On learning
about the Ephesians’ relationship with Christ, Paul did what was natural – he offered
thanksgiving to God, then he proceeded to pray for them as well. He was
particularly impressed by two outstanding characteristics of the Ephesians –
their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and their love for all the saints.
Basically these two qualities reflected a genuine conversion. A life rightly
related to God shows itself in these two areas – faith in God and love for men.
Interestingly, the Cross of Christ has two bars: a vertical beam that speaks of
faith toward God and a horizontal beam that signifies love toward men.
When Paul
heard of these two traits in the Ephesians, he gave continuous thanks to God
for them. Having given thanks for them, he then went on to offer prayers to God
for them. Paul was prompted to pray for them, to have an increase and better knowledge
of God. Paul knew that to know God better, one would need both the spirit of
wisdom and revelation.
Why
the spirit of wisdom? This is because wisdom will enable them to discern the
truth, the real nature of things. In a world with so many voices competing for
our attention and each voice claiming to be from God, we need to be able to
know what’s from God and what’s not. What better way to discern the truth from
God than to have the wisdom from Him. Paul’s specific prayer was for them to
have the spirit of wisdom so that they could discern God better.
Then,
he also prayed for them to have the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of
Him. Revelation simply means “unveiling.” Here he was basically asking for the
obstacles, which would prevent the Ephesians from seeing the true knowledge of God,
to be removed. Then they would be enabled to see God as He is, and the truth as
He desires them to know. This is so necessary because we are dealing with the
realm of the unseen. God is a Spirit, the Bible says. Besides, many are making
claims of speaking on God’s behalf. Unless the Lord make Himself and His truth known
to us, it would be difficult for us to know it’s from Him.
The
word “know” is not about intellectual knowledge but experiential knowledge.
Desiring to see the believers know God and to experience Him better, he prayed
for them to be given the spirit of wisdom and revelation.
Do
we really know God? Do we really know the truth? Teachers and teachings claiming
to be from God have proliferated over the years. There is no lack of
information in our world today. But what’s from God and what’s not, requires
that we discern properly to divide them. And since spiritual things are spiritually
discerned, we must pray for divine wisdom and revelation. Let us not be hook-winked
by everything that we hear. Like the believers in Berea recorded in Acts 17:11,
while we must receive truths with eagerness, we also need to examine the
Scriptures for ourselves, to see what we have heard are really truths from God.
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