Paul had been sent to proclaim the gospel to gentiles especially, and because of that, he was writing to them from jail. After reminding them of this, Paul again prays for his gentile Christian readers that God will strengthen them spiritually, so that they will know the fullness of their blessing in Christ, and so that they will not be discouraged by what has happened to Paul. It is interesting that Paul never prays for any improvement in the physical circumstances of himself or other Christians. Paul cares about spiritual things — that we would all increasingly come to understand our spiritual blessings in heavenly places, and come increasingly to live our lives in light of that understanding. (Which is where things go in Chapter 4.)
