In this book we will cover the two deepest prayers of the Apostle Paul. These two prayers are found in the book of Ephesians, a deep, high, and profound book. This profound book covers mainly one matter-the church. The church is the deepest matter in the Bible. It is not something superficial, shallow, or easy to realize. Today the term the church has been used in a wrong way. When people refer to the church, what do they mean? To many the church is something common. Some may even consider that the church is a material building, but according to the Bible, the church is the deepest matter. We have to be in the deepest part of our being, our spirit, to know the church. All of us, especially the young brothers and sisters, have to know something that is not merely for our enjoyment, our salvation, or our building up. We have to know the church, the deepest matter in the Bible. Because the church is so deep, the apostle prayed for us to know this matter. We need the apostle’s prayer to see the church.
We need to consider what Paul covered in these two prayers. In the first prayer, he prayed for a spirit of wisdom and revelation that we could see the church (Eph. 1:17-23). This prayer is for a spirit that can see, a spirit of revelation, and even a revealing spirit. We need such a spirit to see the church. Many may have a common or superficial understanding concerning the church, but it is not a simple or superficial matter. We should not consider that we understand the matter of the church thoroughly. The church is the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4), and we need a revelation to see it.
In Paul’s second prayer (3:16-21), he prayed for the strengthening of our inner man. This is related to our experience. His first prayer is for the seeing, the enlightening, the revealing, and the other is for strengthening. First, we need the revelation that we may see the things concerning this mystery. Then after seeing, we need to get into, to experience, what we have seen. In other words, the first prayer is a prayer for revelation, and the second is a prayer for experience. In the book of Ephesians, both the revelation and the experience are for the church.
In the first prayer, Paul prays, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom” (1:17). This does not mean that God would give you the Holy Spirit. The word spirit in this verse is not capitalized, indicating that this is the human spirit. To see the mystery of Christ (3:4), the church, requires more than just having a smart mind. A smart mind may be good for the university, but the mind alone can never realize the mystery of the church. To see the church, we need our human spirit.
God did not create us in a simple way. According to 1 Thessalonians 5:23, man is of three parts: the spirit, the soul, and the body. Our human body is very complex. Medical doctors spend many years studying medicine, yet they still do not understand the human body thoroughly. The psychological part of our being is called the soul, composed of the mind (Psa. 13:2; 139:14; Lam. 3:20), the emotion (S. S. 1:7; 2 Sam. 5:8; Isa. 61:10; 1 Sam. 30:6), and the will (Job 7:15; 6:7; 1 Chron. 22:19). These three organs are wonderful, but they can also be the cause of much trouble. Sometimes we cannot sleep well because we have such an active mind. If we could control our mind, we would sleep well. Our emotion can also be troublesome. If we were not so emotional, we would not be so concerned with how people treat us. Whether they would highly appraise us or scorn us, we would not be moved. Because we have such a troublesome emotion, sometimes we are so bothered that we cannot go to sleep. Our stubborn will is also the source of many problems. Not only do we have a body with so many parts and a soul with so many organs, we have another part of our being, a deeper part, our spirit. The wisest man is the man who lives in his spirit.
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