A Prayer to See
READ
Imagine being handed an enormous inheritance — vaults of it, more than you could ever spend — but somehow never being told the combination to open the door. That's roughly the tension Paul is trying to resolve in this next section of his letter. He's just spent fourteen verses describing everything believers have already received in Christ. Now he stops and prays, because having the blessing and actually perceiving it, he knows, are two very different things.
Read Ephesians 1:15–23 and notice exactly what Paul asks God to give His readers.
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 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. 18 I pray 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 his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
REFLECT
Paul doesn't pray for the Ephesians to receive more. He prays they see what they already have. "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ... may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better." Not new blessings. New eyes.
This is a subtle but important shift from everything Paul has said so far in the letter. Up to this point, he's been listing gifts — chosen, adopted, redeemed, sealed with the Spirit. All of it true, all of it already given. But apparently, having something and experiencing its reality aren't automatic partners. You can be fully blessed and still walk around functionally unaware of it, like someone standing in a room full of light with their eyes closed.
Paul names three specific things he wants them to grasp: "the hope to which he has called you," "the riches of his glorious inheritance," and "his incomparably great power for us who believe." Notice these aren't abstract theological concepts he's asking them to memorize. They're realities he wants them to actually feel the weight of — hope solid enough to hold onto in hard seasons, an inheritance rich enough to reorient what they're chasing, and power great enough to change how they face what feels impossible. All three are already theirs. What's missing is perception.
This is often exactly our situation too. Most of us aren't lacking spiritual resources nearly as often as we're lacking awareness of the resources we already have. We pray for more peace, when peace was already given and we've simply stopped noticing it. We ask for more strength, when the passage says we already have access to "incomparably great power" — the same power, Paul specifies, that raised Christ from the dead. That's not a metaphor for a slightly better day. That's resurrection power, already available, sitting mostly unused because we haven't asked for the eyes to actually see it.
This reframes what to pray for when you feel spiritually stuck. The instinct is often to ask God for something new — a fresh encounter, a bigger breakthrough, some additional measure of grace we assume we're missing. Paul's prayer suggests a different first move: ask for revelation. Ask to actually perceive what's already true, rather than assuming the problem is a deficiency in what God has given.
Sometimes the miracle you need isn't God doing something new. It's God opening your eyes to what He's already done.
RESPOND
Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you read.
Is there an area of your life where you suspect the issue isn't a lack of God's provision, but a lack of your own awareness of it?
Paul names hope, inheritance, and power as three things he wants believers to grasp. Which of these feels most distant or unreal to you right now?
What would it look like this week to pray for revelation — for eyes to see what's already true — instead of only praying for something new?
REST
Take a moment to rest in God’s presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:
Father, thank You for the blessings You've already given us, even the ones we've walked past without noticing. Open our eyes the way Paul prayed for the Ephesians — give us wisdom and revelation to truly know You. Help us grasp the hope we've been called to, the inheritance that's already ours, and the power that's already at work in us. When we feel like something is missing, remind us it may not be a gift we lack, but a perception we need. Let us see what You have already done. Amen.