It’s a LOT More Than a 90’s Worship Song

I was reading in Ephesians 1 today, and I came across verses 15-23.  Paul is telling the people in Ephesus about how he prays for them all the time, and then tells them what he prays for them.  He prays that:

1. God will give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation
2. the eyes of their heart would be enlightened, so they could know
a. the hope God had called them to
b. the riches of their inheritance
c. incomparable power for those who believe

He goes on to say that this power is the same power God used to raise Jesus from the dead and re-appoint Him as King.

Ok, so none of this is really new information if we read the Bible much.  But what stood out to me is how all of this flows together.  When we ask the Spirit to give us wisdom and revelation, the book of James tells us God gives it to us freely, we are just responsible to use what he gives us.  So we ask, and God gives us wisdom.  As we let Him change how we love and change what we value (enlighten the eyes of our heart), we begin to understand that we are called to be people who hope.  It’s partially a choice to believe that.  We choose to become a person who hopes in God.  As we have this wisdom, God shows us what great things He offers compared to the stuff around us that rusts and disappears.  Our inheritance in God gives us reason to hope in what is c0ming.  The wisdom God gives us also lets us understand that He is willing to use power in our lives, the same power that was able to bring Christ back from the dead.  The uncomparably great power is used for us.  God leverages that power for me and for you.

So, if we take this passage seriously, we are being offered wisdom that will bring hope, promises of a valuable inheritance, and the protection of God’s power being leveraged in our lives.  That’s pretty amazing.  I mean, if we really believe that God will work in our lives the same way He did in Jesus’, then nothing can beat us.  When we are following God, living His way, chasing after Him, Satan can bring his worst.  Even if it seems that Satan is killing the plan God is working out in us, God can just resurrect it.  As long as we follow Him, we’re covered.  We are set free from wanting the “stuff” around us, and given a hope for a life that will matter for the long haul.  We are released from the fears that chain everyone down, and given the title of His Kids, sons and daughters of The King.  It’s pretty heady stuff.

What in your life, in my life, needs to be seen differently?  Where do we need to ask for God to give us wisdom, to open the eyes of our hearts to His plan, to His values?  What could change today in us if we will just ask Him to make us more like Him?