If the apostle Paul could pray for your congregation or for mine, what might he request God grant us? One possibility lies within a prayer in Ephesians.
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, will give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him, … so that you can know … what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe. Ephesians 1:17,18,19
A question confronts us. What does God’s power do for those who trust?
Paul proceeds to explain that God unleashes a transforming power upon those who rely upon his Son. Just as God’s power raised Jesus from death to life and then exalted him (Ephesians 1:20-21), God exerts this same transforming power upon us, if we will trust in Jesus (Ephesians 2:1-2,4-6). God’s power can rescue us from the brokenness of sin and being spiritually dead in order to become alive with Christ experiencing the start of a new life in Christ.
Several bullet points are noteworthy.
- Because God makes the transformation possible, hope exists for all of us regardless of what we might have done – if we will come to Christ.
- This transformation from being “dead in sin” to becoming “alive with Christ” cannot be achieved through spiritual disciplines or beneficial self-help practices, as good as they might be. This transformation is both categorically higher and changes our status before God in a way unachievable by humanity.
- When God remakes our lives into becoming his new people, God also infuses our lives with the divinely given purpose to do good (Ephesians 2:10).
As Paul travelled the Roman Empire, he had witnessed it all. He saw broken lives of every stripe. He saw despair, hopelessness and fear crushing and twisting the human spirit.
Paul, just like Jesus, did not run away from such brokenness. Rather, he ran towards it because he knew God’s power was more powerful than the life wreckage we had caused. God could create new life out of the spiritual devastation.
Whether we have already experienced the new life God’s power makes possible or whether this power has not yet touched our lives, God’s transforming power is good news. One the one hand, we can be humbly dependent and gratitude for what God has done for us. On the other, we can know the good that God desires to work within us.
In spite of whatever we might have done, God’s power is greater. In spite of whatever we might have done, there is hope. Freedom and a new life are possible.
- Hope … in spite of ________ - 2025-05-21
- God’s transformative work - 2025-05-14
- The Last Supper’s Cups - 2025-04-23