Weekly Bible Study
More Than We Knew to Ask For
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Key Scripture Passages: Ephesians 3:14-21 · Colossians 3:1-4 · 2 Corinthians 6:4-10
Some of the most meaningful changes in life happen so gradually that we hardly notice them. What once seemed terribly important may lose its hold on us. Things we once overlooked become precious. Even difficulties we would never have chosen can reveal something about what we have come to trust and value.
What happens when a relationship begins changing not only what we know about someone, but what we love, what satisfies us, and how we experience life itself?
Three passages invite us to explore that question from different directions. 1) In Ephesians 3, Paul prays for believers to grasp something he describes as surpassing knowledge. 2) In Colossians 3, he speaks of a life hidden with Christ and directs attention toward something beyond what is immediately visible. 3) In 2 Corinthians 6, he writes of troubles, hunger, and sleepless nights, and also of rejoicing and of possessing everything.
Together, these passages invite us further in. There may be far more to discover about knowing Him, and about the life that grows from that relationship, than we have yet imagined.
Prayer
Father, as we open Your Word together, give us understanding and hearts willing to listen. Help us notice what we might otherwise overlook, and remain open to what You would have us discover. Amen.
Movement 1 — The God Who Invites Us Beyond What We Know | Ephesians 3:14-21
Context: Paul, an early Christian leader writing to believers in Ephesus, pauses in his letter to describe what he is asking God to make possible in their lives.
Ephesians 3:14-21 (NIV)
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
1) As you read Paul's prayer, what surprises you about what he wants these believers to experience in their relationship with God?
Probes
Before the prayer describes how wide Christ's love is, it asks that these believers be strengthened within, and that Christ dwell in their hearts.
Pay attention to the different things Paul asks for as his prayer unfolds.
Compare his requests with the things we ordinarily pray about.
Reflection: Paul is writing to people who already know Christ, yet he prays for something more in their relationship with Him. His requests give us plenty to explore about what that relationship can become.
Consider: If someone listened to your prayers, what would they learn about what you most desire from God?
2) Paul wants believers to know Christ's love, even though he says that love is beyond knowledge. How do you understand that?
Probes
Think about someone you know well but who still occasionally surprises you.
Notice how Paul describes the size of Christ's love without giving it any limits.
Pay attention to his words about what God can do beyond what we ask or imagine.
Reflection: Knowing Christ's love and meeting a love beyond knowledge are both in this prayer, and the prayer moves on into praise. There is room to wonder what a person does with a love that large.
Consider: What have you discovered about God's love that you did not understand when you first came to know Him?
Movement 2 — When What We Love Begins to Change | Colossians 3:1-4
Context: Paul, an early Christian leader, is writing to believers in Colossae about the life they now have with the risen Christ.
Colossians 3:1-4 (NIV)
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
3) Paul first says these believers have been raised with Christ, and then he tells them to set their hearts where Christ is. What might that order have to do with what a person wants?
Probes
He treats their life with Christ as already true. That comes before any word about the heart.
Where he points the heart is specific. Things above means where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Think about how being part of a family can shape what a person comes to love and value.
Reflection: The heart is addressed only after the raising with Christ has been stated. What a person wants is in view, and these verses do not finish that story.
Consider: Have you ever grown to care about something simply because it mattered to someone you loved?
4) Paul tells us to focus on things above rather than earthly things. What might that mean for the good things we enjoy in everyday life?
Probes
"Things above" and "earthly things" share one sentence, and that sentence never lists the earthly things.
The "above" he means is where Christ is, and the closing line calls Christ "your life."
A good meal, a job you are glad to have finished, or an hour with someone you love can be an honest pleasure. These verses do not name those pleasures.
Reflection: Paul points us toward Christ while we continue enjoying the good things of everyday life. The question is not simply what we enjoy, but how much importance we give those things.
Consider: When you are enjoying a meal, a finished piece of work, or time with someone you love, what place do you want Christ to have in that pleasure?
5) Paul says our lives are hidden with Christ. How might that change the way we think about our own worth?
Probes
Think about how much importance people place on success, recognition, or what they own.
Notice that Paul describes something about believers' lives that others cannot necessarily see.
Paul's closing line gives Christ the most personal name in the passage. He calls Christ "your life."
Reflection: Many familiar ways of measuring a successful life depend on things other people can see. Paul's description raises the possibility that something deeply important about a person's life may not be visible at all.
Consider: On a day when you feel unseen, how do Paul's words about a life hidden with Christ sound to you?
Movement 3 — Discovering a Freedom We Didn't Know We Needed | 2 Corinthians 6:4-10
Context: Paul, an early Christian leader, is writing to the church in Corinth about what his life as a servant of God has included.
2 Corinthians 6:4-10 (NIV)
4 Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5 in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6 in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8 through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
6) As Paul describes both severe hardship and genuine joy, what surprises you about his experience?
Probes
Notice how many difficulties Paul describes before he mentions rejoicing.
He doesn't say his sorrow ended before his rejoicing began.
Look at his closing words about having nothing and yet possessing everything.
Reflection: Paul doesn't hide how difficult his life has been. Yet his account includes experiences that seem very different from one another. What might explain that?
Consider: During a difficult time in your life, what, if anything, remained especially precious to you?
7) Looking across all three passages, what do they add to our understanding of a life well lived?
Probes
Recall what Paul asks God to give believers in his prayer in Ephesians.
Think about what Paul means when he calls Christ “your life” in Colossians.
Return to Paul's account in 2 Corinthians, where rejoicing appears alongside genuine suffering.
Reflection: Paul's prayer, his words about a life hidden with Christ, and his account of hardship seem quite different at first. Yet each offers something worth considering about the life we share with God.
Consider: What have you discovered in these passages that you would like to carry into the coming week?
Scripture quotations from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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