Ephesians 1:15-23 You Have All You Need

Ephesians 1: 15 - 23   You Have all you Need

• Overview of this lesson.

• We are wealthy in Christ and we need to be reminded through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit since we have everything we need through Jesus Christ.
• Do we know God?  Do we have a personal relationship with God?  God has given us his revelation through his word.   Paul prayed that the Ephesians know spiritual wisdom to know God better.
• We have a spiritual enlightenment to know the plan of God.

• The heart is the mind center of your personality.  Do we understand the plan of God for our life, or do we live on emotions and feelings?  Getting the full scope of God’s plan comes through spiritual enlightenment, not our feelings and emotions.

• We also have a spiritual enlightenment to know God’s pleasure for us.

• The Princess who kissed a frog.  The princess showed humility by kissing a frog, something she would not normally do, but on faith that the frog would actually turn into a prince (her treasure) as he promised.  The Kingdom of God is our treasure, and Jesus Christ has buried that treasure that we all seek.

• We can know God’s power through spiritual understanding.

• Main Theme.

• We do not need to go looking to outside sources for more power and resources.  God has already given them to us.

• If we feel we are lacking in these areas, it is because we fail to see what God has clearly given us already.

• We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing.

• We need to have those blessings brought back into focus so we can clearly see what God has given us.

• Paul’s Prayer for the Ephesians.      (v 1:15-17)

• Paul not only gives thanks for the believers in Ephesus but he also prays on their behalf.
• Paul prayed the Ephesians would know what they already had in God.  Paul prays that God would give them the spirit of wisdom, knowledge, and revelation in the knowledge of God.  Paul also prayed they would have the wisdom and comprehension to know what they already possess in Christ.   It takes divine intervention and divine wisdom for us to comprehend our spiritual blessing.    This could easily become our prayer every day.

• 3 blessings from God we already know.

• I am lost and now I am found.   I was blind but now I see.   I was a nobody but now I am a child of God.
• We have not scratched the surface of all the blessings we know we have from and through God.
• God has prepared wonders and blessings for us to enjoy here and now.   (I Corinthians 2:9)   Heaven will be a blessing for eternal life.

• Our culture tries to teach us how to beautify, nourish, exercise, glorify, trim, tone, and gratify ourselves.   We need to remind ourselves that we are to satisfy God, not this culture with our lifestyle.  I should live my life in accordance with what I know about myself through God’s word.
• We should be cautious and question every new idea that may come from the evangelical landscape.

• Example:   God takes risks and so should we.
• Paul warns of chasing the latest spiritual fads.

• To live a life truly in obedience to God, we need to understand who we are in Jesus Christ.

• When growing as a child, I would hear the words ‘Remember who you are, remember your family’s reputation and family name.  I would be less likely to get in trouble when I would reflect on this before doing something.   In the same thought we should think of the name of Jesus Christ during our day’s actions and thoughts.

• Our Emotions - The Eyes of Our Heart.      (v 1:18)

• The greatest barrier preventing us from understanding how God has blessed us is our feelings and emotions.  Both can be variable and unreliable.  They can also be up and down.   Our emotions have a strong effect on the way we perceive things.   Paul calls our emotions the eyes to our hearts.   When we are in a negative emotional state, it is hard for us to sense God’s blessings.   We fall into the trap that God has not blessed us at all.
• We need the eyes of our heart enlightened with God’s truth.   Our emotional life needs to be balanced with God’s truth.   We need to meditate on God’s word.
• We need to be careful that feelings do not replace our thinking.   We need to see life as it really is through the truth of God’s Word.   We need to understand that God has created us, called us, blessed us, reached down to us, lifted us out of our sins, and that God will carry us through the bad times as well.

• The Dynamite of God.      (v 1:19-20)

• The original Greek word for power is ‘dunamis’, which gives us the word dynamite.   Notice how Paul says ‘all the power’, instead of some of the power.   We do not get some power from God when we become his children, he has given us all of his power.   We need to claim that power and put it to good use.   (Acts 1:8).
• God used this same power to resurrect and raise Jesus from the dead and then to seat Jesus at his right hand in Heaven.   We have been given this same power as we too sit with Jesus Christ in the heavenlies.
• (1 Corinthians 6:3)   If God has given us the power to judge the angels, we should live our life for Jesus, not the world.   We should use the power God has given us to influence this society about God.   We also need to be mindful that God is in the ‘Soul Saving Business’.  God uses his Holy Spirit through us to lead someone to Christ.   It is not our works, but God using us through his Holy Spirit, to let the Holy Spirit work in the heart.   (Bill Fay).

• Christ Over All.      (v 1:21-23)

• (Psalm 110:1)   God’s power has placed Jesus above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and above every name.   The natural mind cannot completely comprehend this, but the Holy Spirit can through his enlightening.
• To most of the world Jesus was just a good man, a good moral teacher, and a role model of love and sacrifice.   Through the Holy Spirit we can see the authority and power of Jesus.   We can not picture Jesus with our physical eyes as being crowned in Heaven as the one true God, but through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit we know his position in Heaven,    We are enlightened to Jesus as being the head and ruler of the Church.  We aslo are able to see Jesus as the ruler of this world.

• Conclusion.

• Phillipians 2:10-11.   May our lives be manifested daily in everything we say and do.  May the Holy Spirit reveal the power of Jesus Christ in us.