The 'Prison Letters' are messages to the faithful about what God intended the church to be and to do. It is a clarification of the church’s mission and identity. Paul is basically saying to the church, “THIS IS US. This is who we are.” Paul’s prayer for all of these believers is that they would grow in their knowledge of God and of the things of God. He prays that they would know the hope and the inheritance that is theirs in Christ. And he prays that they would know the resurrection power that is available to them for accomplishing the mission to which they have been called.