“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” (Eph. 1:16, 17, ESV).

 In reporting his prayers, Paul records one central request that he places before the throne of God. He has already noted that the Holy Spirit has come into believers’ lives at the time of their conversion (Eph. 1:13, 14). Now Paul prays for a fresh blessing of the Spirit to give needed spiritual insight focused on a deepened understanding of Jesus (“in the knowledge of him,” Eph. 1:17).

 Paul prays that the Holy Spirit will bring special insight to believers on what three topics? See Eph. 1:17-19.

 When Paul prays for insight for them about “the hope to which he has called you” (Eph. 1:18, ESV), he prays that they will be alert to the past actions God has already taken for their salvation (Eph. 1:3-9, 11-13) and to the glorious future He has planned for them (Eph. 1:10, 14).

 When he prays for insight into “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Eph. 1:18, NKJV), he is recalling the Old Testament idea of believers as God’s inheritance (Deut. 9:29, Deut. 32:9, Zech. 2:12, compare Eph. 1:11). He wishes them to know that they not only possess an inheritance from God, but that they are God’s inheritance, and Paul wants them to understand their value to God.

 When Paul prays for spiritual insight about “the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe” (Eph. 1:19, NKJV), he imagines the Holy Spirit bringing fresh understanding of the immensity of God’s power and actualizing it in their experience.

 In all these prayers, Paul wants these people to experience for themselves what they have been given in Jesus.