05 Understanding the Calling (Pt 5 - Paul's 2nd Prayer for the Saints)

* In our study of Paul's letter to the church of Ephesus, we come to his second recorded prayer for the believers in Ephesus. * In his first prayer, Paul had prayed for God to grant the believers the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of Him. Today, we will see a similar spiritual desire of Paul for the saints. * As we enter this next portion, we want to consider two parallelisms. * First, THE REASON. Paul states, "For this reason ..." This is the second time in this chapter that he uses this expression. In fact, this expression (using the accusative of the word for "Grace" as a preposition) is very rare. Of the fourteen instances two are in the of this passage. Verse 1 and Verse 14 are being expressed in parallel coming from the discussion of chapter 2 - that the Jews and Gentiles are now made one in Christ. Hence, "Because of the nullification of the enmity of the law and the establishment of the unity of Jews and Gentiles approaching the God of the heavens and earth in the same fashion ... I was given this mystery (to reveal it to everyone) ... I am bowing my knees to that God and interceding on your behalf! * Second, this prayer of Paul's somewhat parallels Jesus' model prayer (Matthew 6) ... Jesus shared that we should proclaim our allegiance to the Father, then pray for spiritual needs, and finally praise God. * This message was presented on August 7, 2022 by Bob Corbin.