Somebody Prayed For You Ephesians 1:16-23
Somebody Prayed For You Ephesians 1:16-23
Today’s text begins as an actual prayer. It is the prayer of the Apostle Paul for the churches scattered through Ephesus. He is in prison writing this letter. As he sits down in prison, confined for preaching the gospel he’s got the churches on his mind.
These churches were special to the Apostle. They had a grip on his heart and special place in his mind. He loved Ephesus, and thought of her often. She was sentimental to him, sacred and special to him. Here we get a glimpse of the awesome relationship that he had with her. Paul’s thoughts for them are revealed in his prayer request for their spiritual growth and development in Christ.
- Paul asks God to give them the spirit of wisdom
- Paul asks God to give them the spirit of Revelation and knowledge of Him
- Paul asks God to give them eyes of understanding
Paul desired that they would know the hope of God’s calling and know the riches of God’s glory that is reserved for the inheritance of the saints in God. Paul ends up meditating in this verse on what God had already gave to the Church (Jesus) and he is caught up in the revelation of Christ Power, Position and Pre-eminence.
The Apostle wants the church to know the power of Christ. (The power that God the Father raised Jesus His Son with from the dead.)
He is writing to you and I also, that we would know that Christ power supersedes whatever is affecting us today. In Jesus we have the answer to the problems of this old world.
- In Jesus we have the assurance of heaven
- In Jesus we have the hope that all will be alright
- In Jesus we have the assistance in the time of need
- In Jesus we have the assurance after awhile every thing will be alright
Paul is encouraging the Saints with the good news of Christ everlasting Power. God has set him (Jesus) at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion. Jesus is seated in the heavens as Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
- His seat there indicates his glory,
- His seat indicates that the work of redemption has been completed.
- His Seat indicates he is in Charge
- His seat indicates that he has made all things well
- His seat indicates there is no greater power any where in the universe
- His seat indicates that HE IS GOD
In short these verses remind us that Jesus has all power. According to this passage all things have been placed under his feet, and God the Father has given him to be the head over all things to the church. I don’t know about you, but I am a member of His church. He has all authority over my life, and I am glad today that Jesus is the head of my life. When I get to heaven I am going to tell Paul thank you for writing this letter, and for teaching me about prayer.
Because he prayed like this for the Ephesians, I want to pray like this for you.
I’m So glad that somebody prayed for me, aren’t you? I love you and I love being your Pastor!
For Christ and His Kingdom
This sort of group teaching for Math was used for my eldest daughter in junior high. That was 17 years ago. There were many issues with the groups.
How does the teacher put together the groups? What if the students in the group do not actively participate and the group work is essentially done by those who are the most motivated (this could be one student)? In this case, one student has no one else to learn from in his/her group. Yet often in my daughter’s experience, the whole group would be given a group grade –even nonparticipants.
The students soon find out who cares and who doesn’t or who is bright and who isn’t. The more advanced students try to form their own groups so that they can get better grades and learn the materials. Those in the less advanced groups continue to struggle. Additionally, teachers could not “make” kids participate.
This method was eventually dropped. I do think that having missed out on the more conventional approach to teaching math put my child behind the curve in more advanced math classes. Concepts were never clearly learned. This experience makes me very concerned about the “new” Common Core approach.
I would be interested to hear your take on this.
Obviously, there is no “perfect” teaching strategy. What works for some students won’t work for others, and vice versa. And, no, there is on “perfect” grading policy. The objective is to get students to talk to each other. So, putting together groups is the teachers responsibility, not to be left to the students to choose. An effective teacher can tell, within a couple weeks of beginning a class, who will work well with whom. When the groups are formed, then it is also up to the teacher to see that all are participating. And again, there is no quick and easy fix to make sure that all students talk in the group. However, if the teacher assigns roles to each person in the group, and one of the more outgoing students is tasked with being the facilitator, this students “role” then is to encourage each of the members of the group to participate.
One method which I have seen used by strong teachers is to have each member of the group grade the other members and give evidence for the grade given. This encourages most students to participate at least a little. Another method to get students to talk, and get them to learn a little at the same time is to make sure that every student has an opportunity to explain the new concept to someone else. This forces them to at least study a little bit. All of this is reflective of the culture that the teacher has built in the classroom. In my classroom, when students walk in on day one, they are put into a group of three or four. They must learn to work with the members of their group right away, as there is an assignment that day that they have to do as a group. So, they know from the beginning what is expected of them.
So, how do I form the groups? Well, in the beginning, it is random. But as time goes on there are three, or four, different levels of student in every group. Never with the top students work in the same group. After doing this method for a while I had a group of four who were all different levels of students, from an A student to a student who had an F. After working together for a few weeks, I had to separate them because they were all now in the top tier of 8 in the class. They went on to other groups and helped other students to do better, just they way they had been helped.
As a major proponent of Common Core, I am excited about continuing to work in groups and to put more of the responsibility of learning, and teaching, on the students. Again, if it is built into the culture of the class from the beginning they will perform. Obviously it will never be perfect, but if the students know that the class is going to be run that way, and not changed, they will adapt, willingly or under peer pressure from group members.
Thank you Mr. Elrich for responding to my questions/concerns. I do like the methods that you describe as being used by “strong teachers”. My concern is that perhaps we do not have enough “strong teachers”. I know that many seasoned teachers are not fans of the new common core approach. This is definitely a skill—learning how to effectively put school-age student groups together to facilitate learning. If that skill is not learned, common core will fail-as a similar approach did nearly 20 years ago. I hope that the State of California and local school districts are putting a big emphasis on learning group facilitation skills.
Just this last year, in the high school setting, often students were “free” to choose their own groups…again for a group grade. The teachers did not do the selecting of group members. The result… the “smart kids” banded together in their own groups.
Unfortunately there is so much pressure to get a 4.0+ on one’s high school transcripts, that students will naturally try to manipulate group membership so that they will get a high grade in any group work. I know that there is no easy answer. I just wanted to point out the reality that moving to a Common Core philosophy has some very real issues of concern.