INSIGHT FOR IMPACT (6)

“Asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and INSIGHT...” – Ephesians 1:17a, NLT

There are other dimensions of INSIGHT for IMPACT that come by the Spirit of God: “Asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and INSIGHT so that you might grow in your knowledge of God” (Eph.1:17, New Living Translation). The New King James version says, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Eph.1:17). In reporting his prayers, Paul recorded one central request that he placed before the Throne of God. He had already noted how the Holy Spirit had come into believers’ lives at the time of their conversion (vv13-14). He then prayed for a fresh blessing of the Spirit to give needed spiritual insight focused on a deepened understanding of Jesus: “In the knowledge of Him” (v.17).

Paul prayed that the Holy Spirit would bring special INSIGHT to Believers in terms of our understanding of God's Word, Ways and Power. He doesn't want to leave us helpless or hopeless. When Paul prayed for Insight to Believers, it was about “the hope of His calling” (v.18). He prayed for them to be alert to the past actions God had already taken for their salvation: “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory” (vv.11-12); and to the glorious future He had planned for them (v.14).

In the same verse, Paul prayed for insight into “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” Here, he recalled the Old Testament notion of Believers as God’s inheritance: “Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your mighty power and by Your outstretched arm ... For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance” (Dt.9:29; 32:9). He desired them to know that they not only possessed an inheritance from God, but that they were His Inheritance. Paul wanted them to understand their value to God. He was recalling the Old Testament idea of Believers as God’s inheritance:

When Paul prayed for spiritual insight about “the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe” (v.19), he imagined the Holy Spirit bringing fresh understanding of the Immensity of God’s Power and actualizing it in their experience.

Instead of using carnal arguments to persuade his audience, Paul adopted a more radical strategy: Praying for them. His prayers serve as a model for actively seeking God’s revelation in our lives through prayer. In all these prayers, Paul encouraged Believers to actively seek a deeper understanding of God through prayer. He wanted the people to experience for themselves what they had been given in Jesus.