Ephesians 1:17-25

"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. "

The wisdom of God is contrary to the wisdom of the world. Human minds cannot comprehend the wisdom of God apart from a revelation of the Spirit's. We need the Holy Spirit to reveal true wisdom to us. We will then be open to the Spirits revelation on all matters. Our minds will then be transformed and we will gain the mind of Christ. Our fleshly mind will fade and our spiritual mind will grow. As we gain this wisdom we will walk in tune with the will of the Father and our relationships with Christ will grow deeper.

"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..."

The Holy Spirit must lift our hearts. He must move in us as the strong wind moves the cedars among the groves.

Hope does not come from circumstances or any worldly pleasure or security. All feelings of exhilaration we experience through these are fleeting and false. Emotionalism, at best is deceptive and crippling to the soul. True abiding hope comes straight from the Holy Spirit and cannot be conjured by human will or effort. We cannot grind our teeth and force our way into His hope. He enlightens our hearts like nothing we can gain on our own.

Unlike humanistic psychology, new age healing, the self-help industry and the like, the hope found through Jesus Christ brings true and lasting security, in our lives, in our relationships, and transforms our decisions.

"and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come."

The same power that resurrected Jesus Christ, the same power that raised Him to His rightful place on high, the same power of authority that is held by God the Father. The power demonstrated in the dominion of God. The very power that God spoke in the beginning of creation. The life giving power of God the Father. The very power that formed the earth, that made a beginning, that is steady and strong now and will countiue on. That power lives in us through the Holy Spirits power upon and in us.

"And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way."

Jesus is the head of the Church. We who believe are the Church. Not only do we have His power living through us by the indwelling Holy Spirit, but we are also a part of Christ Jesus. We are grafted into the being of Christ. As He is the head, we are His body and the Head is to lead the body.

Do we war against His will? Then we effect the body which is His church. We do not effect the Head for He stays resolute and firm in His identity and truth. However, when we do not move as He wills, we pull away from His life-giving flow. We war against the reality of God, we war against the very power He has given us through the Holy Spirit. We then become a sickness to the Body. We effect the healthy members of the church and keep them from their identity which is in Christ.

When someone gets a heart transplant, often times the body rejects the new heart because it fails to work in harmony with the rest of the body. It then needs to be removed and a heart which will function with the rest of the members of the body will replace it.

When we come into the family of God, we enter into the body of Christ. We are given tremendous power. The very power we worship lives in us! We, however, need to follow the Head, Christ, or we cannot live. We will become a useless organ, dead flesh, a hindrance to the very will and purpose of Christ and His Church.