In the book of Ephesians, Paul prays for the Ephesian believers. He writes in detail the exact words that he utters to God the Father for them. You can find these words starting in Ephesians 1:15-23 and in Ephesians 3:14-19. If Paul thought that these prayers were important to pray for the Ephesian church, do you think that you can pray the same prayers for yourself? Thank God, the answer to that is a resounding yes. God wants you to have a revelation of His power. I have prayed these prayers hundreds and hundreds of times over the course of my life. It has enriched my life and it will absolutely elevate yours. Let’s take a particular look at the prayer in chapter one.

Ephesians 1:15-23
15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 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, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 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. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

The Word ‘Revelation ‘ in Today’s Church Circles

• It is interesting that in the city called  the ‘Light of Asia’  Paul instructs the Ephesians to pray for light, to pray for a revelation of God’s power.
• The term revelation is a term used lightly in today’s church circles.
• But, there is an old saying…

Anything lightly spoken is easily broken.

• Some see receiving revelations from God as a badge of spirituality.
• We are not spiritual because we received a revelation; we are spiritual when we do the revelation we have received.
• Every real revelation requires a new dedication.
• Revelations will be few and far between if the Lord understands that you are not going to do much with what He tells you.

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Exodus 3:2–4 (ESV)
2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

• When God saw what Moses would do, then God revealed Himself to Moses by calling to Him out of the bush.
• Unless God knows that you are going to ‘turn aside and see’, He will not ‘light your bush’.
• Revelations from God come, insights into His Word are experienced if you handle it right the first time.
• When you do, you get another chance.
• If you mishandled a chance, repent.
• Tell the Lord you messed up and then handle it right the next time.

How You Hear and What You Hear

Mark 4:24 (KJV )
²⁴ And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.

Luke 8:18 (KJV)
¹⁸ Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.

• Jesus said, take heed what you hear. He also said, take heed how you hear.
• Remember, it’s a big thing you are asking, when you ask God to disclose Himself to you.
• Think of how little we disclose ourselves to one another.
• God does not uncover Himself, or His treasures casually to anyone.
• Casual folks get very little from God.
• It’s those hungry for God and God’s glory that are filled and satisfied.

Powerful Points on Power: Understand God’s Power by God’s Creation

Solar Power

• The sun radiates more energy in one second than man has used collectively since the beginning of civilization. ¹
• A typical quasar, in one second, throws out enough energy to supply the earth’s electrical needs for the next billion years. ²
• You could fit 1 million earth’s into the sun, if you hollowed it out. ³

Galactic Power

• The Milky Way is a family of more than 100 billion stars.
• Scientists say there may be as many as 100 billion other galaxies in the universe.
• They believe billions of these galaxies stars may have millions of planets like our earth.
• All of this came from just four words emanating from the throne. Those four words?
  • ‘LET THERE BE LIGHT.’
• The distance to the nearest galaxy is nearly 2.5 million light years.
  • This is the distance light will travel in 2.5 million years going 186,000 miles per second.
  • For a reference, your car may go one hundred miles per hour. Kind of slow galactic-ly speaking.
• How much distance is 2.5 million light years?
  • One website ⁴ has the nearest galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, at 2.5 million light years away, which is 14,696,563,427,345,637,530 (14 quintillion, 696 quadrillion, 563 trillion, 427 billion, 345 million, 637 thousands, 530) miles – that is 158,102,693,144 (158 billion, 102 million, 693 thousand, 144) times the distance between Earth and the Sun.
• Do you have a perspective on how much a trillion is?
  • A trillion dollars is so large a number that only politicians can use the term in conversation.
  • Mathematicians do not even use the term trillion.
  • One trillion equals 1,000,000,000,000.
  • Civilization has not existed for a trillion seconds.
  • One trillion seconds is 31,688 years.
  • The Bible records 6000 years of human history.
  • To make it to Andromeda in a Honda Civic, at 38 miles a gallon, you would need about 36,500 trillion gallons of gasoline.
  • A standard Honda Civic would have to be modified to carry this amount of gasoline.
  • The gas tank would need to have the capacity of about 730 million ocean going supertankers with capacity of 50 million gallons each.
  • How long will you be waiting fill-up at the gas station?
    • It would take 2300 years to fill the tank if the pump had the flow capacity of Niagara Falls.
    • Average flow of Niagara Falls is 500,000 gallons/sec.
    • This is the same as 15,768,000,000,000 gallons per year.
    • This would take 2314 years to fill the 730,000,000 supertankers.
• The Saturn 5 rocket would take over 15 billion years to make it to Andromeda.
• The total universe is 8-10 billion light years long.

Nuclear Power

• One tone of natural uranium can produce more that 40 million kilowatt-hours of electricity.
• This is equivalent to burning 16,000 tons of coal or 80,000 barrels of oil.  ⁵
• God’s creation pulsates with power.
• God’s creation pulsates with this image, I am a really big God.

Romans 1:18–20 (KJV)
¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; ¹⁹ Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. ²⁰ For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

• You can understand God’s power in nature by looking at the things that have been made.
• God’s power in nature is not what is referenced in Ephesians 1.
  • Understanding God’s power in raising Jesus from the dead comes by revelation.
  • The stats listed above did not come by revelation.
  • It came by the internet.
• Revelation is an operation of the Spirit of God.
  • It is not natural.
  • It comes by prayer which means it comes by faith and believing that you receive.
  • It is a spiritual thing.
• Revelation is not simply being taught something naturally.
  • If it is, then revelation goes on in everyday in every grade school, middle school, junior high, high school and college.
• Revelation comes by an operation of God whereby knowledge of God is imparted to your spirit by the Holy Spirit within you.
• What takes place in the education systems of the world is merely natural facts shared through natural means.
  • This is teaching.
  • This is information transfer.
  • It is not revelation.
• Why do we need revelation of the exceeding greatness of God’s power used to raise Jesus from the dead?
  • Because there does not exist anything in nature that you can compare it to.
  • Any power found in nature is below the power God the Father exerted in raising Jesus from the dead.

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‘POWER’ WORD DEFINITIONS

• It is found in these words “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power”
• DEFINITION: immeasurable/ὑπερβάλλω/hyperballō –  go beyond, surpass, outdo   – tremendous, exceed, surpass, far above; an exceptional amount or degree.
• DEFINITION: greatness/μέγεθος/megethos – the upper range of a scale.  Loftiness, majesty, size, magnitude, height or stature – only use of the word in the New Testament.
• DEFINITION: power/δύναμις/dynamis – power, might, strength, force, capability, the potentiality to exert force in performing some function. The word occurs 119 times in scripture.   The power in dynamis is the potential to get ‘it’ done or inherent power.
  • The word dynamis does not mean dynamite as that makes an attempt to read a 20th century phenomena back into a first century word.
  • No dynamite existed in the first century.
  • Comparing God’s power to dynamite is an attempt to express in modern language a comparable concept to Gods power.
  • The idea falls short because ‘dynamite’ is entirely too small to convey the greatness of God’s capability.
• Put these three definitions together and you have a power exerted in raising Jesus which is so large it dwarfs solar power, stunts Galactic power, and minimizes nuclear power.
  • It makes any power seen and known in nature puny in comparison.
• This power God exerts on your behalf.

Accessing God’s Power

• This power, in a measure, is what comes upon you when you receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
• Again, notice Paul’s words.
  • “For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,…”
• Faith and love flow together.
  • Faith accesses God’s power.
  • Love does the right thing with power once its accessed.
• Paul says…
  • “I prayed for you when I realized you were doing well at believing God.”
  • “I spoke to God because you were doing well at walking in love.”
  • “I am praying that you might receive a spirit of wisdom and revelation of God’s power because now, now, now, you can handle it.
• Start now.
  • Pray this prayer for yourself.
  • Make this prayer part of your spiritual arsenal.

Call to Action:

The Ephesian prayer discussed in this post should become part of the fabric of your spiritual life. Pray this prayer often. Just take the words of Paul and insert your name into the prayer. Say “Father God, in the name of Jesus, grant unto… insert your name... a spirit if wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you, in the knowledge of your Word. Help me to know you better, to know you more, to know your ways, your heart and your thoughts.” Pray this before your read the Bible or before you hear your pastor minister the Word or before you engage in hearing anything of God. Doing this will open the doors of your heart to the light of God’s Word.

Question: Have you ever prayed these prayers in Ephesians for yourself? What was the outcome? Would you please leave a comment in the comments section below.

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