“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:”

(Ephesians 1:17)

What is the context of this verse? It is in the middle of an amazing chapter where Paul is explaining God’s eternal purpose, and what God has been doing from the very beginning of time! Then Paul starts to pray for the believers, giving thanks for them, and asking God to give them the spirit of wisdom and relvelation in the knowledge of Him!

Now wait a minute…there’s a lot there! Let’s look at this verse much more slowly!

First of all, it was a prayer. I am so much more prone to try to do things on my own rather than to talk to God about it! I am much more prone to try to talk to people about truth, trying to make them understand, than to ask the Lord to reveal Himself to them. Paul prayed, asking the Lord to reveal the truth, rather than trying to explain, and explain, and explain what he was saying. Paul was depeneding on the Lord, the Source of truth, to cause people to understand truth.

Our Lord Jesus Christ lived His whole life completely depenedent on God the Father. Jesus said “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” (John 5:30) Jesus continually listened to the Father in everything. We so often struggle with our own willfulness, and the desires to do things our own way. We so often think that if I just say it right, or think about it right, I will be able to understand what God is saying, and I will be able to explain it to others in a way that they will understand too. This is one of the false concepts that we so often have about the Lord.

God has provided a way for us, however. We can receive the life of Jesus as all we need for our present life, as well as for our future. God has given us all things in Christ! (See Romans 8:32) We can live in all the fullness of God by abiding IN Christ!

What did Christ have? The Spirit! “And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:” (Isaiah 11:2-3)

The  promise of the New Covenant is that the Holy Spirit is now available to indwell believers because of what Christ accomplished on the cross! One of the reasons that Jesus is not here with a physical body anymore is because He has now poured the Holy Spirit out on us! “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”(John 16:7)

Why did Jesus send us the Holy Spirit? That’s a big question! It is far deeper than I will talk about here, but listen to what Jesus said about sending the Spirit to us: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”(John 16:13) (Emphasis added)

How does this relate to our verse? Basically, we need the Spirit to reveal truth to us! Don’t look at Ephesians as a book that you need to figure out what it means. Ask the Lord Himself to reveal to you what it says. We need to be asking God to give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him! The Holy Spirit lives inside believers and reveals truth to them. He desires to show us what He is talking about!

As we receive the Word, allowing the Word to change our minds and belief systems, God reveals truth to us! “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.” (Psalms 119:130)

I need the Lord to reveal Jesus to me! I need Him to give me a spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowing Him! Let’s ask God to do this in us! Keep pressing forward in Him, my friends!

~Sara Cleator