Knowing You Jesus

Hal, our Senior Pastor at Northside, is currently preaching through the book of Ephesians. I am so thankful to be serving alongside and sitting under the ministry of such a sound expository preacher/pastor! Yesterday, Hal continued teaching from Ephesians 1:17-20. He has two main points centered in this passage:

The primary purpose of prayer is to know God.
The primary vision of prayer is to enjoy God's blessings.

He explained more on the second point yesterday. First, soak in these words from the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:17-19:

"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.
I pray also 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 the saints,
and His incomparably great power for us who believe.
That power is like the working of His mighty strength."

Hal developed the second point, the primary vision of prayer, in three ways:

1. A joyful realization of our calling. One of the most important things we can pray for ourselves and our loved ones is that they will "know the hope to which He has called you". The word hope in the original Greek is "elpis" and means hope, expectation, prospect. It is not the kind of flippant hope we sometimes think of such as "I hope it doesn't rain today". The hope we have been given as Christians is a certainty. Some of the things to which God has called us to that Hal pointed out are: To be Holy and Blameless people of love, to live as the adopted children that we are, and to live for the praise of God's glory.
   
2. A joyful expectation of the riches of our inheritance.
3. A joyful demonstration of His power toward us who believe.

Please pray for Hal and his wife Mamie. Hal will be leaving on July 9th for China where he will spend about 6 weeks. Petition the Father for Hal's protection, health, travel safety, and something for him to eat! Ha Ha! He doesn't particularly favor Chinese food! Pray for Mamie while he is gone as communication with Hal will be limited outside of emergencies.

So you will have a face to go with your prayers, here is Hal with our family on JennaBeth's Parent-Child Dedication Day at Northside.

Jennifer