Paul's Prayer for the Ephesians

Paul wrote to the Ephesians and told them of the prayers which he offered in their behalf.  He said, “I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers” (Ephesians 1:15-16).  This letter came sometime after Paul’s third missionary journey, and he had spent at least two years in Ephesus among the Saints (Acts 19:10).  Clearly he had a great love for the people there, and one of the most touching scenes of the New Testament is when Paul said goodbye to the elders of the church in Ephesus who came to Miletus to see him off on his journey to Jerusalem.  He told them, “I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.”  As he departed, “He kneeled down, and prayed with them all. And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him.”  Clearly they loved him deeply as well, and he testified that he had sought to serve them every day he had been with him.  His letter then tells us that after he departed, he still prayed for them continually even though he knew that they would “see his face no more” in mortality (Acts 20:31, 36-38).  It was not “out of sight, out of mind” for Paul; rather, he was eager to bless them no matter how far apart he was from them physically. 

               I’m impressed by what he specifically prayed for in behalf of the Saints in Ephesus.  First on his list that he mentioned, he prayed “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened” (Ephesians 1:17-18).  It wasn’t for safety or prosperity or health that he wished most earnestly for them; it was that they would gain revelation concerning the Father and the Son.  He wanted their understanding to be increased in spiritual matters, knowing that this would make far more of an impact in their lives than physical comforts.  This is consistent with the focus of the new Children and Youth program in which the young people of the Church are encouraged to seek revelation for themselves to know how to move forward on the covenant path.  As was mentioned in the broadcast this weekend, one of parents’ most important roles is to help children learn to communicate with heaven, and that is what Paul wants here: he earnestly prayed for the Saints at Ephesus to receive divine communication themselves.  This is certainly what we should seek for in our own stewardships for those whom we pray for and hope to bless.    

                Paul then prayed that the Saints would know three specific things: “That ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power” (Ephesians 1:18-19).  He desired them to understand the hope that the Savior offers, the promised blessings for the Saints, and the great power that God can give us in our lives if we believe.  In other words, he wanted them to be able to see and feel how Christ could empower them in the present in their lives as well as how their faithfulness would be rewarded eternally through our hope in Christ.  Paul sought for them to have a vision of spiritual blessings to come in the eternities and an ability to use the power of Christ in mortality.  The message for me from these few verses in his epistle is that perhaps I focus too much less important blessings for those over whom I have stewardship: I pray plenty for physical protection and safety and temporal well-being and not enough for the more critical spiritual power that they need in their lives.  The former surely has its place in our pleadings with the Lord, but most essential is the spiritual strength through faith in Jesus Christ that one develops to overcome all the challenges of mortality.