In order to help you, my dear fellow student of the Word, to feel more at ease with any limitations you may have, I will tell you that I am sitting here with Basic Bible Interpretation again, preparing for the spiritual journey of rightly interpreting this passage. Just because I’ve “followed the directions” once, does not mean I have a natural ability to apply without falling into the numerous pitfalls on the path of application. And so I return to my teacher, Roy Zuck, to ask him questions and listen to his counsel.
Whatever your weakness is in the area of Bible study, please feel comfortable with the idea of continuing to ask questions and seek counsel. Perhaps I’ll continue to need to ask for help in this area until the the Last Day. Our Dad isn’t disappointed with the efforts, he is a good Father, thrilled with our attempts to learn and grow. Own the limitations and work within the parameters they give us. And delight in the result of our labors.
In order to remain grounded, let us once again read our passage.
15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 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, 18 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, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 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. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Ephesians 1:15–23 (ESV)
“Build Application on Interpretation”
That is also the title of a section in Dr. Zuck’s book I mentioned earlier. Considering that, give me a moment to peruse my structural diagram and see what I’ve learned on an intellectual level that I may apply on a spiritual level.
Here’s something:
From Bite 21 found here, I learned that the not ceasing isn’t so much a call to doing nothing but pray, but praying when opportunity presents itself. In this case, when Paul remembered the members of his audience, he prayed.
Since application should be built out of interpretation, let me see what kind of application I can make from this information.
When someone comes to mind, I will pray for them.
Hm. That’s not very specific or inspiring. Let’s see what Dr. Zuck suggests.
“We must see if the principle in the passage is taught elsewhere.”
1
Knowing that Paul says this:
16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me.
1 Corinthians 4:16 (ESV)
…and…
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1 (ESV)
…we can know that what Paul does is, in part, for our example. In a number of instances in the NT, Paul says that he hears of believers’ faith in the Lord Jesus and their love for the saints. Paul writes of this in several of his epistles. What he hears is testimonies of the lives of believers. This isn’t just testimonies that those far off, foreign missionaries talk about but mundane, ordinary lives of believers going about their daily lives, having faith in Jesus and loving brothers and sisters. That sounds specific. Here I go.
When I hear a fellow believer trusting in Jesus, I will turn my heart to pray and thank God for them.
When I hear a fellow believer being spent for another, I will lift my thoughts to pray and thank God for them.
There. I have built an application on interpretation and as I’ve done so, I’ve considered the teaching of the rest of scripture. Is there a correlation of principle mentioned elsewhere? Yup. Another aspect of application engaged with.
Practice of Previous Lessons
In the previous Bite where we applied scripture, we learned to “Write Out Specific Action-Responses” from Dr. Zuck. Let’s develop those new skills by practicing and coming up with some applications according to the principle of being specific.
Remembering that Paul was active in prayer in this section, he repeatedly used phrases that asked the Father to give a spirit of wisdom and revelation. In other words, he was asking for the Father to reveal himself and his purposes to the recipients. As I see it, by implication, I would want to open my heart and allow the process of learning such things to be the story of my life.
In my life at this present moment, my heart is drawn to being aware of the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. Knowing–defined from this Bite as grasping, recognizing, understanding, experiencing–God has this power to raise Christ from the dead, and that he uses that power for good in my life is a truth to which I am currently clinging.
Spending two days in the hospital over the bed of my 19 year old daughter while she battled the darkness of her situation was opportunity to doubt God and his power. I was helpless to offer real comfort, and while that helplessness was my world, I cried out to God for proof once again that he was moving in my circumstances. How could I endure this amount of pain? Another child tearing the fabric of my soul.
Even while crying out, he was revealing how his finger was moving all the pieces into place. Indulge me while I list some of them.
- My daughter, who previously had no relationship with me, had been following the advice of her middle brother to build a relationship with me. We’d been hiking and hanging out together, having fun. Not normative in our lives.
- The ER doctor was a man with whom we go to church.
- Our pastor looked at his phone to see my text of distress at 1130 pm.
- When I was in the deepest moment of being overwhelmed, at the nurses’ station was our friend who is a sheriff deputy, there on duty but also there to pray for the situation.
I can look at all of these and all the details I didn’t list and count them as coincidences. Or I can allow my knowledge of the immeasurable power of God to grow.
As I walk through the shadows that seem to be growing in frequency in my life, I will choose to be alert and expectant for the immeasurable power of God working toward me in my life.
Once again, in the weakness of my doubting heart, God was kind and loving to move in my circumstances to comfort me. Not just a theoretical comfort but a tangible comfort. Tangible hugs and prayer from Pastor Jimmy. Tangible hugs and prayer from Justin. Tangible flowers from friends for both my daughter and me that remind us both that people are willing to be spent to be there for us. These are some of the tools God can use to have the eyes of our hearts enlightened that we might know how God is moving in the past, present, and future for our good.
Wrap Up
As we finish up this passage for the time being, we want to summarize what Paul wrote. Not only to wrap up this section, but also so that we have a general idea of the content for the future. With the summaries lined up on our structural diagrams each time, we can quickly look back and see the basic idea for each passage and then have a basic idea for the letter as a whole.
My summary is as follows:
Paul heard testimony and he prayed giving thanks and asking the recipients might know how God moves in the past, present, and future for their (and our) good.
Our Bible Study Bite for today is not only for Bible study, but also for life. If we are ignorant, or confused, or if we forgot, or we just plain don’t know even though we think we should know–when we need to learn, ASK! After decades of loving Jesus and studying, you’d think I’d know how to apply God’s word.
Nope. I’m not proficient yet. Know your limitations and work within them. I like the research and study. Making it personal is NOT my forte. So I go and sit under the tutelage of a respected teacher. I practice. Let’s not be so arrogant that we act on those ridiculous thoughts people often have of “I should be further along by now.” I say <phbt>. We will only continue to be ignorant if we hold onto that kind of thinking.
And you’re not having that kind of thinking because we’re here together learning and growing! I’m glad for the companionship. It’s a sad time of learning if we don’t get to share how God is moving in our lives.
Next time we will get to identify our next passage and begin the process over again.
