September 09 2025

Tuesday September 09

Faith and Love

Ephesians 1:15-18a

“Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know…”

Today we're continuing in Ephesians 1:15-18. Paul desired the Ephesian Christians to understand what great wealth they had in Christ. Paul knew of their faith and love, and in this he rejoiced. The Christian life has two dimensions: faith toward God and love toward men, and you cannot separate the two. Now the Christian life always begins with faith. Salvation is experienced by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 10:8-13; Ephesians 2:8-9). But then the real proof of our faith is our love toward other believers and toward the people in the world around us. We are to love them as Christ loved them. He loved them so much that while they were yet sinners, He died for them on a cross. We are to love others even as we want others to love us.

The Scripture teaches us that when we walk with God, live in His Word, when we are fill with His Word, that we will be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters, bringing forth fruit in its season. Our leaves will not wither, and whatsoever we do will prosper (Psalms 1:2-3). Now, when you have the Word of God, abiding in your heart, living by the river of waters, the water of God's Word, and filling your life with it, your root of your faith will go down deep into the heart of God. Then my friend, you will be like a tree that is glorious, a life that reflects and shines forth the fruit of the love of God.

Yes, faith is the root and love is the fruit. Don't ever forget that faith is the root of our Christian life and love is the fruit of our Christian life, and also the outward evidence that we truly have been born again. But Paul knew that faith and love were just the beginning. The Ephesians needed to know much more. This is why he prayed for them, and for us.

In the four prison prayers of Paul found in Ephesians 1:15-23; 3:14-21; Philippians 1:9-11; and Colossians 1:9-12, we discover the blessings he wanted his converts to enjoy. In none of these prayers does Paul request material things. His emphasis is on spiritual perception and real Christian character. He does not ask God to give them what they do not have, but rather prays that God will reveal to them what they already have.

Before we study Paul's four requests in this "prayer for enlightenment" in Ephesians 1, we must notice two facts. First, enlightenment comes from the Holy Spirit. He is the "Spirit of wisdom and revelation" (Isaiah 11:2; John 14:25-26; 16:12-14). With his natural mind, man cannot understand the things of God. He needs the Spirit to enlighten him (1 Corinthians 2:9-16). The Holy Spirit reveals truth to us from the Word, and then gives us the wisdom to understand and apply it. He also gives us the power—the enablement—to practice the truth (Ephesians 3:14-21).

Second, this enlightenment comes to the heart of the believer (Ephesians 1:18). Literally this verse reads, "The eyes of your heart being enlightened." We think of the heart as the emotional part of man, but in the Bible, the heart means the inner man, and includes the emotions, the mind, and the will. The inner man, the heart, has spiritual faculties that parallel the physical senses.

The inner man can see (Ps. 119:18; John 3:3).

The inner man can hear (Matt. 13:9; Heb. 5:11).

The inner man can taste (Ps. 34:8; 1 Peter 2:3).

The inner man can smell (Phil. 4:18; 2 Cor. 2:14)

And the inner man can touch (Acts 17:27).

This is what Jesus meant when He said of the people: "They seeing see not, and hearing they hear not" (Matt. 13:13). The inability to see and understand spiritual things is not the fault of the intelligence but of the heart. The eyes of the heart must be opened by the Spirit of God.

This is why Paul prayed this prayer for the believers at Ephesus. This is a wonderful prayer that we can also pray for family and friends on regular basis! May God’s Holy Spirit open the eyes of our heart today!

God bless!