HH, Sir Godfrey Gregg D.Div [wpedon id=”36898″]
Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, (Ephesians 1:15-20)
Selected by God to build the foundation of the church, the apostles did so by bearing witness to the resurrected Christ, by their teaching, and by prayer.
The apostles were noted for prayer. When there was a need to provide for the widows in the early church, the apostles couldn’t do it because they had to devote themselves to “prayer and the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). When the leaders of the church at Antioch were fasting and praying, the Holy Spirit told them to set apart Paul and Barnabas for the ministry God had called them to (Acts 13:1-3). This was the beginning of Paul’s missionary journeys.
In addition, in the majority of the apostle Paul’s epistles to churches, he starts off sharing how he has been praying for them (Romans 1:9-10, Philippians 1:4, Colossians 1:9). Praying for God’s church was an important component of laying the foundation.
Although the foundation of the church has been laid and the original apostles have passed away, we can still have an apostolic ministry, specifically in the area of prayer. God wants to use us to build his church through prayer.
Apostolic Prayer Focuses on Knowing God’s Great Power in the Saints
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, (Ephesians 1:19-20)
Finally, Paul wants us to comprehend God’s great power towards us who believe. It can actually be translated as “in us”. In fact, in verse 19, he uses “four different Greek synonyms to emphasize the greatness of that power”.
With the Greek synonyms inserted, verse 19 reads like this: “… and his incomparably great power [dunamis] for us who believe. That power [kratos] is like the working [energia] of his mighty strength [ischus].” Paul has layered these synonyms to express as best he can the highest power possible. He exhausted his language by describing the power of the resurrection (verse 20).
Paul is trying to help us comprehend how great the power of God working in us is. It is the same power God used to raise Christ from the dead. Believers need this power for many reasons.
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