Home -- English -- Ephesians -- 027 (The Lord´s Prayer of Paul)
Previous Lesson -- Next Lesson
The Lord´s Prayer of Paul (Ephesians 3:14-16)
Ephesians 3:14-16
3:14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man (Eph. 3:14-16).
Paul suspected that he would have no more opportunity to visit or serve his churches in and around Ephesus. Therefore, he prayed for them all the more, bowing his knee before God, our Father. With this prayer demeanour he testified that humility in intercession does not repudiate or contradict love; rather, such praying actually serves to strengthen our love for almighty God. The 24 elders around the throne of God continually cast themselves down before the merciful holy One, as an act of grateful worship. Thereby they gave expression to their joy, love and devotion to HIM (Rev. 4:10-11; 5:8-10).
Paul called the almighty Creator of heaven and earth “the Father”, thereby confirming the revelation of Jesus Christ, who in His gospel discourses spoke 200 times of the Father. He did not seek to veil or mask the other 346 names for God that are written in the Bible, but rather, assured His followers that the holy God, for the sake of the offering of atonement of His beloved Son, could also be spoken to as their Father. The Holy Spirit, too, confirms this unique privilege while acting as their representative, calling out in the hearts of born-again Christians: “Abba, Father!” (Rom. 8:15-16).
Whoever believes in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will receive the full rights of sonship. As a result they, too, can speak to God as their Father, through Jesus Christ. There rests in this name the reality that a personal relationship has been established between God and the followers of His Son. Henceforth they can intimately say “dear Father” to the Exalted One, knowing their prayer will be heard when they pray in the name and Spirit of Jesus (John 15:7).
The Father in heaven loves all of His adopted children and those he caused to be “born-again”. He knows them by name and understands their character and weaknesses. He takes care of them, plans for them and leads them when they obey His Spirit. He does not cast them off when they, in their foolishness and stubbornness, abandon Him. Instead, He waits for them, like the father waited for his lost son, even rushing out to meet him to make easier the last steps of his repentance (Luke 15:20). Whoever trust in and relies upon his Father is never alone, for his faithfulness is eternal. The hereditary traits of the Father help His children to sanctify and hallow His name in their lives (Matt. 6:9). Whoever wants to learn more of his Father should study the words and deeds of Jesus, for He had the right to say: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father!” (John 14:9).
Paul kneeled down before God, our Father, calling Him “the Father from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named” (Eph. 3:15). At the time Paul prayed in prison, while pending trial, numerous sons and daughters of God had already died in body, yet were spiritually resting in the peace of their Father. Among them were some of those persecuted through Saul, such as Steven and James, as well as all the disciples of Jesus who had finished their course. “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matt. 22:32; Mark 12:27; Luke 20:38). Therefore Paul could say that God is the rightful Father of all the children born of His Spirit, who are either in heaven or still living on the earth.
The first thing he desired for the saints in Ephesus, as well as for all Christians who live among the unclean nations, was power from His fullness. Their Father in heaven is the original and essential power, who created and maintains everything. Paul knew from his own experience that the influx of power from on high was the mystery of a blessed Christian life. Without the power of the Lord we are spiritually dead, dried up branches on the divine grapevine (John 15:5-7). Paul did not first request ideas, theological understanding, Biblical knowledge or the gift of speaking. Rather, he asked for constructive power, heavenly “electricity” and for a spiritual elixir of life, for without the working of the Spirit from on high nothing will happen in the church.
The apostle described the riches of glory of the Father as the spring of blessed energy which every Christian needs. This fountain never runs dry. There is so much omnipotence packed into its flow that all followers of Christ can tank up daily, provided they read and study the Bible and then translate the text into prayer. Whoever is feeling weak or sick of soul may rush to this primeval source of power, and there request sufficient power from the Father for both himself and others. When we pray: “Give us enough bread for this day” (Matt. 6:11), we tap into the power flowing from the fullness of the heavenly Father on high. Accordingly, this power not only reaches us, but also all those within our prayer radius.
The power from on high is the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus spoke of to His disciples before His heavenly ascension: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me” (Acts 1:8). This Spirit desires to flow into the hearts, heads, kidneys, feet and hands of all the followers of Jesus (and not into their muscles or pocketbooks!), so that they might become strong in the inner man, built up in their love, faith and hope!
Jesus and Paul propagated no weak faith regarding the Holy Spirit. It may be that the body of believers is weak, yet the Spirit of the Lord remains their power from on high, just as Jesus instructed Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness”. Therefore (Paul said) most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:9).
Prayer: Our Father in heaven, we praise and thank You. The fact that You have accepted us as Your children and that You, as our heavenly Father, care for us, causes us awe and amazement. We worship You, for Your Son Jesus has attained for us the power of Your Spirit through His death of atonement so that we might live spiritually and be able to serve You. Let Your Spirit awaken many who are dead in sin among our circle of acquaintances, so that they, through Your primeval power, might be made spiritually alive. Amen.
Questions:
- How is it that we can we call the almighty God our Father?
- What power did Paul request in prayer for his churches?