Do you know the power you have?

This episode explores the powerful prayer found in Ephesians 1—a prayer not for more, but for revelation.

Paul writes to the church at Ephesus, a city filled with spiritual resistance, false gods, and cultural opposition. Yet instead of praying for their circumstances to change, he prays that their understanding would change.

He prays for wisdom.
 He prays for revelation.
 He prays that their eyes would be opened.

Why? Because they already had what they needed—they just didn’t fully see it yet.

Paul reminds them that they were chosen before the foundation of the world, filled with the Holy Ghost as a promise, and empowered by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

The issue wasn’t access.
 The issue was awareness.

This episode challenges believers to stop asking God for more power and start asking Him to reveal the power already within them.

🔥 You are chosen.
 🔥 You are sealed.
 🔥 You are empowered.

Now it’s time to see it.

 #PRESSMovement #Ephesians1 #SpiritualRevelation #ChristianGrowth #FaithOverFear #KnowYourAuthority #PrayerLife #HolyGhostPower #BiblicalTruth #KingdomLiving

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Transcript

Press means to apply force. When God said press, prayer reaches every single situation. He gave us permission to apply force to every situation that we will go through.

And in this podcast, we are going to learn to apply force to what's applying pressure to us. Welcome back to the Press Movement Podcast. Thanks for joining me today. 

Let's go to the book of Ephesians. It is a new book for us in our journey through the whole Bible and the prayers that are in the Bible. But Ephesians has its roots in Acts, because Ephesians is written to the church that is in the city of Ephesus. 

And it's first mentioned in Acts 18-19 as a place that Paul went and reasoned or discussed an argument with the Jews in the synagogues. He was preaching to them. He was trying to convince them of Jesus Christ, who he was, that he came, that he lived, that he died, that he resurrected, that they needed to be saved. 

They tried to talk him into staying, but Paul didn't stay at that time. He actually left Priscilla and Aquila there, who continued the ministry. And they were able to first encounter a man called Apollos. 

Apollos also was a preacher and a great orator, the Bible lets you know. But he was not in truth yet. Priscilla and Aquila had the pleasure of explaining to him what the Bible refers to as a more excellent way.

However, Paul would encounter the people of Ephesus twice more. Once in Acts 19, when he passed through Ephesus again. This time the encounter would last longer, as he would stay there nearly three years. 

When he arrives in Ephesus, he meets some people and he says, have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? And they had never even heard of the Holy Ghost. And Paul says to them, then to what were you baptized? And they said unto John's baptism. This is key because they did what they knew to do. 

They had heard of what John preached, but they had not heard of this way of baptism that had changed since the day of Pentecost. So Paul preaches to them and he tells them, John barely baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him, which should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

This scripture is important to me because it is a clear demonstration that you can do what you know to do. But when you hear something and it's true and it's rooted in the word of God, you need to pivot. Even if what you've done before was right, according to all that you knew, when you learn a more excellent way, you do a more excellent way. 

So they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus and they received the Holy Ghost because Paul laid his hands upon them and they spake with tongues and prophesied, Acts 19 and 6 says. And there were about 12 men there and he stayed with them about three months before relocating to a different location within Ephesus, the school of one tyrannous. And there he stayed for about two years, preaching to both Jews and Greeks.

Bible lets you know that there were a lot of miracles done at Ephesus, special miracles. One that's noted is that the sick were brought handkerchiefs or aprons, pieces of his clothing, and the Lord would heal them. Another is when these Jewish exorcists, they were vagabonds, the Bible says, they thought, Hey, we're going to imitate what Paul does.

They were the seven sons of Sceva. And so they began trying to cast out devils in the name of whom Paul preached it. The Bible lets you know that yes, the devils came out because of the name, but they did leap on them and overcome them and prevail against them so that they had to run off into their house naked and wounded. 

So there's a lot to be learned in that story. The name of Jesus works, but your life, your authority has to be able to back up what you're saying God will do, or there can be backlash to you. Anyway, Paul kept preaching there and you see people burning books of curious arts. 

They had gotten into a lot of witchcraft and different things. Ephesus was a huge city. It held the temple of Diana, which could seat around 50,000 people. 

It was extremely accessible by land and by sea. So imagine a bustling metropolis and a city that has a little bit of this and a little bit of that. A city that's built on false gods, that celebrating false gods is part of the culture. 

And so for Paul to be preaching, these people are now turning, and that's what those book burnings represented. They were letting go of their witchcraft, of their past, and they were saying, we're willing to just move forward in Jesus' name. They were showing that they were going to follow the message of Paul. 

Eventually in Acts 20, after Paul has left Ephesus for the second time, he desires to see the elders of Ephesus again. This time he is nearby in a place called Miletus, but he can't make it all the way to Ephesus. So he calls for the elders to come to him. 

And I'm in Acts 20, 17. And when they come to him, he tells them, you know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I've been with in all seasons, I've served the Lord with humility, with tears, temptations. And you know what happened to me, how I was fought with the Jews lying in wait to get me basically. 

But I didn't hold back on you anything that I thought was profitable. I taught you in public, and I taught you from house to house. I testified to Jews and to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. 

He said, and now I go about in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city, saying the bonds and afflictions abide me. So this is really a goodbye speech, but it shows you how important Ephesus was to Paul, that he wanted to talk to their elders one last time. And when he couldn't get to them, he said for them, he's telling them, I know in going to Jerusalem, this is the beginning of my end. 

But he knew in his spirit, he still had to go. But none of these things moved me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy in the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. I have to do this is what Paul is saying. 

I have to go. I have to keep testifying. I have to work the works of Him that sent me while it is day. 

And now behold, I know that ye all among whom I've gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more. Wherefore, I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. That's Acts 20, 26.

This is a heavy conversation because he says, you're not going to see me again. But he also says, I am pure from the blood of all men. For a man who started the book of Acts in chapter seven, by killing or inciting the killing of Stephen to now be able to say, though many years later, I am pure from the blood of all men, shows you the life changing power of God.

That is something Paul wanted to share with the church of Ephesus. It's a message he always wanted to leave them with, that God changes everything. Paul knew who he was dealing with. 

If you look in 1 Corinthians 15, 32, he calls them beast in Ephesus. He also notes that he has many adversaries there in 1 Corinthians 16 and 9, but he never forgot about them. He sent Timothy to them as we see in 1 Timothy 1 and 3, and then later Tychicus in 2 Timothy 4 and 12. 

Ephesus had a piece of his heart and it was Ephesus whom he wanted to remember that Jesus saves. As we're getting to our prayer, he writes first to the saints which are at Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus. He's not writing these promises, these words to everybody. 

He's writing it to the ones who are standing and steady. For them, his initial prayer, if you would, is grace and peace be unto you. I want you at one. 

I want you not scattered. I want you inside the safety of God. I want you to see his favor in the way he protects you. 

But he also wanted them to remember that Jesus chose them before the foundation of the world. In this chapter, he paints a very eternal type of picture using words like, according as he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, or having predestinated us, Ephesians 1, 4, and 5, until the adoption of children. This shows us that before time, we were predestinated. 

Before the foundation of the world, God chose you. I believe God chose everyone who chooses him because he died for us all. He gave us all a choice, but in that he made a choice too.

He made a choice to give you a choice. When our choices align, you are chosen. He planned that from the beginning, that you could choose him. 

It was before time, but he doesn't just focus on before time. Paul also reminds them the reason we're doing all of this, the reason he's left us an inheritance, as he calls it in Ephesians 1, 11, and predestinate us according to the purpose that he has in his own will. It's so he can get the glory, but he didn't just leave us with purpose. 

He didn't just leave us predestinated. He also gave us a promise. The seal of his promise is the Holy Spirit, it's called in Ephesians 1, 13.

Nearly everywhere in the Bible, it says Holy Ghost. Only a handful of times does he write the Holy Spirit of promise. He calls it the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchase possession. 

That word earnest is engagement ring. It equates an engagement ring, a promise ring, if you would. God giving you the Holy Ghost is evidence of his promise.

He's going to come back for you. He's going to redeem you. The day of redemption is coming, Ephesians 1, 14. 

He's coming back to get what he bought. Think of yourself as being already ordered for pickup. When I pick up my groceries or pick up things that I've ordered from whatever store, I see it online, I purchase it online, and the store sets it aside for me because it's mine, but there's still a pickup coming when I take it back to me. 

That's what the rapture is. We are set aside, we are committed, we are paid for, we belong to him, but he's coming to pick us up. So Paul's not just pointing them to how God predestinated us, what he did before we got here.

He's also telling them, and once we arrived in time, the reason he gave us the Holy Ghost is because it's a promise of what he'll do for eternity. He is eternally committed to us. And so Paul says to them, I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and of your love unto all saints, so I cease not 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 unto you the spirit of wisdom.

So Paul says, I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. And he goes on to explain to them what he's praying for, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Wisdom being how to maneuver the how of execution, the how of application. 

It's not just intelligence, but it's the skill and the management of affairs. It is the ability to navigate. And this would have been important to the church at Ephesus, because as you can tell, Paul's already told you he had great adversaries there. 

He's already told you they're beasts. You already know that the gods and goddesses, they are very influential in the culture. And so they're having to preach in a climate that would have been unfriendly towards something different.

But Paul said, I'm praying that you'll have from God the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. I want you to be able to see who he is, that the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened. And mind you, these people already have the Holy Ghost. 

We see how that moves in Acts 19. They've already been baptized in Jesus' name. The foundation of that church, these things are a part of it. 

But there's more to see about God. There's more to know about him. You've got to understand the hope of his calling, the expectation of what God will do when he's allowed you to be placed in the job he's given you. 

Understand the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saint. What has he actually vested in you? And what is exceeding greatness of his power to us, word? How far is he willing to go? What can he do? He tells them the power I'm praying you see is what he brought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. I want you to be able to see and understand and have revelation of the power that got Jesus out of the grave. 

I want you to have wisdom, but I want you to know you have power. He didn't even pray that they have more power. The prayer was that they know the power they have. 

Father, help us that those of us who are the saints and the faithful will know the power we have. He tells them this power that got Jesus up is far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. When he says principalities, principalities speak of those in position, the leader, the first, the beginnings. 

Power speaks of those in authority, like a government. Might speaks of those who have ability. It's dunamis in the Greek. 

And dominion speaks of those who have lordship. So whether they have authority based on their position, based on their delegation, being given it, based on their natural ability, their might, or a relational ability, meaning they own something, they're lords over something, it doesn't matter what kind of power it is. The power of God that he's praying they get revelation in is far above all of it. 

The Bible notes that this God, he wants you to see clearly, hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head, meaning Jesus, over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. He closes out this chapter, not with his prayer, but an explanation of it. Praying that you'll have the spirit of wisdom. 

I'm praying that you'll have the skills fall from your eyes and you can see the kind of power that God is in you. And I want you to understand, be encouraged. He is all in all.

He is complete. There is nothing above him. There was nothing that was greater before him.

There's nothing that is greater now, even in you, because you have him and that same greatness never died. It still exists and it will be after us. Paul is reminding them we serve a great God, and I'm praying that you'll just recognize how great he is. 

I'm praying that you'll understand how committed he is to you. I'm praying that you'll understand he's vested in you. I'm praying that you'll understand he completes the picture. 

He is everything. See, Paul knew the challenges that this particular group would face. At one point, he talks to them about how the churches would be scattered and attacked. 

And you hear him talking about the gods that are there and you see the persecution, but he knew the God they had is greater. And so he didn't point them to himself as an example. But what he did do is say, the example I followed is Jesus Christ, and that example will live beyond the time I've been able to spend with you.

Today, I pray that we take comfort, not just comfort, but courage in knowing that God is here, that the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Paul, the God of our forefathers, our pastors, our leaders, the God who was and is and is to come is who we have inside of us. I pray that our eyes are open. I pray that we'll see him for who he is. 

I pray that we'll trust what we see in him. And I pray that the Lord give us wisdom in this hour, because like them, we have a place to win. We have cities to win. 

We have people that need to come to him. And we have to be wise and consistent and faithful. But we know it's possible because with God, all things are possible. 

And even when it feels like it's not, prayer reaches every single situation. Join the movement, join the community, like, share, and subscribe to this podcast. Visit us at PressToPray.com or find us on Instagram or Facebook.

Did you know that when you are quiet, your voice is missing to God's ears? I know some of us have prayed and we're wondering, how long should I pray about this? Why should I pray if God already knows? How will I know God is answering? And what do I do when I feel like God's not listening? But God is listening for your voice. It's too quiet in this world for the troubles we have. You have to raise your voice and God wants to hear from you. 

It's too quiet for a book about prayer. It's designed to answer your prayer questions and build your faith. Visit PressToPray.com.