Swimming Against the Tide

Ephesians 1:15-23

¹⁵ Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, ¹⁶ I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, ¹⁷ asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. ¹⁸ I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

¹⁹ I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power ²⁰ that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. ²¹ Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. ²² God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. ²³ And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

The Apostle Paul shows us a model of his persistence in prayer. He writes that he is continually praying for the believers in the Ephesian church. I find it most interesting that, in this instance, he is not praying for those who are struggling in their faith or those who do not yet follow Jesus. Here we read that he’s specifically continually praying for those who appear to be strong in their faith.

Why would Paul feel the need to keep continual prayers for those who seem to be doing so well in their faith?

Perhaps one of the main reasons for his persistent prayers is that we are all, in one sense, ‘swimming against the tide’. The Bible teaches that every one of us has three things continually working against our faith:

• our flesh (self-centred, sinful nature)
• the world (influences around us that are contrary to God’s ways)
• the devil (spiritual forces of darkness that are directly opposed to God’s plans).

As such, we cannot afford to grow complacent in our faith or we run the risk of getting caught in the tide that pulls us away from God’s purposes for our life.

We also need to be reminded to follow Paul’s example and continue to pray for our Christian friends and family that they too would continue to stand strong in the face of the multitude of forces against us all.

Fortunately, as we read here, God has promised His “incomparably great power for us who believe”. The same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us! So, although the tide is against us, we have the unstoppable power of God on our side as we look to Him.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for the power that You offer to us as Your followers. Thank you that on the cross you defeated sin, the world and the devil and that same power now dwells in us by faith! Help us to remember to pray for our friends and family as we all battle the influences daily that pull us away from You.

Written by Shelley Witt