163. The Prayer Of St. Paul For The Church At Ephesus.

The Prayer Of St. Paul For The Church At Ephesus. The Prayer as recorded.—Ephesians 3:14-21. This prayer is a part of St. Paul’s letter to the Church at Ephesus, written while he was a prisoner at Rome, and forwarded by Tychicus, who is called a beloved brother and faithful minister. Ephesus was at this time the metropolis of Asia; the worship of the goddess Diana was the prevailing religion; here was the temple reared for her followers; here, too, the Theatre, the largest structure of the kind ever erected by the Greeks—the ruins still remain, and are of interest as identifying the scene of one of Paul’s most perilous conflicts. But the Church of God had been planted here through the instrumentality of Paul, and this prayer is made for its growth and welfare. Confined within the walls of a prison, his desire for their prosperity is unabated, and he seeks the throne of grace that they might be strengthened by God’s spirit. The religion of Jesus Christ had many powerful opposers at Ephesus; the worship of the goddess Diana furnished employment to many in the manufacture of shrines and ornaments for the temple; it was also the seat of the black art, so that the public mind was familiarized with the pretension to supernatural-gifts, “and Ephesian charms,” and thus the people were hardened against the due effects of miracles. This art was not alone practiced by the low and ignorant, but studied as a science by the learned philosophers of the age, as well as men of letters; these books sold for immense sums, and were a source of wealth to the people.

These were a few of the many powers acting against the advancement of the simple religion of Jesus—that Jesus, whose name afterward turned the cheeks of the sorcerers to a pallid hue, and their books to ashes. St. Paul prays, he cannot now go to the Church, but he can, in his prison cell, bow low the knee in prayer, and lift up his voice to God for the prosperity of his children; they were dear to the heart of Paul, and he asks for them a heavenly father’s care, a heavenly father’s blessing.