MONDAY June 3rd
As we return to the devotions, after a short break, I start by reminding us of the verses we were looking at, and to remind us that Paul was praying for the believers in the Ephesian church.
Ephesians 1:16-23
‘For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 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 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.’
In this prayer, Paul takes us from his concern for the church v16, to the One who is the head of the church v23, the Lord Jesus Christ and in between reminds us that he, that is Christ has been exalted to the highest place and is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.
This is a good time to remind ourselves that with all that we see going on around us in this world, political strife, nations in strife with one another, society seemingly crumbling around us, that as we read in Philippians 2:9-11 ‘Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’
There is One who is above all these things and is in control, his name is Jesus, and he reigns over all. But we will get to this again when we get to the verses. In our next devotion we will begin to break down and look at what it was that Paul prayed for on behalf of the believers. Since I originally wrote this devotion, we in the UK are heading toward a General Election, we must seek direction regarding this and pray that just as God’s will is done in heaven so it will also be known on earth, in our nation.