So that you may know Him better
Ephesians 1:17 - Every time you read your Bible, partake in Bible Study, and really listen to what your pastor is saying, you’re studying God. That is your highest calling in this life.
Before today’s devotional, we’d like to ask our readers to pray sincerely and passionately for those suffering in the devastating fires in California.
“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 NIV
Today’s verse is quite simple to understand. The Apostle Paul, in this epistle to the church of Ephesus, is asking “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father” to give the Ephesians “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.”
When you hear the term “revelation”, your first thought might be that Paul is praying to God the Father to grant the Ephesians the ability to prophesy, but that’s not the case. Revelation is defined as “the act of revealing or disclosing” and also has a specific definition in theological terms:
God's disclosure of Himself and His will to His creatures.
an instance of such communication or disclosure.
something thus communicated or disclosed.
something that contains such disclosure, as the Bible.
Instead of asking God to give them the ability to predict the future or divine what is happening in the minds of others, Paul wants them to know God more intimately.
That should be the goal of every Christian — to know God better! Our lives must revolve around that purpose, knowing God as He truly is as revealed by His Word. We often concoct false ideas of who God is and to be brutally honest, many in the “religion business” do more harm than good in terms of allegedly teaching their flocks who God is. It is up to each of us, guided by the Bible, to understand God.
Notice that Paul doesn’t say “I want you to know yourselves better”. Yes, we should understand who we are, but is is infinitely more important to know and understand who God is. English poet Alexander Pope, who gave the English language such linguistic gems as “damning with faint praise” and “to err is human, to forgive, divine”, apparently didn’t get the message that Paul was passing along. He wrote “Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; the proper study of mankind is man.” In other words, philosophy is more important than God. Wrong! My favorite preacher, Charles Spurgeon, said in reply to this:
“It has been said by someone that ‘the proper study of mankind is man.’ I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.”1
Every time you read your Bible, partake in Bible Study, and really listen to what your pastor is saying, you’re studying God. That is your highest calling in this life.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Father in Heaven, I pray that you give me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that I may know you better. AMEN.
Scripture quotations taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica US, Inc.®. Used by permission.
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon "The New Park Street Pulpit" Volumes 1-6 and "The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit" Volumes 7-63 (Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications, 1990)
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