Ephesians 3 Part 5
Bible Study Time 9-4-05
Bible Study Time 9-4-05
I was reading the other day about a soldier who was brought before his commanding officer. He was accused of communicating with the enemy because he was seen coming out of an area where enemy troops were known to patrol. The soldier was obviously nervous as he began his defense, saying that he had slipped away from camp to pray.
The commanding officer asked the soldier if he was in the habit of praying, and the soldier said, “Yes, Sir.”
The commanding officer then replied, “Never in your life have you been in more need of prayer than now. I want you to kneel and pray out loud for all of us to hear.”
The soldier got on his knees and began to pray, pouring out his heart to God. He prayed for God to intervene in his unfortunate situation, and His faith in God was clear to everyone.
When the soldier finished praying, the commanding officer said, “You’re free to go. No one could have prayed that way without a long apprenticeship.” Then he added, “It’s the soldiers who have never attended drill who are ill at ease when it comes time for the review.”
Well, in the book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul shows just how familiar he is with the exercise of prayer. In Ephesians 2, Paul taught that through Christ both Jews and Gentiles have access by one Spirit to the Father, and then in Ephesians 3, he said that believers today have boldness and access to the Father with confidence through faith in Christ.
The prayers revealed in the book of Ephesians give us a glimpse inside the private prayer life of this great apostle. In Ephesians 1, Paul prayed:
Ephesians 1:15-20 (NKJ)
15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:
17 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,
18 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,
19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
Then in Ephesians 3, Paul prayed once again, saying:
Ephesians 3:14-21 (NKJ)
14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Last week, we looked at the fact that these prayers were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and that we can take comfort in the fact that these are the kind of prayers that the Holy Spirit prayers for us as He makes intercession for us. We don’t always know how to pray as we should. We don’t always know how to pray in keeping with the perfect will of God. Therefore, the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with prayers such as these.
Paul prays in Ephesians 3 that we would be strengthened by the Holy Spirit in the inner man because the inner man is the battleground of spiritual warfare. When we accept Christ as Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within the inner man, and we become partakers in the divine nature.
However, we still have the body of flesh which lusts against the Spirit, even as the Spirit lusts against the flesh, for they are contrary one to another. According to Romans 8, if we live according to the flesh we will die, but if by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body, we will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. In John, Chapter 6, the Lord Jesus said:
John 6:63 (NKJ)
63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
It is interesting to note that in Paul’s letters he does not emphasize praying for physical needs. He was acutely aware of the fact that the real issues of life are the issues that relate to the Spirit. Does this mean that he did not care about physical needs? No, Paul actually took up an offering to relieve the poverty of the Jerusalem saints. Does it mean that we should not pray about physical needs? Not at all. We are to cast all of our cares upon Him for He cares for us. However, we do need to realize that our spiritual needs are our greatest needs, and we should focus our attention on spiritual needs, even as Paul did.
Therefore, Paul prayed that our inner man might be strengthened by the Holy Spirit. God wants us to be spiritually strong, and we will be, if we yield to the Holy Spirit. We must be careful not to quench the Holy Spirit, or put out the fire of the Holy Spirit.
We know that God often uses fire as a means of judgment. The Lord rained down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah, and He told Joshua to burn the cities of Canaan with fire. John the Baptist said:
Matthew 3:10-12 (NKJ)
10 " . . . every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
12 "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
After the judgment of the Great White Throne, those whose names are not found written in the Book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire.
When the Lord appeared in smoke and fire at the top of Mt. Sinai, the children of Israel were afraid. That fire appeared to be a consuming fire. The Bible says that at that time,
Exodus 19:18-19 (NKJ)
18 . . . Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
19 And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.
When Moses gave his Deuteronomy address about a month before his death, he challenged the nation to remember that it was the love and kindness of the Lord which brought Him down to Mt. Sinai. In Deuteronomy 4, Moses said:
Deuteronomy 4:7,9-12 (NKJ)
7 "For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the LORD our God is to us? . . .
9 "Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, . . .
10 "especially concerning the day you stood before the LORD your God in Horeb, when the LORD said to me, 'Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.'
11 "Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, . . .
12 "And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice.
Moses went on to say that the Lord is a consuming fire for He is a jealous God (Deuteronomy 4:24), but then he asked,
Deuteronomy 4:32,33,36 (NKJ)
32 " . . . since the day that God created man on the earth, . . .
33 "Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, . . . ?
36 "Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.
Moses wanted Israel to remember that out of that consuming fire came the voice of God, calling the nation of Israel to Himself. He was calling them to Himself so that He could love them and protect them and provide for them, so that he could make them heirs to the promises which had been given to their fathers.
Even today, the Holy Spirit may appear from a distance to be a consuming fire because the people of this world do not like to hear about sin or the consequences of sin, but those who draw near to God through Jesus Christ hear the voice that comes out of the fire of the Holy Spirit. They hear God calling them to join the family of God. They hear God calling them to a life of joy and peace and to the promise of everlasting life.
To those who believe in Jesus Christ, the fire of the Holy Spirit is not a consuming fire, but it is a fire that purifies the heart. David said:
Psalms 143:10 (NKJ)
10 Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.
Psalms 139:23-24 (NKJ)
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
To those who believe in Jesus Christ, the fire of the Holy Spirit is a fire that gives light. When the children of Israel traveled from Egypt to the promised land, God went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, and He went before them by night in a pillar of fire to give them light. Though we may live a world that is full of darkness, God gives us the light of the Holy Spirit to illuminate our path.
When we drive along our highways, there are traffic safety signs along the way. These signs have a reflective surface so that they can be seen at night. That means they can only be seen at night when a light is reflected off the surface. In other words, the Department of Transportation provides the sign, but we have to provide the light.
When our path seems dark, the fire of the Holy Spirit is our light. With his light we can heed the warning signs along the way.
John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress and Grace Abounding, was preaching in Bedford, England, shortly after he was saved at the age of 25. Prosecutors from London cooked up some charges against him, and he was put in prison for over 12 years. The local jailer was somewhat sympathetic to Mr. Bunyan’s cause, so he would allow him to leave the jail and go home from time to time. When the prosecutors in London heard rumors to that effect, they sent a party to pay a surprise visit to the jail.
On the night they were to arrive, John Bunyan was at his own home, but he had this uneasy feeling about spending the night away from the jail, so he returned to the jail. Not long afterward the inspectors arrived and demanded to see John Bunyan. After the inspectors left, the jailer told Mr. Bunyan, “You may come and go as you please, for you know better than I when you need to be here.” We need the light that comes from the fire of the Holy Spirit.
We are to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness because we have been called to walk as children of light. We were once darkness, but now we are light in the Lord for we have been delivered from the power of darkness and conveyed into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.
Moses saw a burning bush in the desert. It caught his attention because the bush was never consumed. Moses went near the bush, and God spoke to him out of the fire. As far as we know, the bush was never consumed. It just kept on burning. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is the fire that burns within us, but we are never consumed. On the contrary, the fire of the Holy Spirit is the fire that gives us strength in every trial, comfort in every sorrow, joy in every victory, and that fire is designed by God to keep on burning throughout eternity. It is the true eternal flame.
If your life is empty and full of frustration and anxiety, you can experience the fire of the Holy Spirit which gives purpose and fulfillment in this life as well as the promise of eternal life. Simply put your faith in Jesus Christ. Believe that He died for your sins and then rose from the grave.
John 3:16 (KJV)
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Thank your for listening to Bible Study Time. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Church links:
http://www.peacechurch_ok.org/
http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/
http://gracebiblechurch_fw.com/
The commanding officer asked the soldier if he was in the habit of praying, and the soldier said, “Yes, Sir.”
The commanding officer then replied, “Never in your life have you been in more need of prayer than now. I want you to kneel and pray out loud for all of us to hear.”
The soldier got on his knees and began to pray, pouring out his heart to God. He prayed for God to intervene in his unfortunate situation, and His faith in God was clear to everyone.
When the soldier finished praying, the commanding officer said, “You’re free to go. No one could have prayed that way without a long apprenticeship.” Then he added, “It’s the soldiers who have never attended drill who are ill at ease when it comes time for the review.”
Well, in the book of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul shows just how familiar he is with the exercise of prayer. In Ephesians 2, Paul taught that through Christ both Jews and Gentiles have access by one Spirit to the Father, and then in Ephesians 3, he said that believers today have boldness and access to the Father with confidence through faith in Christ.
The prayers revealed in the book of Ephesians give us a glimpse inside the private prayer life of this great apostle. In Ephesians 1, Paul prayed:
Ephesians 1:15-20 (NKJ)
15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:
17 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,
18 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,
19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
Then in Ephesians 3, Paul prayed once again, saying:
Ephesians 3:14-21 (NKJ)
14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Last week, we looked at the fact that these prayers were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and that we can take comfort in the fact that these are the kind of prayers that the Holy Spirit prayers for us as He makes intercession for us. We don’t always know how to pray as we should. We don’t always know how to pray in keeping with the perfect will of God. Therefore, the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with prayers such as these.
Paul prays in Ephesians 3 that we would be strengthened by the Holy Spirit in the inner man because the inner man is the battleground of spiritual warfare. When we accept Christ as Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within the inner man, and we become partakers in the divine nature.
However, we still have the body of flesh which lusts against the Spirit, even as the Spirit lusts against the flesh, for they are contrary one to another. According to Romans 8, if we live according to the flesh we will die, but if by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body, we will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. In John, Chapter 6, the Lord Jesus said:
John 6:63 (NKJ)
63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
It is interesting to note that in Paul’s letters he does not emphasize praying for physical needs. He was acutely aware of the fact that the real issues of life are the issues that relate to the Spirit. Does this mean that he did not care about physical needs? No, Paul actually took up an offering to relieve the poverty of the Jerusalem saints. Does it mean that we should not pray about physical needs? Not at all. We are to cast all of our cares upon Him for He cares for us. However, we do need to realize that our spiritual needs are our greatest needs, and we should focus our attention on spiritual needs, even as Paul did.
Therefore, Paul prayed that our inner man might be strengthened by the Holy Spirit. God wants us to be spiritually strong, and we will be, if we yield to the Holy Spirit. We must be careful not to quench the Holy Spirit, or put out the fire of the Holy Spirit.
We know that God often uses fire as a means of judgment. The Lord rained down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah, and He told Joshua to burn the cities of Canaan with fire. John the Baptist said:
Matthew 3:10-12 (NKJ)
10 " . . . every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
12 "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
After the judgment of the Great White Throne, those whose names are not found written in the Book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire.
When the Lord appeared in smoke and fire at the top of Mt. Sinai, the children of Israel were afraid. That fire appeared to be a consuming fire. The Bible says that at that time,
Exodus 19:18-19 (NKJ)
18 . . . Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
19 And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.
When Moses gave his Deuteronomy address about a month before his death, he challenged the nation to remember that it was the love and kindness of the Lord which brought Him down to Mt. Sinai. In Deuteronomy 4, Moses said:
Deuteronomy 4:7,9-12 (NKJ)
7 "For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the LORD our God is to us? . . .
9 "Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, . . .
10 "especially concerning the day you stood before the LORD your God in Horeb, when the LORD said to me, 'Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.'
11 "Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, . . .
12 "And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice.
Moses went on to say that the Lord is a consuming fire for He is a jealous God (Deuteronomy 4:24), but then he asked,
Deuteronomy 4:32,33,36 (NKJ)
32 " . . . since the day that God created man on the earth, . . .
33 "Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, . . . ?
36 "Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.
Moses wanted Israel to remember that out of that consuming fire came the voice of God, calling the nation of Israel to Himself. He was calling them to Himself so that He could love them and protect them and provide for them, so that he could make them heirs to the promises which had been given to their fathers.
Even today, the Holy Spirit may appear from a distance to be a consuming fire because the people of this world do not like to hear about sin or the consequences of sin, but those who draw near to God through Jesus Christ hear the voice that comes out of the fire of the Holy Spirit. They hear God calling them to join the family of God. They hear God calling them to a life of joy and peace and to the promise of everlasting life.
To those who believe in Jesus Christ, the fire of the Holy Spirit is not a consuming fire, but it is a fire that purifies the heart. David said:
Psalms 143:10 (NKJ)
10 Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.
Psalms 139:23-24 (NKJ)
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
To those who believe in Jesus Christ, the fire of the Holy Spirit is a fire that gives light. When the children of Israel traveled from Egypt to the promised land, God went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, and He went before them by night in a pillar of fire to give them light. Though we may live a world that is full of darkness, God gives us the light of the Holy Spirit to illuminate our path.
When we drive along our highways, there are traffic safety signs along the way. These signs have a reflective surface so that they can be seen at night. That means they can only be seen at night when a light is reflected off the surface. In other words, the Department of Transportation provides the sign, but we have to provide the light.
When our path seems dark, the fire of the Holy Spirit is our light. With his light we can heed the warning signs along the way.
John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress and Grace Abounding, was preaching in Bedford, England, shortly after he was saved at the age of 25. Prosecutors from London cooked up some charges against him, and he was put in prison for over 12 years. The local jailer was somewhat sympathetic to Mr. Bunyan’s cause, so he would allow him to leave the jail and go home from time to time. When the prosecutors in London heard rumors to that effect, they sent a party to pay a surprise visit to the jail.
On the night they were to arrive, John Bunyan was at his own home, but he had this uneasy feeling about spending the night away from the jail, so he returned to the jail. Not long afterward the inspectors arrived and demanded to see John Bunyan. After the inspectors left, the jailer told Mr. Bunyan, “You may come and go as you please, for you know better than I when you need to be here.” We need the light that comes from the fire of the Holy Spirit.
We are to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness because we have been called to walk as children of light. We were once darkness, but now we are light in the Lord for we have been delivered from the power of darkness and conveyed into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.
Moses saw a burning bush in the desert. It caught his attention because the bush was never consumed. Moses went near the bush, and God spoke to him out of the fire. As far as we know, the bush was never consumed. It just kept on burning. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is the fire that burns within us, but we are never consumed. On the contrary, the fire of the Holy Spirit is the fire that gives us strength in every trial, comfort in every sorrow, joy in every victory, and that fire is designed by God to keep on burning throughout eternity. It is the true eternal flame.
If your life is empty and full of frustration and anxiety, you can experience the fire of the Holy Spirit which gives purpose and fulfillment in this life as well as the promise of eternal life. Simply put your faith in Jesus Christ. Believe that He died for your sins and then rose from the grave.
John 3:16 (KJV)
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Thank your for listening to Bible Study Time. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Church links:
http://www.peacechurch_ok.org/
http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/
http://gracebiblechurch_fw.com/
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