that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him,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:that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;
11 sermons cite this verse
… I keep asking, verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. So we're talking about a Trinitarian prayer. This is firepower. This is everything Paul's got. He's saying, I'm praying in the name of the Father, the one who's the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm praying that he will give you a spirit. And so Father, Son, and Spirit are all woven into this prayer. And what is he asking? I'm asking God to give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. This is what I continually am praying for you. and I thought, man, if there is a prayer I want to continually pray, that is the prayer and you are prayed over with that prayer so many weeks. It's very rare that the men of our house don't pray for you before you sit in that seat. …
… insight into God. Ephesians 1.17 Paul prays that God may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him I don't want to get ahead of ourselves here because we're going to talk about this a little bit later. But at this point, in order to feel the force of this challenge to get insight into God, we need to realize that's impossible. A human being, get insight into the creator of the universe, absolute reality? That's impossible. Jesus said, Matthew 11, No one knows the Son except the Father. And no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. That's the only way you get it. It's a gift. If he doesn't give it, you don't have it. the insight we need, the insight we're pursuing through supernatural and natural means, we can't get unless he gives it. And yet it says over and over, get it, seek it, find it. your people are going to die without it This means that in all of our study, in all of our pursuit of insight, we are studying to be amazed. …
… the spirit of wisdom Ephesians 1 17 so God gives us a book he gives us his spirit and then word plus spirit as we've heard brings us to prayer Dudenay's talked on prayer I won't say give an extended word here on prayer but it's just utterly vital it's got to be mentioned here word gives rise to prayer God speaks first, then he wants to hear from us, and we respond in prayer. We pray in light of his word. And then the Holy Spirit, as we heard, works in us. We pray in the Spirit. He helps us in our weakness. He's prompting us. He's moving us. He brings us to prayer, and he's praying for us. And so we pepper, anchor, saturate our elder life, our meetings in prayer. and as God dispenses wisdom for us in prayer, he's doing so in such a way that keeps us ever dependent. We don't just need wisdom once in a big moment. We need ongoing, day by day, step by step, year by year, disbursements of his wisdom, And so a fundamental aspect of the wisdom he gives is our repeated asking in prayer. …
… Like the Apostle Paul prays in Ephesians 1, 16 to 19. He prays that the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he's called you. prayers like Philippians 1 9 to 11 Colossians 1 9 to 12 2 Thessalonians 1 11 spiritual prayers for spiritual good in our own lives and others third pray out loud or in writing it really helps to form and finish thoughts not just let it be amorphous here in the head but somebody else is in the house whisper them on your lips you can write them down form and finish your prayers finally pray with others maybe one of my favorite quotes here from Tim Keller's book on prayer has to do with praying with others he says by praying with friends you will be able to hear and see facets of Jesus that you have not yet perceived. …
… Paul's praying a prayer over these followers of Jesus in Ephesus. And he prays that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the knowledge of him. Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, you may see, you may know what is the hope to which he's called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. Now watch this, verse 19. And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power that's dunamis toward us who believe according to the working of his great that's kratos might that's ischus same three words he used back here in verse 19 when he was talking about follow this the supernatural power strength great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. Watch this. Far above all, what? Rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that's named. Come up with a name. He's above it. Not only in this age now, but in the one to come forever. He put all things under his feet, gave him his head over all things to the church, which is his body. The fullness of him and fills all in all. Are you seeing this? Yes, our adversary in this spiritual war may be indescribably strong, but our ally in this war is infinitely stronger than him. Then all of them, they're all under his feet. That's where they are. All these rules, powers, authorities, cosmic …
… remembering you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give you this is what I'm praying for you Paul's praying for you may give you a spirit the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of God Now, he just gave us a truckload of knowledge of God in verses 3 to 14 of chapter 1. And now he's praying, oh God, grant that these Ephesians, grant that these folks at TGC would be able to grasp and receive and treasure and be formed by the knowledge that I've just given them in these verses, this mind-boggling knowledge that I have poured out in verses 3 to 14. Oh God, grant that the Holy Spirit would shape their spirit so that it fits. Because if you have a round hole in your heart, and the truth of Ephesians is a square peg, and you try to fit it, it will hurt, and you might get angry. so he's pleading for us make it fit give them a spirit of revelation Verse 18, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened. …
… remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you, may just give you, the spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your heart enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. I've been praying for this. I'm saying, God, this is something you just hand someone. You just give it to them. You give them this spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Like, this isn't something I can teach you right now. Hey, you guys know him, love him, enjoy him, understand his hope. It's not something that you can write on a screen or a PowerPoint and good, good, I explained it to you. Paul says, no, something, a divine interaction has to happen where he, God, on his throne, gives you, he hands you, he imputes, puts into you this spirit of wisdom and revelation where the eyes of your heart now suddenly the lights come on. …
… remembering you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which he's called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. Thank you. I think sometimes we don't get excited to come worship because maybe we just don't really get it like maybe we just don't really get what we've received from him or maybe we've forgotten and that's why Paul says man I keep thanking God for you but here's my prayer I'm praying that God would just give you this spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him so that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. Okay, what are the eyes of your heart? Have you ever thought of that? …
… remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that God, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. …
… in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, Paul says, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. Far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. …
… the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. …