The Big Picture

A series on Pauls’ prayers
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Ephesians 3:14-21 

[Paul was a controversial figure in the first century church. But it could also be argued that he was the most dynamic and influential apostle. In this series we’ll be looking at Paul’s prayers and what he has to say to us today.]

  

“You can’t see the forest for the trees”

 

This well-known saying is used when someone is so focused on the details of life that they’re unable to see the big picture. We’re particularly vulnerable to this when life is difficult and we’re facing struggles. We get so focused on our problems, that we can’t see the possibilities.

 

In the Ephesian church, there was a large number of Gentile believers. Because of this, Paul wanted to make sure that they understood that they had an equal standing in the church. In doing so, he didn’t get so involved in the details that he wasn’t able to see the big picture.

 

⁶ And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. ⁷ By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.                                                    NLT            Ephesians 3

 

These thoughts prompted Paul to “fall to my knees and pray to the Father”.

 

¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ^17a so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

17b And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ…    NIV

Through his prayer, the ultimate outcome that Paul was looking for was this.

 

¹⁹ So that you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.                NLT

 

But, there’s this thing called life that keeps getting in the way of experiencing the love and fullness of Christ. When we’re in the thick of things, it’s hard to see the forest for the trees. The trees keep getting in the way of God’s love.

 

However, in his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

 

³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.                NIV        Romans 8

 

In the context of Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians, the saying, “You can’t see the forest for the trees” is a metaphor. The forest is God’s love. It’s also the big picture.

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

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Throughout all Generations

Acts 19:1-7

 

 

One Sunday, when I was about 10 years old, I didn’t want to go to church. My Dad chased me around the house and out into the backyard where he finally caught me. When we got to church I wouldn’t get out of the car so he made me wait there while they went to services.

 

As bad as this story sounds, for the most part I enjoyed, or at least complied, and went to church each Sunday. Although our church tradition didn’t talk about asking Jesus into your heart or being born again, looking back on it now, I believe that I was a Christian trying to follow and obey God.

 

However, years later in college a friend presented the Four Spiritual Laws to me. It made a lot of sense so I asked Christ into my heart. That same summer my friend told me about the Holy Spirit and how he worked in my life. Like the disciples in Ephesus that Paul met, I had an initial belief that later lead to a life changing experience.

 

These disciples had most likely become believers through the ministry of Apollos who had been in Ephesus previous to Paul. They are referred to as disciples, so they must have believed in God, but something was missing, and that something was the Holy Spirit. When Paul placed his hands on them while baptizing them, the Holy Spirit came upon them in power.

 

Years later, while in prison in Rome, Paul wrote these words to the disciples in Ephesus. Notice how many times he mentions the word “power”.

 

^16 “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

 

Looking back at a ten year old boy who didn’t want to go to church, God was at work in my life. He was constantly drawing me to him, even as my father dragged me, kicking and screaming, to church that day. Years later, God opened my heart to His Holy Spirit and changed my life.

 

Paul’s Ephesian prayer ends like this:

^20”Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in

Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

 

“Throughout all generations, for ever and ever”… Paul’s prayer was not only for those disciples in Ephesus, but for you and me today. God is still at work in our lives through the power of His Holy Spirit, to draw us closer to Him and to use us to attract and bring others to Him also.