Devotional for Thursday, March 01, 2007

Today’s Reading: Ephesians chapter 1
Spotlight Text: Ephesians 1:17-20

“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.”.

If you want it, just ask…

Quite often when I read the word I feel like I don’t understand a lot of what I am reading. But on the same note, the more I read a text and pray over it and meditate on it, the more I feel like I understand, the more truth God reveals to me from it. There is a certain amount of enlightenment that comes from regular reading of the word. There is also enlightenment that comes from prayer. What Paul is doing here is he is writing a letter to the Ephesians to guide them and help them grow in Christ. But, he is also praying for them to grow in Christ. There are two distinct prayers he makes for them. I believe if we began to pray these prayers for ourselves, we would, by the power of the Holy Spirit, gain a much deeper understanding of God’s word and his will for our lives.
The first prayer Paul makes for the Ephesians is that God would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that they may know him better. I think we often make our knowledge and understanding of God much more difficult than it has to be by only trying to understand him and know him better in our natural minds and by our natural wisdom and understanding. This is not possible. When we pursue God this way, we end up with a purely intellectual knowledge of Him, similar to the sons of Sceva. We know who he is but we don’t really know him. The only way to know him is to allow him to pray for an to allow him to reveal himself to our spirits and to do so by a spirit of wisdom and revelation, not by natural wisdom and revelation but by a spirit of wisdom and revelation. That spirit only comes as he gives it. He gives it as we ask for it. James 4:2 says, “you do not have because you do not ask God.”
The second prayer he prays for them is that the eyes of their heart may be enlightened. This is greatly significant. In Romans 1:21-28, we read about believers who had ‘darkened hearts.’ What darkened their hearts? The same thing that darkens our hearts, Idols. Idols blind us to see God’s will. They make us deaf so that we cannot hear His voice. Idols can be physical as in material possessions or idols can be in our hearts in the form of attitudes our sinful desires.
Our hearts are where there is an ongoing battle for real estate. God wants all of our hearts for Him, Satan wants all of our hearts for him and we are in the middle deciding who we will lease property to. When we pray for God to enlighten the eyes of our hearts, the first thing we will begin to see is all the real estate in them that we have leased to the enemy. Many believers go their whole lives completely blinded to their idols and struggles, even many who are pastors and leaders in the church. In my own life, when I begin to confront an issue and I pray for enlightenment, usually the first thing that happens is I seem to start doing worse in that area. This is not the case. I am just finally being enlightened to the true depth of my sin and failure in that area, whereas before I was totally blind to it.
Paul prays these two prayers for the Ephesians but I see no problem in praying them for ourselves as well as others. I am sure that Paul prayed them for himself too. We should pray this for ourselves whenever we open our bibles, whenever we go to church or just whenever. Allowing God to reveal himself to us and enlighten our eyes should be part of our daily pursuit of deeper knowledge of him.

How to pray this scripture:

Dear Lord Jesus, I pray that you would give me the spirit of wisdom and revelation. I pray that you would reveal yourself to me daily as I pursue you with all of my heart. I pray this because my greatest desire is to know you better. I pray that you would enlighten the eyes of my heart so that I may know the hope which you have called me to. I pray that you would search my heart and show me the areas I need to surrender to you. I want to give my heart totally to you. I want to have more of you in me heart each and every day. Thank you Jesus for your love and mercy. Amen

Other Scripture to read:

Romans 1:21-28
Ephesians 3:14-19
James 4:2-4

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