I’ve never realised how much I needed help, or how I longed for normal life to resume, until I sat there at the hospital waiting room, grappling with all the possible diagnoses of my six-year-old’s health condition and feeling the weight of the unknown slowly sagging me down.
Life does that to you, I think.
Uncertainties about the future, a challenging chronic health condition, the impending job insecurity, or prolonged days of quarantine in the pandemic — they all have a way of challenging our equilibrium of safety.
Yet, when Paul wrote his prayer for the Ephesians, he spoke with such confidence and assurance that it challenges how we might perceive our uncertain future. Imprisoned in Rome and awaiting trial, his letter was anything but hope-infused and power-drenched.
“having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might…
(Ephesians 1:18-19)
His prayers were for the saints — not necessarily because the Ephesians or any of his readers were holy, but because they have a new-found identity in Christ. His words emanates such inner peace that I found a steady new assurance during our lengthened hospital stays.
Despite his suffering, Paul’s prayer was for us to come to the full realisation of who we are and what we have in Christ.
Have you ever wondered what potency our prayers might have when we completely grasp the resources available to us in Christ? Or when we truly know how God sees us in His eyes?
Paul knew the secret to a robust faith comes first through being filled with the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ.
To that degree, we too must pray so that our spiritual eyes may be opened that we can see and understand the hope of our calling, the riches of our glorious inheritance in Christ, and the immeasurable greatness of His power towards us who believe.
Knowing we have a Father who is the treasure house of hope, riches and power reminds us that we are loved, strengthened and empowered in our times of trouble, that we have complete victory in Him as we fight the battles in our own lives.
Hope is a very powerful component of life. It’s what gets us up and keeps us going even when the going gets tough. Hope births purpose, and purpose fuels the power required for the working out of our calling in life.
Do you struggle to know what is the purpose to what you have been called to in this stage and season of your life? Hope in the Bible isn’t some wishful thinking that something good might happen — but a mighty confidence that God is true to who he says He is, and will complete all his promises and purposes in our lives.
Our ability to live unshaken and confident is in the rock-solid guarantee of Christ dying and resurrecting for us, and His unconditional love for us through and through.
And so, when we feel worn or alone, we must pray that we see our glorious inheritance in Christ. We must pray for understanding of our immeasurable greatness of His power available to us…
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Romans 8:32
There is a mighty resurrection power at work in us as we walk and war in our world today.
Prayer: “Lord, You’ve always been Papa to us — but we don’t see it, we don’t comprehend it, we don’t live like it. Help us today to see and understand, and to walk confident and assured. You love us, You will be with us, You will surround us…”