Pray to know

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.
- Ephesians 1:17
 
When Paul’s prayers turn from thanksgiving toward making requests of God, he prays this fascinating prayer over the followers of Jesus in Ephesus. This is a prayer we’d love to make our own.
 
Paul has clear in his mind exactly to whom he’s praying. Note the Trinitarian structure of his prayer: our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious father, and the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. The Father gives the Spirit to those who are in Christ Jesus. Paul isn’t throwing his prayers up into the air toward an unknown and unknowable God.
 
As Paul fixed his mind on God, he’s filled with a desire for his friends to know this God better. And that’s what he prayed for them.
 
Paul’s friends in Ephesus would have faced persecution, experienced illness, and struggled financially; but Paul prays that they would know God. Above all, Paul prioritized knowing God, so that’s what he asked God to do for his friends.
 
We can take Paul’s prayer and make it our own. When he prayed for the Ephesians and all of the readers of this letter, he prayed for us too. Paul prayed that we would know God better. Before you or any of your near ancestors were born, Paul prayed for you. In a special way, this prayer belongs to us.
 
Let’s lean into that. Let’s ask God to help us know him better. Let’s ask him to help those we love and serve and live with and work near – everyone we see – know him better.
 
Can you pray that today?

Leave a Comment

Comments for this post have been disabled.