Discovering Our Release From The Sin

Embracing the Power of Part I

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Discovering Our Release from The Sin

Ed Corley

There is an amazing knowing coming into the minds and hearts of believers for these last hours. While this release of truth into our understanding is coming upon us silently and without fanfare, there is raging a fierce battle for our minds. Forces from Satan are out to bring confusion and despair. The Holy Spirit is countering this by bringing us into a new depth of spiritual warfare.

As we look at the fourth part of the prayer we gain from Paul in Ephesians 1:16-20, he leads us to pray about the power that was released out of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It will reach into the inner parts of our beings, find the stations of evil that have been set for our defeat, and bring about an ultimate defeat of that darkness. As the dark hour seems to be closing in upon us this could not be more vital.

That same power that came out from the eternities with God, and reached Jesus in His death, continues its movement as it reaches on into the eternities yet before us. Even now, it reaches right into this present time with you and me to release life and light into us in whatever weakness or darkness that may be confronting us.

No matter how deep into sin and darkness a soul may have plunged, the force that came when God raised Jesus from the dead can defeat the sin in anyone of us. It will bring us into the wonder of the new life God made available for us through His beloved Son when He raised Him from the dead.

Word after Word from Scripture waits to guide us. With the help of the Holy Spirit, those Words will lead us into an ever-increasing awareness of His Life, till one day we will know the fulness of Him that filleth all in all (Ephesians 1:23). I am trusting as these words begin to get into your hearts, you will know and claim with certainty, “I know Christ was raised from the dead because He is alive now in me.”

It is from Paul that we learn how the same power that brought Jesus forth from the tomb is available to work in us, today, while we yet remain in this present age. He put it this way: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead—II Corinthians 1:9. Oh, how many times I’ve had to relearn, and see the faithfulness of this wonderful reality of a believer’s life!

When God raised the Lord Jesus from the stronghold of death—actually He was birthed from the tomb as though it were a womb—an energetic force took its release in the earth. God set that energy free to work in Christ’s body, the Church. Early believers knew this. Early ministers preached and saw miracles out of that release of divine energy. They knew the dynamics of the resurrection and with great power gave witness of it.

And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all (Acts 4:33).

The eighth century B.C. Prophet Isaiah foresaw the glory that was yet to come. The later Apostle saw it, without doubt longing to know it in fuller measure than was then afforded him. See the Prophet’s words:

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee (Isaiah 60:1,2).

What powerful insight into the coming glory! After nearly three thousand years, it remains as a Word waiting for us to embrace into our hearts. Jesus gave warning lest we miss this glory.

For verily I say unto you, that many Prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them—Matthew 13:17.

As the Lord observed some of the religious people that had gathered around Him, He said, For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Matthew 13:15 A heart that has waxed gross has become dull and unfeeling.

Jesus was speaking to religious people, but something had happened to them that made their inner man unyielding to God. Maybe it was pride, envy, bitterness, unforgiveness coupled with the idea that they were better than the “sinners” around them. Maybe it was guilt or anger. Whatever it was, it could have been put away by the grace that was revealed in the Lord Jesus.

The ears that were dull of hearing were not their outer ears, but the ears of their inner man. They could hear the Word of the Kingdom but never with any perception of what they were hearing. Willfully they had shut their eyes so they could not see. Willful blindness, upon many today, is a deadly sin against the Lord.

Let us pray that we shall be set free from this condition of the inner man. Then the Lord can say to us: Blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear (Matthew 13:15,16).

Dear Father, I lay the heart of my inner man before You. Please work in me so I might no longer be so insensitive to others or unyielding to You. You created me to hear Your voice. Please set me free from the deafness that has overtaken me. Open my eyes to see the wondrous things of Your Word—and of Your grace. Open my eyes and my heart to behold Your glory, and to know the power of Your beloved Son’s Resurrection.

From the early chapters of Acts, we see that Peter and John were foremost among the trailblazing witnesses of the Resurrection. But soon we see a mantle fall upon Paul. He was the first of the Apostles to encounter the Lord Jesus after He was raised from the dead and ascended back to His Father. Paul knew Him according to the Spirit and not the flesh. Amazingly, he perceived things about the Resurrection the others did not quickly learn.

From the Book of Romans we find how he discovered that Christ’s death was our death, His burial was our burial, His Resurrection was our resurrection—and—His ascension to the right hand of the Father was our ascension too. This is the foundation of Ephesians Truth. We are learning that we are to live out of the understanding these Epistles sets forth. What a source for an abundant Life!

The Epistle to the Ephesians is our greatest source regarding this as he gives a statement in chapter 1:3-14 that could only have come through divine inspiration. So splendid is this sentence that it challenges human analysis and can only be ingested with the help of the Holy Spirit. It contains a buildup of truth upon truth that is ready to come into every part of any life who will open up to its treasure.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. 7 In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace; 8 Wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; 9 Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in himself: 10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him: 11 In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will: 12 That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. 13In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the Word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

As we move on in eternity itself, I believe we will continue to draw from the wonder of what is laid out in this one long glorious sentence. It directs us to the one great Stability that lasts throughout the ages, God Himself. Its full meaning will only increase as we approach the day of the Lord. It will be a time when every other resource for living will be cut off and we’ll have but one wellspring left—our place in Christ in the heavens.

So deep and powerful is this statement regarding the Resurrection that it must be followed by the prayer that concludes the chapter—Ephesians 1:15-23—from which we take our first four prayers. Paul used the most powerful array of words imaginable in that prayer. Towards the end of it he asked that believers might know the power of Christ’s Resurrection as it is available to come against the power of the enemy. An understanding in prayer like this can touch upon every area of life for any soul anywhere. There is no sin, no problem, no trouble, no woe, no worrisome situation, no sickness, sorrow or pain, but that the power released through Christ's Resurrection can relieve the soul of its downward pull and give birth to hope and light.

I have noted here my own interpreted from the Received Text of the Greek New Testament. While the Scriptures are numbered as they appear in the King James, the particular prayers, are indicated with the numbers spelled in capital letters.

Ephesians 1
15 Wherefore, I also, having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and the love unto all the saints, 16 do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention always of you in my prayers:
17 (ONE) ● that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of the glory, might give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in acknowledgment Him,
18 (TWO) the eyes of your understanding (your dianoía) being flooded with light ● that you might know (in a way no one can take from you) what is the hope of His calling, and (THREE) ● that you might know in the same most settled way what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, that is, that you may know how valuable you are to Him,
19 and (FOUR) ● that you might know with the same light flooding your soul what is the exceeding greatness of His enabling power unto us, the believing ones, according to the energetic force of the dominion of His strength, 20 which He put forth as a force of divine energy in the Christ when He raised Him out of death’s domain and seated Him at His Own right hand in the heavenlies, far above all principality and authority and power and lordship, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the coming (age).

I have studied and soaked in this Ephesians passage for well over sixty years. I've drawn from its resource, lived out of its strength, and written perhaps more than I've really known about what it all means. Only as we handle it, bathe in its light, and follow after what it means, can we partake of its boundless wealth.

Dianoía
Much of what we have learned from Paul in his Prison Epistles about praying, pertains to the release of our minds. In the Greek text of Ephesians 1:18 the word dianoía, takes our attention. It means “the mind as it perceives, pierces through darkness, and understands.” It occurs thirteen times in the New Testament. It is sometimes translated mind, sometimes understanding, and one time imagination.

Paul used this word more than anyone else. The Lord Jesus used it one time when He said, And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind (dianoía)—Mark 12:30.

As our understanding becomes more enlightened, we can know a hope that will bloom wherever darkness has been. Perhaps it is in the heart that the seed of hope first lodges. The Holy Spirit is ready to go there and nurture it with living water that it may burst forth into the heart and, then, on into the understanding.

Insight and understanding into these words Paul used will give us close access into what took place in the resurrection. Then we are close to having its mighty power brought over into our lives to work in us. How do we gain the insight that this power is available and can work in our behalf? We learn to pray what Paul prayed, ...that the eyes of our understanding (dianoía) being enlightened, that we may know (oída) ...

what is the hope of God's calling upon our lives,
what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in us (the saints), and
what is the exceeding greatness of the power He gives to us who believe.

The words that ye may know are from a Perfect form of the Verb oída, meaning "that you may come to a place of instinctive knowledge, where you remain, so you can continue in your knowing." Take note of the word what as it is used three times in describing what is to be born in the eyes of our understanding. The manner in which the word oída occurs makes it clear exactly what it is that is to become firm, that is, fixed, in our understanding as we are being made ready for our usefulness in the Kingdom.

The full knowledge of these three things can only come through enlightenment brought on by the Holy Spirit. They are not things that can be learned by human methods or adopted to fulfill carnal schemes and dreams. They belong to the Kingdom of God. They relate us to that Kingdom. The more we perceive them the fuller will be our lives in the Kingdom.

If we get these three matters settled with regard to the Kingdom, its fullness will come over on every dimension of life that we live. Through it all, we find the key that unlocks the vast wealth of this power. It is given to us-ward who believe. Perhaps the ability to believe is the greatest gift given us by God.

CONTINUE TO PART II >>>>

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