Grace on Parade

Spreading the fragrance of God's grace everywhere

Bible Study Network

A growing network of women are studying the Bible together. You’ll find Bible resources, study aids, devotionals, prompts, service ideas and everyday applications as well as ideas for starting your own online or onsite group.

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Ephesians Bible Study Intro: Let’s Start With Prayer

How do you pray for other people?

Ephesians - God's blueprint for the ChurchPick the top three topics you most commonly cover in your prayers for other people:

  • Health needs
  • Financial difficulties
  • Relationship issues
  • Courage
  • Peace
  • Comfort
  • Spiritual growth

What did the Apostle Paul pray for most?

This week, I’m launching our Bible study of the Book of Ephesians. It seems only appropriate that we start our study with prayer.

If you haven’t yet done so, listen to my welcome video.

As you read through the letters the Apostle Paul wrote to the churches, you’ll find that he often started his letters by telling his recipients how he was praying for them. Paul prays two prayers within his letter to the Ephesians and his first prayer doesn’t occur until the middle of Chapter 1. I think it will surprise you how both prayers focus on the spiritual growth of his readers. Really? Can we pray that for each other? Of course we can.

In our study, I’m leapfrogging to Paul’s first prayer in Ephesians 1:15-22 before we deal with the first section because I want us to start this bible study with an attitude of prayer and I want you to start praying for each other. I figure if Paul can pray for his hearers regarding their spiritual growth,then we can do the same.

Let’s analyze Paul’s prayer. What exactly did he pray about?

Check out Ephesians 1:15-21:

Text of Ephesians 1:15-22

Paul prays that the Ephesians will be given the Spirit of wisdom and revelation and the eyes of their heart may be enlightened. In other words, he wants their heads and their hearts to grow in understanding. He wants them to think and feel. He wants this to be more than head knowledge.

Paul lists four things he wants the Ephesians to know about their faith. Use the discussion questions given in italics to guide your study of this passage and to apply it to your daily life.

Know God better.

  • How do you get to know a person better?
  • How is this similar to becoming better acquainted and more intimate with God?
  • What will happen when we know and understand God better?
  • On a scale of one to ten, how well would you say you know God?
  • What do you need to do this week to know God better?

Know the hope to which God has called.

  • Hope in what? What does the Christian hope for?
  • How does our Christian hope enable us to face our earthly life?
  • For the unbeliever, this earthly life is the best it will ever be. For the Christian, this earthly life is the worst it will ever be. Life will only get better. How is this so?

Know the riches of our inheritance.

  • We are God’s adopted children. Like children, we have yet received our full inheritance. When will we get our inheritance?
  • What will be included in that inheritance?
  • How has your understanding of your heavenly inheritance changed as you have grown in your Christian faith?

Know His incomparably great power.

  • How strong is God’s power?
  • Practically speaking, what might that power look like in a believer’s life?
  • How have you seen God’s power at work in your life? In your church?

Now it’s time to pray.

Pray these four things for yourself.

Then pray these four things for someone else in this study. If you know other people by name, pray for them. If you don’t know anyone, that’s all right. God knows.

I’m excited! God will answers our prayers. We’ve seen Him answer many prayers for physical needs. Let’s see how He answers prayers for our spiritual needs.

One more thing to know. I am praying for YOU. I’m praying that God will reveal His character, His hope, your inheritance, and His power to you as you study His Word.

Let me know how I can pray for you. Contact me here.

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Reaching Adulthood: Galatians Bible Study Session 4

Moving Into Adulthood - Galatians 4 Bible StudyHow did your relationship with your parents change when you reached the legal age for adulthood?

My mom was cool. I didn’t have a specific time curfew when I was a teenager but I was expected to tell my folks when I would be home. After I turned 18, I was out one evening helping to judge 4-H record books. My ride didn’t drop me off at home until 12:30 a.m. The only one up waiting for me was the cat!

The next morning, I apologized to my mom for being so late and for not letting her know. She shrugged. “You’re 18. I knew where you were and I figured you were responsible for yourself.”

This week, we’re looking at Galatians 3:24-4:31.

Paul compares coming to faith in Christ to that of a child reaching adulthood.

Think about your life as a child.

  • What rules did you have?
  • Why did your parents make those rules?
  • Who would eventually inherit your parents’ money, possessions, and property?
  • If your parents died while you were still underage, when would you receive your inheritance? Would you receive it right away or would you have to wait till adulthood?

Read Galatians 4:1-7.

Paul compares the law of Moses to the rules a child is under before he/she reaches the legal status of adulthood.

Coming of age was a big deal in Roman society. When a boy turned 16 or 17, he put aside his childhood toga to don the white toga of adulthood. It was on that day that he was considered a Roman citizen with all the rights and privileges of citizenship.

  • How is a child like a slave?
  • How is a child different from a slave?

I love Galatians 4:4,5!

But when the set time had fully come,God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

What does it mean that Christ came at “the right time?” Why is it hard for us to wait for God’s timing?

Put this verse in your own words. How does Jesus’ entry into the world compare to the “coming of age” of a Roman young man?

When we accept Christ’s redemption in faith, it’s as if we have moved from the boundaries of childhood into adult citizenship. What rights and privileges do we now have?

How does this change impact our relationship with our Heavenly Father?

How does this change impact our relationship with other believers? (See Galatians 26-29.)

Read Ephesians 2:13 and Ephesians 5:8. How else is life different for those who have put their faith in Christ?

Life Application

For many years, I lived under my mother’s expectation that I would sew all my own clothes. I took sewing in 4-H. At that time, it was cheaper to make our own clothes and Mom constantly pointed out what better quality our hand-made clothes were as well. But after age 18, I was busy with college, I hated sewing, I couldn’t see well to sew, and there seemed to be higher priorities in life. Still, I lived under a layer of guilt that Mother would disapprove of me if I did not make my own clothing.

At age 27, I decided the time had come to stow that expectation elsewhere. As an adult, I could make my own decision whether to sew or not to sew. I never made anything for myself again. Yet my mother’s “law” taught me to be frugal and to be aware of the quality of the clothes I bought, principles I have used in making my own decisions.

All of us cling to rules or expectations our parents laid out for us. It’s an unhealthy adult who still lives under the rule of their parents, even long after their parents are gone. Paul describes these as “weak and miserable principles.”

Think About This

  • How can we become enslaved by the observance of certain holidays? Do you feel enslaved by the celebration of Christmas or Thanksgiving? By the controversy over Halloween? What do you need to change in order to approach the holidays with a sense of faith and freedom?
  • Which rules, habits, or expectations have you observed yourself or other people doing because they were trying to please their parents? What is unhealthy about this?
  • What other societal/church expectations do we find ourselves pressured to keep? Tempted to press on others?
  • How does Christ free us from those expectations? If we are living as citizens of the Kingdom with full rights and privileges and a promised inheritance, how will that affect the way we live?

What one attitude can you change this week to help you begin to live in freedom?

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"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him."
- 2 Corinthians 2:14