In Ephesians 1:15-23, Paul said that he was praying that the Ephesian Christians would deepen their understanding of the blessings they had in the gospel. He prayed that they would have a deeper understanding of God, the riches of the gospel, and the power God makes available to Christians. Then, in Ephesians 3:14-21, Paul described a similar prayer for the Ephesian Christians. He prayed that:
1. They would be strengthened in their inner being (Ephesians 3:16). That is, he prayed that they would have spiritual power. This was not the power to do miracles, but the power to be spiritually strong, to have the fruit of the Spirit in their lives: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). This would mean that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:17). That is, Jesus would be living inside them, giving them power to think and act like Jesus.
2. They would understand the greatness of God’s love (Ephesians 3:18-19). This was not just a prayer that they would understand God’s love or be grateful for it. It was a prayer that they would be filled with God’s love, so that they would truly love God and other people.
As in the earlier prayer, again Paul reminded the Ephesian Christians of the power of God, the power so great that it raised Jesus from the dead (Ephesians 1:19-21) and that was able to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). This would include the power for Christians to think and love and act like Jesus (which is a greater power than performing what we usually think of as miracles).
Paul started this second prayer with “For this reason” (Ephesians 3:14). What was he referring to? In Ephesians 3:1-13, Paul had just been describing the “mystery”—the plan God had from the beginning of the world to rescue all people, Jews and gentiles, and give them all the blessings of Jesus’ gospel. And Paul was privileged to have been given the opportunity and responsibility to declare this great good news to the gentiles, the people who had been left out of God’s first covenant with Israel. Paul (and the Ephesian Christians and modern Christians) were privileged to have been invited to participate in God’s great cosmic plan. The problem was that the Ephesians were “discouraged” (Ephesians 3:13) because Paul was in prison (and probably because they were afraid that they, too, might face persecution). They were focused on this minor and temporary inconvenience and failing to see the much bigger picture. Paul was not stressed because he was in prison in Rome. He saw it as one more opportunity to fulfill his God-given purpose of proclaiming God’s great plan and God’s great salvation to lost people. Like the Ephesian Christians, we modern Christians also get focused on the minor details of this earthly life and fail to recognize the great blessings and purpose that God has given to us.
