September 11 2025

Thursday September 11

Know God, Have Hope – No God, No Hope

Ephesians 1:15-18

“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 what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”

Welcome to Pastor's Chat. Today we're continuing to look at the Apostle Paul's prayer for the church, the believers in the church in Ephesus. In this prayer, we find several things that Paul prayed for. The first thing we see is that He prayed that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. He prayed that they would know God. They'd be intimately acquainted with God through Jesus Christ. And this was something that God, the Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God, the Father of glory would give to them. This wisdom, this opening of their heart and their eyes to see who God really is, to know God. That should be the desire of our hearts. That should be our prayer for ourselves and for those around us.

Then we find in verse 18, Paul also prayed, “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened”. The eyes of your heart, your emotions, your thoughts, your soul, your will, in a sense everything about you, would be enlightened, would be open, would have an understanding and know what is the hope of His calling. So, the second thing that Paul is praying for is that we might know God's calling on our lives. This word “called” is an important word in the Christian vocabulary. The Scripture teaches us that the church, the body of Christ, the believers, in the Greek is the “ecclesia”. That word is two words which together means the “called-out assembly”. 

The believers who are the church, the body of Christ are called out. Now, interesting. We're not just called out of the world, we are called into something that is glorious. And that's what Paul's speaking of here. Not only are you called out of the world, but you are called out to be a peculiar, a royal priesthood, a different person from the rest of the world around you. Peter says it this way in 1 Peter 2:9. “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a special people that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:9 that He had a holy calling. Yes, we've been called out of darkness into marvelous light and we've also been called to glory. I love this verse in 1 Peter 5:10. “But may the God of all grace who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus after you suffered a while perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” We have been called to glory!  And because of this calling, we can now have a hope that's steadfast and sure, an anchor of our souls (Hebrews 6:19).

The word hope doesn't mean wishful thinking about something. But the word hope in the scripture means we have a delightful future in Jesus Christ. We have the assurance of that future because of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross and His resurrection. The believer's hope is tied into the return of Jesus Christ as we read in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 John 3:1-3. Our hope is based on the fact that Jesus promised that one day He will come again for His bride the Church.

Before we were saved, we were without hope in this world. But now in Christ, according to 1 Peter 1:3, we have a living hope. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. How glorious is that? So, we have a hope that's steadfast and sure. It's a living hope which means it gives us purpose and direction, and encouragement for whatever we face every day. We have a better tomorrow coming. Oh, that is the hope that we have.

Paul prayed that you would know your calling from God. And this calling from God gives you hope. I trust you'll take these words into your heart and you'll remember you have something to live for and something to look forward to. A good verse to close with today is Romans 15:13: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” 

Knowing God, you have hope. No God, there is no hope.

God bless!