Ephesians 1:17, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,”
If you are anything like me, you love for certain people to be praying for you. Not because of the eloquence of their prayers or having more power, but the content, the richness of their prayers. In this book, I would have loved to have Paul praying for me because of the content, the depth of the prayers that reminds me of the resources I have in Christ.
From Vs. 15-22, we read Paul’s writing which is almost parallel to his prayer to the Colossians. This prayer is deep in the sense that it touches on something in the Lord’s prayer most people neglect, “Your kingdom come”. This is about spiritual blessings from above effected in the believers to advance God’s kingdom here on earth. Matthew 6:33, Colossians 3:1. God has laid up spiritual blessings for us in His Son Jesus Christ; but requires us to draw them out and fetch them by prayer.
In these few verses he gives the prayer of thanksgiving and supplication. In vs. 15, he heard of their faith and love for all saints indicating that there was growth taking place and in that he gave thanks. As you read on you find he does not stop there, he prayed 4 points I think every believers should incorporate in their daily prayers if we are to tap into the resources in Christ.
He prayed 1. For Spiritual wisdom and revelation, Vs. 17. “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,” He is here speaking of that wisdom and revelation which are common to all real Christians, same prayer made in Colossians 1:9-. This wisdom is about knowing Him, discerning and making better judgments. James says 3:13-18, “13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace”. For this reason James 1:5 tells us to ask for wisdom if we lack it, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him”
In seeking spiritual wisdom and the revelation in the knowledge of Him, Paul evaluates what is important in his walk with Christ and he tells us what has changed and his new desires, Philippians 3:7-10, “7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”
This prayer was to God to make believers wise unto salvation, and revealing to them the deep things of God to be pursued as new desires in their hearts. This is about the centrality of Christ in our lives. I see this with my two nieces, they could be playing with toys before them but when I show them something new, different, they are no longer interested in what they have but what I have shown to them. If they were satisfied with what they have, they could care less if there was anything else. Paul knew there was more, he therefore prayed and pursued, and he prayed for others for the same. When was the last time you prayed for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him? This is one of our resources in Christ we cannot take lightly. To continue, Blessings Ev
He Has Magnified His Word 