Ephesians lay out a blueprint for building up the body of Christ, but for many years I was not able to see this. The Scripture is the living word of God who created the heaven and earth. How much can we understand his word depend upon the posture of our hearts. If someone wants to know the minimal requirement of getting saved from hell, he will not be able to find it. As Jesus said in Matthew 16:25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. Many of us do not have pure hearts and we are not really seeking Jesus for a way to, like he said, “loses his life for me“. We have been deceived by the self and others always, unless we can hear his voice clearly, as he said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;“. Today, many sheep do not know how to listen to his voice, while some who claim to hear him may have been listening to other spirit.
Open the Eyes of Our Heart
People have been reading the Bible and attending churches for more than 10, 20 or 30 years, but still don’t know God. We are all blind, even after the confessing of sins. Listen to Ephesians 1:15-18 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 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. I pray also 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 the saints,
We all know these verses, but with little comprehension. We fail to understand the necessity of asking our heavenly Father to give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that we may know him better. We don’t see the need to pray for “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope” and the true value of his calling. Many are lukewarm and busy about earthly things due to the lack of knowledge of God.
Those who obeyed the Word (1Cor 4:16), “Therefore I urge you to imitate me” will pray similar prayers so that the eyes of their hearts may be opened. They will know God better and are more likely to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling“.
Pay attention to these words “I have not stopped giving thanks …”, and “I keep asking …” that means these prayers are so important that it should be prayed all the time. They are the kind that was commanded to “pray without ceasing“. Psalm 28 is an example of how to practice this, “O Lord my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit.” However, not many can see this. but if we follow the scripture in 5:17 “speak to yourself with psalms“, then the eyes of our heart will be opened. And this is the result of trust and respect for God and his word, but apostate church don’t have that trust, they are blind because they have no fear of the Lord.
This non-stop giving thanks and remembering in prayer also indicated this is the way of fighting spiritual battles. To pray a few times will not fix the problem. The temptation will come and we may become blind again. It is a very long battle with invisible enemies in the spiritual realm. Our everyday life is the battle field, many of us are seriously wounded already, as we are somehow addicted to the digital media to various degree. For it’s easy to spend hours on media, but hard to pray for one hour.
Mature from Infant
It is written in Eph 4:11-14 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
Many God’s children are still not mature because the lack of faith and too little knowledge of the Son of God, just like the Scripture said, “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” Man-made doctrines like cheap grace without repentance and holiness have been so widely accepted as true salvation, it has put God’s children into sleep mode for a long time. Causing them to have false hope on being raptured out of trouble before the tribulation. It is only when we put the Word into practice, then we can be mature. The scripture said, “For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers”, we don’t have to search for this type of individual in the church, because we are all like this to some degree.
Prayer Always
The main reason why so many people still walk in the flesh is lacking respect for the Word, so we missed the core message of this letter. the word explained, For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 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, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19)
Everyone known these passages, however we usually wouldn’t think about putting these words into practice, we seems like to know the meaning, but that’s often a tiny scratch of the surface. Those who find help from commentary, books or theology will end up with more confusion than before, because they can’t discern the truth from error and lie.
Only small number of people who fear God will obey the word, imitate Paul and pray in the same way, as they take God’s word seriously. After much seeking and meditating, I can see the Scriptures is gently explaining the fact that most of us can not know God by reading alone. Someone have to kneel down to make the serious prayer requests;
– Give us power to have faith by the Holy Spirit living in us.
– Invite Christ to dwell in our hearts.
– Increase our love.
– Give us strength and power
– Grasp the love of Christ beyond our knowledge and imagination.
– Completely fill us with Him.
This can be seen as a outline or summary of the prayers for a believer’s spiritual growth. Without this we will remain as “infants, tossed back and forth by the waves.” Although I did know it, but always forget to practice as I have taken the word too casually. Imitating apostle Paul to pray is by no means easy, we can repeat these verses and our hearts may still unconvinced or unconverted. That’s why I still have difficulty in hearing the voice of the Lord. For it is written, Jeremiah 17:9-10 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve. It may take long time for the heart to really learn Psalms 139:23-24 and pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.“
Not only Paul prayed for them, he gave them clear instructions for what to do, they are in the following chapter 4 and 5. It can be summarized in one sentence, verse 30 of chapter 4.
Do Not Grieve The Holy Spirit
The vital key to build up the body of Christ is written in Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. How to please the Holy Spirit of God is written (only 2 verse after) in verse 1 of chapter 5: Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children. And verse 2, And live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
This is simple and clear, not complicated theology. But I could not see it because deep inside I was afraid of the idea of being imitators of God, I preferred something easier. I guess we can understand a bit more now, why Jesus require all who want to follow him must pick up their cross and deny themselves daily. As it’s impossible to imitate God without dying to the self first.
I find listening to sermons of men on this subject will only produce more confusion, for example, Martyn Lloyd-Jones is a well accepted preacher, so I listened to his sermon in July 1958 grieve-not-the-holy-spirit But it seems he didn’t really understand these scriptures, he talked a lot about his own opinions, around one hour. If he was not actively seeking to imitate Christ at that time, he could not see the deeper truth below the surface.
Let no one deceive you with empty words
It is written in Ephesians 5:6-10 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth and find out what pleases the Lord.
There so many people speak only empty words today, including lukewarm believers who have been deceived because they don’t take up their cross. Out of ignorance they tend to deceive others as well. The instruction is “therefore do not be partners with them“, but this is not enough, verse 10 is the key, “find out what pleases the Lord“. That means we have to find out what is God’s will and plan. Don’t just assume we know what is pleasing to God. To practice verse 10 “find out what pleases the Lord” is through prayers. This is not easy, it take lots of practice to learn how to seek and wait on the Lord, the way to know God’s will is in verse 17 to 19.
Speak to Yourselves with Psalms
Ephesians 5:17-19 (KJV) Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
It’s quite clear, “understanding what the will of the Lord” is by being “filled with the Spirit“. To be filled with the Spirit is by “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns“. Those who don’t like to hear the psalms do not like the Holy Spirit. Some of them are not the Lord’s sheep, they will not obey the Word. God’s children have to listen, Hebrews 4:7 “Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.“
It is written, “We do not know what we ought to pray for“. All the Psalms are written to teach us how to pray. They feed our soul with the wisdom from God. It’s natural our head can’t comprehend much, for they are written for our soul, our inner being, for the spiritual realm. We should never stop repeating after them. It’s not likely we can know all of them by heart.
Today, even the basic prayer method and pattern such as the inquiring of the Lord are still largely unknown to the flock, despite they are all written in the book of Psalms. Now we want to learn how to do God’s will.
— First get into a closet as the Lord’s prayer instructed. And follow Psalms 25:4-5 Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
— Another Psalm 143:8-10 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. Rescue me from my enemies, LORD , for I hide myself in you. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
— So we can pray like this, “Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me to do your will.” Then wait for the Lord. The answer normally comes in the form of thought or idea, most of the time a verse from the Bible. It would be hard for those who can’t remember the Scriptures, if he want to inquire of the Lord. We all have to learn “for to you I entrust my life“.
— Evening is also a good time to pray, as Psalms 4:4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. I always seek the Lord this way “commune with your own heart upon your bed“. The hardest thing is to identify which thought is actually coming from the Lord. It depends on our heart, as Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” We should seek the Lord to give a pure heart, to purify our heart.
It is not easy to know God’s will, there is a cost to pay. As it is written in Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. The cost to become Jesus’ disciple is similar, as He said, in Luke 14:33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. We have to pray in order to seek the Lord will all our heart.
— Psalms 86:11-12 (NKJV) Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I will glorify Your name forevermore.
— Psalms 119:10 (NIV) I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
— Psalms 119:34 (NIV) Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
We may not get what we ask, it has to be God’s will, as it’s written: 1 John 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. I think I have missed many things because I don’t have very pure heart that is sensitive to him, his words and his works. I can only see a small portion of what I should, as Psalms 40:5 Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.
The Rhema Word of God
It is written in Ephesians 6:10-12 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
This passages tells us building up the body of Christ is a spiritual war that we know nothing about, we have to trust God and his Word. It is written in Ephesians 6:16-17 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Here the Greek “word” is rhema, real time spoken word, not written word. Therefore, the sword of the Spirit is a real time instruction for what to say and what to do. In another word, we are not able choose the right verse, it’s the Holy Spirit inside guiding us what to say in spiritual battle. Jesus said the same, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” Here “every word” is again the rhema word, not “logos” (written words in the past). Those who do not hear the Lord’s voice will not be able fight any spiritual war, they will be defeated and taken captive by the enemy.
Watch out for those who claim to hear from the Lord but are not ready to become his disciples, some of them are called, but they are deceived badly, some are wolf in sheep’s clothing. Nevertheless they have something in common, they only know the vocabulary, and always distort the Scriptures. For example, praying in tongues refer to different language unknown to the speaker, but that was so widely twisted by many that gibberish are considered some kind of “prayer language”. They have fooled those who don’t “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
They have no fear of God, nor respect for his word. Some are well trained, well received by men, but have no intention to imitate Christ. As the scriptures said in 2 Timothy 3:5 “having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”
We are called to test them, 1 John 4:1 Test the Spirits Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
We are called not to judge them, 1 Corinthians 14:29 (KJV) Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. We have to hear the rhema, spoken word of God, so that we can test or judge correctly. Take heed the word of instruction in Ephesians 6:18, Praying at all times with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and in this very thing being watchful with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints; To pray in the Spirit is very different from praying in the flesh that have no interaction.
As we can see now, the way to build up the body of Christ is through prayer, now let’s pray Psalm 139, pay attention to verse 16 to 18, Psalms 139:16-18 (NIV) Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. Are we too insensitive to count His thoughts for me?
O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.
You hem me in behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
(145)
I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever.
Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.
Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.
One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.
They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds.
They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.
The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
All you have made will praise you, O Lord; your saints will extol you.
They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might,
so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.
The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time.
You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made.
The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.
The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.
My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.