Ephesians 1 v 15 - 23 - Power-filled Prayer

v15-16
Paul is saying he's heard a lot about these people's faith, and love for God and his people, and he's never stopped giving thanks to God for them, and always remembers them in his prayers. That's a pretty fantastic faith, Paul has never seen these people, but he knows they love God and his people. Big challenge for us - we want to be known as loving people, who love God and love people. Does our everyday life reflect this? Paul prays for them, which is very important for us too. It's easy to pray for the non Christians we know but we need to be praying for the Christians around us too, that they keep their faith and show their love to all the people around them. Ask Christians around you what they need prayer for recently!

v17-18
He carries on, saying he also asks God to give these people wisdom and revelation of God to know him better. Another thing for us to pray for our friends and Christians, that they'll get to know God better and they'll get a better understanding and wisdom on him. He wants them to have an understanding in their heart to know the hope which he's called us, and know the amazing blessings God gives his people. We place our hope in so many things, but we need to fix our hope onto Jesus and his coming again. We have a glorious inheritance of eternal life, and however scary that may seem, it's an amazing gift to us to be living and reigning with Jesus!


v19-21
God's power is great for those who believe, because it's the same power and strength that God used to raise Jesus from the dead. And this power is amazing! It gave Christ to rule over all, in this world and the next, and over. It gave Jesus power to reign over Satan. This amazing power has no limits, and it's available to us! The same power that raised Jesus from the dead, who can do the impossible, is available to us through the Holy Spirit. It's just mind boggling! 

v22-23
God put everything under his power and made him head of everything in the church which is Christ's body. Everything has been placed under God's feet, so when we're weak with our situations, when we're overwhelmed by sin and life remember everything has already been put under God's feet! The church is filled with Christ and he fills everything which means he's the head and we're the body. 

God gives us this amazing power, and he gives us blessings day by day. Sometimes we need to just step back to realise what they are.