The apostle Paul prayed the Know Know Prayer for the Ephesians. People prayed the same for me when I was a hopeless teenager searching for meaning. God’s power works through us as we share and pray for others to know God better and to know his great hope…
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms…
Ephesians 1:17-20
Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians is a great model of the way we can pray for each other. The depth of his love and care for them shows in his words. The outcome Paul prays for is that the Ephesians may know God better and that they may know the hope to which God has called them. Know God and know hope.
Have you seen that old bumper sticker? No God, no hope. Know God, know hope. I think it comes from Paul’s prayer. If we know God better, we will truly know the hope to which he has called us. Know God, know hope. The trite bumper stickery statement is deep spiritual truth.
My coming to faith when I was 18 was all about hope. In fact, I was without hope. Hope-less. I thought life was hopeless in my teen years. God had other plans for me. There were people who prayed for me in words which were not far off Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians. The winter of my salvation, they were at a Bible school in Austria. I was one of the people they were praying for.
When they returned to their church the next summer, I was there. Surprise! I had come to know God. I had come to know hope. The truth of God’s love for me and his sacrifice in Jesus was revealed to me by the Spirit of revelation. The eyes of my heart were lit up by God’s enlightening presence.
My hope was sure, yet at that tender age, I don’t think I grasped what it meant to be called into hope. The hope to which we are called is a hope that we enact in our relationship to the world around us. We share it. I wanted this hope for me. It was what I needed in my life to fill me with purpose and meaning. Then I realized that God’s hope was for everyone to be filled with purpose and meaning. Christ came for us to have life to full abundance (John 10:10).
And so, we pray this prayer for those with whom we share Christ. Our hope and prayer is that they will come to know real hope by knowing God better than they do now. Remember, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work for us who believe. That Holy Spirit power is who will open their eyes and reveal the truth. We are not responsible for convincing people or persuading people. We share hope and we pray the Know Know Prayer for them.
God is at work, giving hope to people across the world. Join him!
Amen.
Marc Kinna
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