as well. We talked about the inheritance that is available to those who are in Christ. The thing that is awaiting for us to receive. But the next part he did not mention yet.

And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might? There's an immeasurable greatness of power that's available to us. I'm praying that you would receive the wisdom and the revelation necessary to grasp the immeasurable greatness that God has towards you. But what is that power that seems so general? No.

He gets specific. He says that he worked in Christ. When he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, I don't think you just felt what we just read right there. He says, there is an immeasurable greatness of power. Listen.

The same power that took Christ from the grave, the same power that ascended him on high, the same power that made him supreme ruler over all things in the universe and made him head of the church, that power that was given to Christ and was worked in Christ is now available to you. No wonder we need the wisdom and revelation to understand this power. You and I can't even fathom it. He's talking about resurrection power. More power than it takes to light up this skyline here in Chicago.

More power than what it takes to shoot a rocket up into the sky. No. Greater power than all those things. The power to raise somebody from the dead, that power is available to you and me. No wonder, once again he's praying for spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Why? Because that just sounds exciting doesn't it? Romans eight eleven sounds exciting. Right? If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

He's not talking about one day God is gonna resurrect your bodies, though he is going to do that. He's talking about resurrection power in this life now. And for us to just put that on a coffee cup or to just sing that between worship songs and to just read it means nothing. What? We need the spirit of wisdom to know how to apply that power in our lives.

That's the whole point. What are we missing out on because we have not asked the spirit of wisdom and revelation concerning this power that is given towards those who believe? If God in Christ overcame death with his power, what can't you overcome in your life? It's available to you. What sin can't you overcome in your life?

What discouragement can't you overcome in your life? Now remember that power is not something you work up yourself. I need power. Stop it. You need to ask the Lord for the spirit of wisdom and revelation to know what to do with that power.

It's beyond feeling. Oh, it's experiential, but it's beyond feeling. It's something that is proved in the fruit of your life. It is something that is seen in the way you live in victory over sin. This is not to discourage us.

You should be so stirred right now. I can tell you when I read this the other day, when I saw that the immeasurable greatness of his power is available to me, the same power that raised Christ from the dead, that lifted him to the heavens, that sat him at the right hand, that made him supreme that power that power is now given to me. Give me wisdom. Give me revelation to know how I can walk in that power, God. I need this in my life.

I don't wanna walk powerless in my life. I want the fullness of it. And Paul knew this and he says, I'm asking this for you. I'm asking this for you, Ephesians church, that you would know such a power that would go beyond a doctrinal statement, that would go beyond something that would just be inspirational. It'd be something that you would know how to walk in and operate and manifest in your life day to day.

If God's power, that power that raised him from the dead is available to us once again, what can't you overcome in life? We are overcomers. You're not dragging your feet through this life scabbed, blind, stumbling around. No. You have the same spirit.

I don't feel it. Ask for the spirit of wisdom and revelation that you may know how to walk in that power. Many truths were spoken, but I wanna conclude with these applications. Do you realize that we need the spirit of wisdom and revelation when it comes to the truths of God? I mean, Paul in the same letter later on, he's gonna ask the Lord.

He says, I bow my knees to the father. He's gonna say that you may receive the strength to know how much God loves you. You need strength to actually comprehend the love of God for you. The whole point of this is to be overwhelmed. It's like literally saying, are you thirsty?

Yes. Go to the bottom of Niagara Falls and open your mouth and drink. This is overwhelming. This is too good to be true. That's the whole point.

For Paul to stir this church and to stir us thousands of years later to understand what is actually available to us in Christ. And we need wisdom and we need revelation to know how to grasp it. So are you asking for that in your life? Is that a part of your prayer? Is that something that you open up the word of God with on your lips?

Secondly, you and I have a tremendous opportunity to be used mightily by God by being an intercessor, the same way Paul was for the Ephesians church and the same those two ladies were for D. L. Moody. And so I wanna challenge you with a very specific application. You leave it up to you, but I'm gonna make it this specific.

You find people that you will dedicate your intercession to, Whether that's two people, whether that's four people, whether that's eight people, find people that you are willing to pray and dedicate your prayers to them. Because if God, by his grace, allows us allows us to do this, we gotta take advantage of it. Not only that, if by his grace he allows you to see the fruit of your prayers in somebody's life, you cannot imagine the thrill. When you've been praying, when you've targeted a person, you're saying, god, get them. Lord, sanctify them.

Lord, open their eyes. Lord, let them be touched by your presence. As those two ladies lord, more of the holy spirit on D. L. Moody's ministry that literally shifted the way he preached.

Who knows how God will use you? I'm sorry. It's not a ministry that people like. You know why? Because it doesn't put you on a platform.

But if you are so filled with the love of God, if you desire for his glory to be made known, I challenge you, like Paul who gives us an example, to grab a hold of people. You write those names on a piece of paper. You tape that piece of paper above your bed or you tape it on the side of your room, and you look at those names and you say, god, I'm interceding for them. Hear my cry. Not because it's the Christian duty, once again, because there's a real power in it.

And Paul says here, I want you to know this power. And next week, he's gonna describe what that power did and what that power can do for our lives. Would you bow with me in prayer?