Ephesians 1:17 & 18 Amplified Bible: “[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him, By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know {and} understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones),”
Pray to the Father—when the disciples asked the Lord to teach them how to pray, He gave them the Lord’s prayer and He said that you pray in the Father’s name. It is interesting that it is an acknowledgement of God. He is the Father of glory…remember, that glory can be translated as character, too. When we go to the Father, we start at the correct place. The Father, the creator, the I Am is the place to start in praying.
Some people have difficulty praying to a father because of the father that they had. It is really the character of God that makes Him the Father to whom we can pray. Do not throw God the Father out as a consequence of earthly fathers. Prayer to the Father also acknowledges our relationship with Him. The Lord called Him Abba Father…daddy. That is sweet and intimate in the child’s sort of way. I think of the Father who showed up after the children (Adam and Eve) had been deceived and tricked into disobedience. “Where are you,” He asked? A loving Father knows where they are. It is the two of them that have no idea. That is what deceit about your relationship with the Father does to us.
Paul had an experience of the third heaven. Some say that he saw the Savior in heaven. Whatever happened, he has an appreciation of the Father person as well as Christ. Paul is shining so much light on our relationship with God and Christ. He wants us to know who we are in them. He wants us to know who they are and how they are. That really is what he is trying to tell us.
Be granted a spirit of wisdom and revelation—Why? That we might have a deep, intimate knowledge of Him. Why? It is how we get to know our full potential. He has given us the fullness of the Godhead. He has given us the mind a Christ. Everything we learn about the Godhead, we learn about us. Does that sound too far out there? According to Romans 8, it is our creation parameters…we were created to this. The more we know the beauty of His holiness, the more we understand these mysteries. This is not shallow. This is the deep and intimate knowledge of Him. The “knowing” which implies intimacy.
Eyes of heart flooded with light—There is a scripture which says that out of the heart flow the issues of life. Here, Paul is talking about the eyes of the heart that have been flooded with the light about God the Father and His Son. When we have a heart (love) lens over our eyes, it changes everything. When we hear wonderful things about God and the Lord, we get happy and peaceful when our lens is love.
That you can know and understand the hope—I think that this is talking about the hope that comes as a result of knowing that we are loved and cherished by the Father and Son. It is so much easier to have faith and hope when we actually know…can count on…this love relationship. If every thing boils down to a matter of legality, I can fear that I have not done all that is possible. This does not create hope. Someone once said to me that there are only two basic emotions…fear and love. Think on those words. I agree. Fear is not from the Father and Son.
His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones)—Paul never misses a chance to tell us that we are set-apart ones. Has your significance, support, security, and safety been based upon your doing? That is what this world teaches and models. The Father’s world tells us a different story. See the Father going out each day to look down the road in hope and expectation of a returning prodigal who made a wrong choice. How did the Father treat him? He waited to put the robe on him and throw a party.
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