EPHESIANS 1 PRAY THAT I WOULD KNOW MY IDENTITY IN JESUS2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ephesians 1 Pray That I Would Know My Identity In Jesus

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019.

Ephesians chapter 1 verses 15 through 23. Let's begin by reading through this passage together, which is really a prayer of the Apostle Paul for the people, the Christians, the saints in Ephesus. And so we're going to be continuing to consider prayer this evening as we get into the word together. Ephesians chapter 1 verses 15 through 23. Here's what it says. Therefore I also

After I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, 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, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling.

What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe? According to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.

Verse 22, and he put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Here as we look at Ephesians chapter 1 this evening, we are again faced with

an incredible passage. Last week, man, we went through verses 3 through 14, and it's one long sentence in the Greek, and it is packed full. Doctrine, truth, encouragement, great exhortation. There is just so much

that Paul packs into. It's just a masterful passage as he tells us about our identity and who we are in Christ and our position in Christ and all that God has given to us in Christ. It was incredible to consider those verses last week. But now as we move forward,

We're now moving into sentence number two in Ephesians chapter one. Paul, he had a way with words and it's more than one sentence in our English translation, but in the Greek, it's all together. It's one long sentence. And again, it's packed full of truth. Now, as he prays for the Ephesians,

He continues to reveal some incredible truths, some important doctrine, and very valuable things for us to consider and for us to learn about for our own times of prayer, for our own prayer life, and how we pray for others and for one another. And so I've titled the message this evening, Pray That I Would Know My Identity in Jesus.

And this idea of my identity in Jesus is really the focus and the emphasis that we have as we're working our way through Ephesians. Because there is so much around us that is trying to declare to us who we are, but it's false information. It's a false identity that is seeking to be imposed upon us. It's a false identity often that we take on or that we believe of ourselves.

And as we work our way through Ephesians, the Lord wants to remind us, we need to let God declare who we are. That my identity is not rooted in how I feel or what I think or what others think about me or what other people say about me or what society says or thinks or my identity is not found in those things. It's not rooted in those things. My identity is based upon what

what God has declared and who God says that I am as a believer in Jesus Christ. And so I want to encourage you again to not let anybody else define you. Don't let your friends define you, not your family, not society, not even your own self. The enemy seeks to use all of those things to lie to you about who you are. And you may not feel like you're beloved to God.

But that doesn't change the truth. That is who you are. You are beloved to God. And we spent a lot of time talking about that last week. And so let God declare who you are. And as it comes to the subject of prayer, well, this is one thing that we can pray for ourselves.

everybody. This is one thing that every believer needs. This prayer is one that is necessary and important and good for every one of us, that we would know our identity, that we wouldn't be swayed by those pressures around us, by how we feel, that we wouldn't be taken and distracted by those things, but that we would hold fast to the reality of who we are in the Lord.

Pastor Warren Wiersbe talking about this prayer in Ephesians as well as a few others in Paul's letters. He says this, in the prison prayers of Paul, we discover the blessings he wanted his comforts to enjoy. In none of these prayers does Paul request material things. His emphasis is on spiritual perception and real Christian character. He does not ask God to give them what they do not have.

but rather prays that God will reveal to them what they already have. As we dig into this prayer, here's the idea that Paul has here. It's not about the Lord needs to give them something because they're missing something, that they're lacking something, but he's praying that God would open their eyes, that they would be aware of what they already have. And as we talk about our identity in Jesus, it is who we are.

Again, regardless of how well we understand it, regardless of how we feel about it, or if we're deceived about it, the reality of who we are is what God says. And what we need in praying for one another and people praying for us is for that revelation, that uncovering of the truth. And so it's interesting, you know, Paul doesn't pray. His main objective in this prayer is that you may know.

He is asking God to help the Ephesians to know. His main objective in this prayer is not that you may have so that, you know, you need a house. And so I'm praying that you get a house or you need finances. And so I'm praying that you would obtain a job or I'm not, he's not praying in this case that you might be healed or that you might be protected, right?

Now those other prayers are needed and appropriate. And so this is not to say that those prayers are not good, but also there's this kind of prayer where we need to pray that there would be an awakening, an awareness, an uncovering of the truth of what God says. And God tonight wants to direct our attention to this idea that you may know. Now in this prayer,

Paul is praying for people who are doing well, right? Here in the book of Ephesians, he doesn't start out like he does with the book of Galatians, where in Galatians, he's like, I'm shocked. You guys have like turned away. You've completely abandoned the faith. What's wrong with you? You know, just rebuke and calling them back to the right path throughout the book of Galatians. But in Ephesians, he doesn't have that kind of rebuke. It's just encouragement all the way through. And so here's the Ephesians doing well.

And in verse 15, he says, I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, your love for the saints. You guys believe the Lord. You're loving one another. I mean, you're right where God wants you to be. You're right where you need to be. You're doing well. And Paul prays for them. And I think that's something important to consider. A reminder for us to pray for people who are doing well. Sometimes

You know, we pray for people who are in need. We pray for people who are hurting, just as we're praying for Mika right now in recovery, as we're praying for Wally. We pray for them, and that's appropriate. But let us not forget to also pray for those who are doing well.

For those who are on track and they're growing and they're in the center of God's will, you know, it's easy to think, well, Russell's got it all together. He doesn't need me to pray for him, right? He doesn't need my prayers. So I'll focus my attention and my time and pray for something else. But here's Paul, the apostle, writing to a church who's doing well and he spends time to give this really powerful and important prayer.

Now, you might notice the pronouns in the title of the message, pray that I would know my identity in Jesus, right? That's the way that the Lord has put the emphasis of Ephesians on my heart. So the points up to this point anyways in our study have always been around that, my identity in Jesus. And part of that is

for you to recognize that these things are for me as much as they are for you, right? As I, you know, even just say that title, pray that I would know my identity in Jesus. I would encourage you,

to pray for Jerry, that Jerry would know his identity in Jesus. Again, praying for people who are doing well. They don't have to be in the midst of a crisis for us to pray for them. And even people like pastors and missionaries and people who are on fire and right on and going forward, that this is a prayer that is appropriate and needed today.

for those who might be in any circumstance of life. Now, it also applies to those who are in great difficulty. This prayer is a prayer about what's most important. We can pray for healing and we should pray. We're instructed to pray for healing. We should pray for the meeting of the needs and yet

we understand that the spiritual needs that we have are the greatest needs that we have. And so here's a prayer that is appropriate for those who are hurting, for those who are going through difficulty, for those who are, you know,

doing well and walking with the Lord for those who have great responsibility or for those who have no responsibility. This is a great prayer for us. I need this prayer. You need this prayer. And so it gives us good insight in praying for one another. And so we're going to work our way through Paul's prayer here in verses 15 through 23. Four points we'll look at that Paul prays for the Ephesians. Point number one, pray that I would grow in my relationship with God.

And so if you want to pray for me, I would invite you to do so. Pray that I would grow in my relationship with God. Looking at verse 17, here's Paul's prayer. He 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. Essentially here in verse 17, Paul is praying that the Ephesians would grow in their knowledge of God.

that there would be more wisdom, more revelation, for them to have a greater understanding of God. Now, this word, knowledge, when he prays that they would have this knowledge of him, it's the word for knowledge that speaks of knowing by experience. You know how it is. You can read a book about something. You can watch a YouTube video about something, right? And you get a level of knowledge that

But it's a whole different thing when you then try to, okay, you watch this how-to video on how to replace this valve pipe behind your fridge. Okay, you watch the video. Now you know about it. And then when you go to actually do it and you put your hands on it and you experience it, well, then you know that thing in a whole different way and a greater degree. And that's the idea here of this word, the knowledge of him. It's not just hearing about knowledge.

being told about, being taught about. It's not having a general vague idea of, but the knowledge of him is about that experience, that you know God by experience, that you know God by, well, by reason of experience,

Spending time with him, hearing his voice, walking with him, that by experience you have grown to know the Lord. And that's why I titled the point this way, that I would grow in my relationship with God. Because it's not just about learning information, but it's about really learning how to relate to God.

how to receive from him and how to hear from him, how to speak to him, how to walk with him. This is what the Lord desires for us. And this is what the Apostle Paul prays for the Ephesians. Now, in order for them to increase in their knowledge of God, he asked the Lord to give them the spirit of wisdom. He asked for the Lord to give them revelation. And it reminds us that these things that we receive,

need to know about God, we can't know them naturally on our own, but that we actually need God's help in knowing him, that there is a supernatural work of revealing revelation, that there is wisdom that we need from God in order to be able to increase in our relationship with God and in our walk with God.

And so Paul's praying for them for that reason. They need God's help. And so he's inviting God. He's asking God to help them to know him more. It's a great prayer for us to pray for one another. That word revelation, it means unveiling. And I think of it this way, right? So you could think about like a statue covered by a cloth. And so you can see a little bit of the form. You could see a little bit of the shape, right?

But then when it's removed, then you can see the details. I don't know if you follow these things at all, but every time Google releases a new version of their operating system for mobile phones, they have a name for it. And they're going alphabetically doing all kinds of different desserts. And so one of the recent ones was Android Nougat. And every time they do that, they...

place a statue on their campus representing that new version of the Android operating system. And so here's a quick look at the unveiling, the revelation, right? There's the veil over it, and you can't tell. You can see that there is something there. Maybe you get a vague idea of the shape, but you can't see the details until the veil is removed, until the cloth is taken away. And then you can see that

the colors, you can see the shape, you can see the details, you can see, you know, all of the things that are there. And it's a good picture for us when it comes to thinking about our relationship with God. Because, well, God, he is veiled before us. Not so much because he's hiding from us, but because he is so far above our ability to comprehend and understand. And as we walk with God,

When we spend time with God, we get to discover, to kind of pull away the cloth more and more. That we can't experience and know all of God because he is infinite and we're not.

And so we are limited and yet we are growing. We are discovering more and more about God as we walk with God. And of course, there's times in our lives where we may think we know all that we can about God, right? We may think we've got it all figured out. We may think that, you know, we know it all. We've seen it all. We've experienced it all. But yet there's still more cloth to be pulled away. God is so infinite, so huge. There is so much to who God is.

that we will spend the rest of our lives getting to know him and then on into eternity, getting to know him and experience that relationship with him. Now, sometimes we can fall into the pattern of, well, we only know God in the context of desperate need.

We're in a desperate situation. We cry out to God. We, you know, we know how to get a hold of God in that way. We know how to cry out to him and rely upon him. And so we're in that desperate need. But that's really the extent of our relationship with God. And other times we're not really walking with him, but only in those times of crisis, we can fall into a different pattern where we only know God when things are good and easy.

When things are good and easy, it's like, oh, praise the Lord. I love it. I love you, Lord. And I'm reading my Bible and I'm spending time in prayer and I'm walking with him. But then things get difficult and then God goes by the wayside. And so I only know God when things are good and easy.

Or other times, I only know God in the context of crisis and desperate need. And what we need is to grow beyond a one-dimensional relationship with God, where we only know God, you know, in this circumstance or in that circumstance. But what we really need is that ongoing, that consistent, that daily uncovering. That, Lord, would you give us more revelation, more wisdom to know you more?

in different circumstances, in different contexts, to know how to walk with God through all kinds of seasons of life. Think about what the Apostle Paul says to the Philippians a little bit later in Philippians 4. He says, I know how to be abased and I know how to abound. Abased, that's the idea of being completely empty. He has nothing. He's desperate, right? But he also knows how to abound.

He knows what it's like to be overflowing, to have more than enough. And he knows what it's like to not have anything and not know where his next meal is going to come from. Paul says, I've been both places. In both places, I know what it's like to walk with that situation and to walk with God. He goes on in verse 13 to say, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And what he's learned is to walk with God through thick and thin, through high and low.

in different circumstances of his life. And, you know, in those various seasons that we face and the different variety of circumstances that we face, as we walk with God through the midst of those, it's part of the way that we get to uncover and reveal different aspects about who God is, his nature, his character, his

Through all the things that we experience in life, we discover more and more about God from different angles and getting a greater depth and understanding to who he is. In our highs, when things are great and awesome, and our lows, we're learning different things about God. They're both important. They're both valuable. And so we need that revelation from God in the high times, in the good times, in the healthy times, as well as in the sick times.

And we're learning different aspects of the nature of God in that way. And so Paul prays that there would be that wisdom, there would be that revelation, that unveiling for them to discover more and more. It's a great prayer. Pray that I would grow in my relationship with God, that I would discover more and more who God is, what he's like, how to walk with him through any circumstance of life. As I was continuing to think about this idea of unveiling, it also reminded me of, well, the veil in the temple.

And you might remember inside the temple was the furnishings, right? And then there was the veil that separated the main room from the Holy of Holies, where the presence of God would dwell. And the Ark of the Covenant was there. But when Jesus died upon the cross, as he was hanging there, as he said, it is finished, then, well, the temple veil was torn from top to bottom. It wasn't man tearing it, it was God tearing it from top to bottom. He tore the veil and indicated that way,

The way is open for us to enter in to the presence of God. It was an invitation to have relationship with God, to get to know God. And we spend a lot of time going through the book of Galatians talking about grace and the doctrine of grace teaches us to do grace. That is to draw near to God no matter what.

That's highs and lows of circumstances of life, but also highs and lows of, well, your success or failure, victories or defeats in attempting to walk with God and seeking to know God. There's going to be, well, ways that we fall short, areas that we fail. There's going to be high times and low times for us spiritually, physically, emotionally, financially. There's going to be all of these things. And

And the objective is, the prayer is that I would walk with God and learn more and more of God through each of those circumstances. And that I would allow the Lord to use those things to uncover a little bit more, to show me a little bit more of who he is, what he's like, his infinite nature uncovered a little bit more in the circumstances that I face as I walk with him. Pray.

That I would grow in my relationship with God. That's what I pray for you. I invite you to pray for me. It's something we can pray for our missionaries. It's something we can pray for Cisco and Mika. It's something that we can pray for one another. Pray that we would grow in our relationship with God. It's what we need most more than anything else. There's a lot of urgent needs. There's a lot of, you know, desperate needs. But what we need most is a further revelation of who God is. That we would know him more.

Well, continuing to consider Paul's prayer here in verse 18, we get point number two. Pray that I would understand the future God has promised me. Paul says this in verse 18. We're just going to look at the first part of verse 18 here for this point.

Paul says, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened. Again, he's praying for that revelation. This is kind of another way of phrasing that wisdom, that revelation from God. He's praying the eyes of their hearts, their eyes of their understanding would be enlightened or opened, that they would be able to understand better, specifically, what is the hope of his calling.

And there's some important truths there in the hope of his calling. But in order for us to grasp the hope of his calling and what that means for us and what it means for that prayer, well, first we need that enlightening from the Lord. Pastor David Guzik puts it this way. If the Ephesians will know all God has given them in Jesus, it will take a supernatural work.

It will require that the eyes of your understanding be enlightened by God. Knowing God, it's a long process. We're going to be doing that for the rest of eternity. But the things that we know about God, well, there are some things, a few things that can be known naturally. Using your own mind, using your own logic and understanding and intellect, you can know

know some things about God, the fact that he exists. Paul kind of builds that case in Romans chapter 1, talking about creation, revealing and demonstrating to all that, well, God exists, that he is the creator. He even goes on to say his eternal power and Godhead has been revealed and understood by the things that have been created. And so there are some things that we can know of God just

using our normal faculties, our natural understandings. But there's also so much more about God that we can't get by just, you know, doing math problems and working through logic and, you know, trying to figure things out with our own understanding. There is also a component that we have to be enlightened. The Holy Spirit needs to open our eyes.

Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14. He says, There is so much about God that cannot be known just by reading a book or by even reading the Bible. There needs to be then the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit revealing and speaking to us and opening our eyes to

to understand the things of God. There's a spiritual discernment that is needed, that is given by the Holy Spirit. And so Paul is praying for the Ephesians that they would have this enlightening, that they would have the Holy Spirit revealing to them and bringing forth an understanding, well specifically, that they would know what is the hope of his calling. That you may know, he says in verse 18,

Now, this is a different word than we just saw a moment ago in verse 17. That was to know by experience. You handle it, you taste it, you feel it, you experience it, and then you know. This word know, we might translate it understand. It's the idea of knowing intuitively or to perceive. It's not by experience. And well, that's appropriate for what he is praying for them to know here in verse 18.

He's praying that they would know what is the hope of his calling. And this isn't something that they can know by experience yet. This isn't something you or I can know by experience yet. Because, well, hope speaks of future promises. What we haven't experienced yet. And so we can't know it by experience yet. But we can know it by, well, the revealing, the uncovering, the enlightening of the Holy Spirit. What Paul is doing here is directing us

to eternity. He's directing our minds, he's directing our hearts, and he's saying, look, look to eternity. Look, when the Holy Spirit is speaking to you and revealing to you the things of God, he's going to be directing you to the things of eternity. This word hope, you know, sometimes, well, I would say probably more frequently, we use it with, there's elements of uncertainty. There's

right i hope i get something amazing for my birthday right but it's not certain i'm going to get nothing but i hope i get something right there's this uncertainty it's maybe there's this like you know kind of excitement perhaps but but that's not the way that the biblical word hope is used or it's not what it means

Biblically, when you see the word hope, it's not speaking about wishful thinking. It's thinking about a promise that is guaranteed. Sometimes hope is defined this way. It's a joyful expectation of a promise not yet fulfilled. It's a joyful expectation. It is a promise. It is guaranteed. It will take place. We haven't seen it fulfilled yet, but that's not because it's not going to be fulfilled or because there's some question about it being fulfilled. It's just a matter of timing.

It will be fulfilled. It just is not quite time yet. And so in the meantime, there's this joyful expectation. To me, I like to think of it like standing in line for a movie. You know, when a good Star Wars movie comes out or maybe a Marvel movie comes out, right? And you have your ticket. The showtime is set, right?

But if it's not showtime yet, well, you're just standing there with joyful expectation. You're just like, can't wait to see the show. It's going to be good. It's going to be good. I didn't watch the spoilers, so I don't know what's going to happen. I can't wait. I can't wait to see what happens. There's that joyful expectation. But you know the show's going to start. The time is set. It's going to happen. In a similar way, we have this hope that, well, God has promised us great things. And Paul kind of wraps it up and sums it up in our calling in the Lord.

It says that you may know what is the hope of his calling. There is a calling that the Lord has given to you. Jesus has called you into eternity with him. It's not just a wish. I hope in the sense of I wish I get to go to heaven. You know, I'm uncertain. I don't know for sure. No, no, no. When we believe in Jesus...

As we talked about last week, there is that seal, there is that promise, there's that covenant, there's that guarantee. We're bound for heaven. We are promised the presence of God for the rest of eternity. We are promised that there will be no more issues with sin.

In eternity, you will never struggle with sin again. There will be a new body prepared for you that doesn't have the sin condition. There will be no more tears. The days will be filled with glory. And there's all of these promises that we have that are bound up in his calling, what he has called us to. It's a guaranteed eternity.

Paul prays that their eyes would be opened, that they would begin to understand the promise, the guarantee, the certainty of what God has in store for them in Christ for the rest of eternity. When I understand this guaranteed eternity, when I understand the future that God has promised for me, it changes how I experience the temporary. Because as I go through life,

I have this anchor. I have this foundation. I know no matter what it looks like now, I know how it ends. And a lot of times from the perspective of, you know, where we're at right now, we can't see how anything good would ever come. We can't see how this could end. We can't see how, but if I have this guarantee, if I have this hope, if I understand the promise that the Lord has given to me, well, then as I go through the temporary process,

I'm able to, like the Apostle Paul said, not fixing my eyes on the things that are seen, but fixing my eyes on the things that are unseen, because those things are eternal. I don't know about you, but I like roller coasters.

I love, there's nothing I won't go on when it comes to roller coasters. Now there's some water slides I won't go down, but roller coasters, oh man, there's nothing I won't go on. I love them even though they totally freak me out. They really scare me. I don't love them because I have no fear. I love them because, well, I experienced that rush, that fear, but also I have that promise, that guarantee. I know how it ends, right?

Now, every once in a while, yes, tragically, it ends differently for other people. But 99 million times, you know, it ends exactly the way that it's supposed to. And you feel the drop and you feel the lift and you're going to be like, you know, just shot out into space. But that bar holds you in and

Oh man, it's a great feeling, right? And so I experienced it. Now, if I didn't have that bar holding me in and I felt that sensation, I was at the top of a hill and like, oh my goodness, here I go. You know, I'm just being launched out off this hill. Well, that would be a whole different way to experience that sensation, right? That feeling.

In a similar way, look, when I know, when I have that guarantee of eternity, no matter what loops and valleys and hills and upside down or sideways, whatever I go through, it changes how I experience it. Yes, I still feel it. I still experience it. But I also experience it differently because I know how it ends. Paul says, I'm praying for you that you would understand the future that God has promised you.

And it will hold you fast. It will be that seatbelt that holds you in, in the midst of the ups and downs, the highs and lows, the loops and valleys, because you'll know what God has promised you. You'll hold fast to the reality of what God has declared your eternity will be like. Well, continuing to consider verse 18 here, we move on to point number three, and that is, pray that I would understand how excited God is about me.

Now check out the end of verse 18. Well, let's just go back to the whole verse 18 for a second. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling. What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? So the word what begins to be a separator for us, a division for us so that we can kind of outline this prayer. And so that's what these points are based upon. So what is,

So Paul prays that their eyes would be enlightened, first of all, that they would understand the promise, the future that God has promised to us. But now he prays that we would understand his excitement about us.

And this is an important one and one that I think that as believers, many times we forget and we need to be enlightened again. We need the Holy Spirit to remind us and refresh us. We need to pray for one another and we need others to pray for us that I would understand how excited God is about me. Now, where do I get that from? Well, again, here's what Paul says. What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints?

So I'd call your attention, first of all, to the phrase, his inheritance. Last week in verse 11, we talked about our inheritance. We are adopted into the family of God. We have an inheritance that's promised to us as a result. It's glorious. But here, the focus is not on our inheritance. It's on his inheritance. That is the inheritance of Jesus. He has an inheritance also that's been promised to him.

that he will receive from the Father. And do you know what that inheritance is? Well, he goes on to say at the end of verse 18, his inheritance in the saints. The inheritance of Jesus that the Father has promised him is the saints. That's you and me. Again, we talked about this at the very beginning of Ephesians. Saints are not some elevated class of, you know, only a few people and you have to meet all these criteria. Saints are those who believe in Jesus Christ.

You believe in Jesus, biblically, you're a saint. Not because you're sinless, but because you've been forgiven. You're justified. You stand before God as if you had never sinned. You're a saint. And his inheritance in the saints, it's us that have been promised to Jesus. Now, there is the case, right, where you could receive an inheritance, and sometimes what you inherit is somebody's debt. Or sometimes you inherit someone's wealth.

There's different kinds of inheritances, right? What kind of inheritance are we that are promised to Jesus in this way? What kind of inheritance are we? Well, he describes this inheritance as the riches of the glory. I can think of myself easily, look and go, man, what a bum deal you got, Jesus. I mean, you went through all that. You died upon the cross. You left glory to become a man. You know, you suffered and died. You took the full penalty and, you know, you got me. What a bummer for you, right? Like,

Not so great. That might be how I feel. That might be my perspective. That might be the way that I think about things and look at things. That might be my attitude in life. But it's not the way that the Lord looks at these things. The Lord looks at us and says, you know what? You're riches of glory. Abundant glory. God thinks about spending eternity with you and it brings him joy. He's excited about

He would describe you as the riches of the glory that this inheritance is. Oh my goodness, I am so excited to receive you unto myself, the Lord would say. This idea of glory, oh man, I was thinking about Pastor Chuck, and you may have little or more exposure to Pastor Chuck Smith, but Pastor Chuck, he would always use the word glorious. All glorious. Now, I heard him say it, you know, many, many times over the years.

but never in a way that like diminished the word. There would be this exciting thing that took place, this exciting praise report, you know, something, and he would just kind of bask in the glory. Oh, glorious. What does that for you? What is there that kind of makes you pause and you don't even have words to speak for a moment, but oh, then you could say, glorious.

I say awesome about everything, you know, so awesome shoes, awesome hot dogs, awesome date, awesome whatever, right? So just awesome, right? But oh no, glorious, it's like that reserved word. It's like, oh my goodness, this is off the charts. What do you call glorious? What does Jesus call glorious? He's excited about you. He looks at you and says, oh, the riches of glory.

This is unfathomable that Jesus takes us with broken down vessels, you know, poor and poverty stricken and broken by sin, but he pours himself into us. He rebuilds us and forms us and fashions us into the image of Christ so that we are riches of glory in all eternity. Jesus is so excited about spending eternity with you. It's one of the reasons why the Bible pictures us as the bride and Jesus as the groom.

Now, maybe there are those circumstances where the groom is not that excited about that day and the years that will follow. But typically speaking, a bride and groom, the groom is excited. There's this awe of glory. I get to marry her. In a similar way, the Lord looks at us and says, awe of glory, riches of glory. I get to spend eternity with you. Jesus is so excited about you.

And the fact that you have believed in him and received him, oh, it gives him such great joy. The author of Hebrews says this in Hebrews chapter 12, verse two, he calls us to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. That joy is speaking about us, the end result. He didn't go to the cross just for the fun of it. He didn't go for the cross because it wasn't shameful and good.

you know, didn't cause suffering and wasn't difficult. No, no. He went through it to redeem us, but not just because he's obligated. He had to, you know, well, like, I guess I got to, you know, they got themselves in trouble. I guess I got to get them out. Like, no, no, no. For the joy. He's like, oh no, it's going to be hard. It's going to be suffering. It's going to be agony like the world has never known. But all the riches of glory that will follow and my people believe in me.

receive my forgiveness and spend eternity with you. Jesus is so excited about spending eternity with you. How often we forget that and we need to be reminded. And so this prayer is appropriate. Pray that I would understand how excited God is about me. Oh, he's just over the top, off the charts. It's riches of glory. The thought of spending eternity with you, with me.

His inheritance in the saints is rich. Well, moving on to verses 19 through 23, we get point number three, or point number four, rather. And that is, pray that I would understand how much God is working for me. God is working on our behalf.

Paul, as he continues on in his prayer in verse 19, he says, and what, notice the what, so third point now, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power? Now, the rest of the verses to finish out the chapter, they're all elaborating on this verse here in verse 19, speaking of, well, the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe.

And so here in Paul's prayer, he's praying that, well, they would understand the exceeding greatness of God's power on their behalf toward us who believe. And he describes it as exceeding greatness. It's exceedingly great power. Now, here's what I would ask you to stop and think about. God has promised me a great future. He's invited me to know him. He's promised me eternity. He's promised incredible things for that eternity. And he is...

Well, more excited than I am about spending eternity together. I mean, you and I can get pretty excited about eternity, right? But God's even more excited than we are. He is so excited to spend eternity with you. He's promised you incredible things. And here Paul is making the point that God has the power to work all of that out. If he made all kinds of promises, but didn't have the power to fulfill it, well, you know, there's not much hope in that, right?

But we can have hope. We have the guarantee because of his exceeding great power on our behalf. Now, if God made promises but wasn't really excited about fulfilling them, well, there wouldn't be much hope in that either, right? But he's excited, he's made the promises, and he has the power to fulfill the promises, right?

And so Paul here is explaining and expounding upon that power. It's the same power, he says, according to the working of his mighty power, verse 20, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead. How much power was needed? How much power did God use when Jesus was raised from the dead? Who else has that power? Only God has that power to raise from the dead, to resurrect in that way.

But he goes on to say in verse 20, and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. So not only was Jesus resurrected from the dead, but then he was seated. Remember he ascended into heaven. He's sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. He's seated in the heavenly places. How much power did that take? Who can do that?

Who can seat Jesus or anybody themselves at the right hand of God in the heavenlies? Who has the power to do that? Nobody but God. He demonstrated his power in the resurrection. He demonstrated his power in the ascension into heaven. He goes on to describe the power in verse 21. It's far above all principality and power and might and dominion. Now you can apply those words to the spiritual realm.

There are spiritual forces of wickedness, right? But whatever principality, whatever power, whatever might and dominion is there, Jesus is above them all. The Lord has, or God has raised him up above all principalities and powers, might and dominion. You can look at that in the heavenly realm, governments, you know, whatever power, whatever principality, whatever dominion, Jesus has been placed at the right hand of the Father above them all, far above them.

Far above every name that is named. There is no name that compares to the name of Jesus. How much power did that require? How much power did God use in elevating the name of Jesus so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, every tongue confess. We'll get to that in the book of Ephesians. But he goes on to say, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. So we're talking about for now and for all eternity, Jesus holds this place. What kind of power does it take

To put Jesus in that place. It is, well, the infinite power of God. God is omnipotent. He is all powerful. He goes on in verse 22 to say, he put all things under his feet. So there is nothing that Jesus does not have dominion over.

He gave him to be head over all things to the church. Now, specifically in the context of the church, Jesus is the head of the church. He is the authority over the church. And the church is described in verse 23 as his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. And so there is this relationship that the Lord has with the church. So he sits on the right hand. He's Lord over all.

for all eternity, but he also has this special connection to, special relationship with the church, which is his body, the fullness of him. He fills all in all. He is in our midst. He is part of the work. How much power does this demonstrate? Again, this is the mighty power, the exceedingly great power that is at work toward us who believe, he says in verse 19.

So all that power that God had, that God demonstrated, the Father demonstrated in Jesus Christ, all that power, Paul says, is now, well, it's being applied to you to work in your life, to accomplish, well, the promises that he has given to you, all the things that he's so excited about for the rest of eternity.

He's so excited about you. It reminded me of what Paul says in Romans 8, verse 31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Because he's promised me eternity. He's excited about fulfilling that promise. There's nothing that is able to stand up to him or stand in his name. There is nothing to hinder him or stop him from doing what he has said he's gonna do. Man, I need to understand how much God is working for me.

We may feel like God's abandoned us from time to time. We may feel like God is distant or separate or God's not doing anything. Or we may feel like, you know, God is weak or we may feel all kinds of things. Oh, but that our eyes would be open, that our understanding would be developed to know how much God truly is working for us.

on my behalf to accomplish his purposes in my life. And it's one of the reasons why we can believe the promise of Romans 8, 28. We know all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. We can trust in that promise because, man, we can see the situation and we can see, we can't figure out how anything good could come from this. But you know what? God has demonstrated his power and he is working with all that power on your behalf

to work all things together for good to those who love him. We can't figure it out. We can't do it. God can. We need this understanding. Boy, this is a great prayer. Pray this prayer for me. Pray this prayer for one another. Pray that I would know my identity in Jesus. Pray that others would. Invite others to pray for you in this way, that I would grow in my relationship with God.

That's what I need more than anything else. I need more of God in my life. I need more of him, more understanding, more revelation, more relationship. I need to know him more, to have more uncovered. Through all circumstances of life, I need to learn how to walk with God no matter what might be happening. Pray that I would understand the future God has promised me. Boy, sometimes I forget. Sometimes I misunderstand. Sometimes I don't understand. Sometimes I focus on the seen rather than the unseen. Oh, pray.

Pray that there would be that fresh enlightening, that renewing of the hope that he's promised, the hope of his calling. Pray that I would understand how excited God is about me, that I would have that perspective. I might feel like trash before God many times. Maybe you do. Oh, it's a great prayer. Pray that I would understand how excited God is about me and pray that I would understand how much God is working for me. There's nothing that could stand in his way. Whatever he wants to do,

He can do it. He's got the power. He has all power, all authority to accomplish his purposes. Pray that I would understand that more and more. When you think about our missionaries as we gather together for prayer for them on Wednesday nights, when you think about Cisco and Mika and their time in the hospital and what they're going through right now, when you think about people who are doing well and walking right on, they're right in the center of God's will, when you think about this is a prayer that is appropriate for all people,

that is needed for all people. And so let's pray it. Lord, would you help us to know our identity in you? Lord, would you reveal, would you pour out that spirit of wisdom and revelation to open our eyes and to enlighten us, Lord, to give us by your spirit understanding. Lord, I pray that you would develop us in our relationship with you. Lord, that through all the circumstances we face, God, we would know you more and more. And whatever happens,

situation we're in at this moment from whatever place we are, Lord, would you lift the veil a little that we might discover a little bit more about you. You are the God who meets us where we're at and meets all of our needs. Lord, would you reveal yourself and draw us near to you? Lord, would you help us to understand the hope that you've given to us, the promise of future?

Lord, would you help us to understand how special and precious we are to you, how excited you are about spending eternity with us. Lord, would you help us to understand your great power. Your arm is not short that you cannot save. You are fully capable. You have the promises, you have the willingness, and you're going to do what is best for us. And so God, may we rest in that. Teach us, Lord.

to rest in that more and more as we walk with you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.