For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 1:14-23

A few months ago, Patrina and I attended the funeral visitation for the son of a friend. While there, the father mentioned that he kept me in his daily prayers. Are there people you remember daily in your prayers?

Long after Paul left the city of Ephesus, the people he reached for Christ were central to Paul’s life. In the verses above Paul gives thanks for those people and reminds them that he remembered them in her prayers, specifically for their spiritual growth and maturity.

He prayed the LORD would give them “the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.” In the book of Philippians, Paul writes of his desire to ” know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead”(Philippians 3:10-11).

As I consider my daily list of petitions in prayer, many of them are for salvation or a deepening of faith for others, but most of them are for specific physical needs of healing. Although I shouldn’t neglect those prayer needs, I should keep my eyes on the larger picture on the hope found in the one who is “above every name that is named, not only in this age but alson in the one to come.”