TRANSFORMED LIFE Week 3: Pray for revelation
It is my pleasure to continue our series on transformed life, looking at the letter to the Ephesians.From the passage at which we arrive today I want to home in on a few verses where the apostle Paul prays a prayer for revelation. To get a revelation simply means to have something revealed to you. To come to see what couldn’t see. To know what we didn’t know.
Revelation could be like the initial revelation of finding out you’re pregnant, then when having a pregnancy scan you find out a little more each time as the baby grows.
It’s the same in the Christian life–we find out a little more each time. How do we get it? We pray…
‘I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,may give you the Spirit of wisdomand revelation, so that you may know him better.I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightenedin order that you may know the hope to which he has calledyou, the richesof his glorious inheritancein the saints,and his incomparably great power for us who believe.’
(Ephesians 1:17–19, NIV)
We pray to know the Father better and know His blessings. Not just to know about God, but to really know who He is and our identity, purpose and place of belonging in Him.
Pray to know the Father better
‘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)
The word used here for ‘know’does not mean head knowledge or learning facts about someone, but is about a profound, perfect, intimate knowledge. For example, I know facts aboutElvis but I neveractuallyknew him. We know God initially when we become Christians, and we will come to know Him increasinglyand one day we will know Him perfectly.
So how do we grow in this intimate knowledge of God?How do we come to know God better?It happens in a very particular way. We pray to that the Father may give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Paul does not say study hard, though he himself was likely to have been highly educated for that era.
Theology without the Spirit’s illumination is a like logs in the fireplace with no match to light a fire. If we divorce theology from the Spirit we have, as someone has said, doctrine as straight as a gun barrel and just as empty. Rather, God’s truth is revealed by His Spirit.
We should desire to know the Father better. Why? First and foremost, because He is our Father, and He is the creator of the universe! But on a very practical level, because the antidote to insecurity is to have a greater revelation of the love of the Father. The antidote to anxiety about the future is to have a greater revelation of the faithfulness of the Father.
One of the people involved in writing the Transformed Life book this series is based on has described his relationship with God like this: ‘I have always had a strong picture of heaven in my mind when I worship. It is similar to the image of the throne in heaven described by John in Revelation 4.As I enter into a large room, I notice the 24 elders and the four living creatures all worshipping God.I am just inside the doorway and God is sitting on his throne at the far end of the room. And I’m happy to praise and worship God from where I am.
A few years ago, after describing this picture to Graham Cato, he challenged me to consider where God wants to be when I come into His presence to worship him. I hadn’t given this much thought before so I asked God to show me.The instant I prayed, I received a picture of God rushing towards me and embracing me as soon as I entered the room. I was amazed that God Almighty wanted to show his love for me in such an extravagant way.
As I reflected on this new picture, I realised that God did not want me to see Him as a distant God but as a loving Father who wants a close relationship with one of his children.
Now, in view of what God has shown me, I enter into His presence to worship Him by running towards Him and leaping into his arms with joy! And as we embrace, I sense the smile in His eyes that confirms that He loves to see me.It has strengthened my sense of belonging and of being accepted.’
Notice that he says that first it was God running to him, not the other way around.Before the blessing of the Father, God is the Father of the blessing. This is always the place to start.
But God is not a Father who just keeps us sat on His knee but rather one who sends us on a journey –and it is a blessed journey. Let’s consider how we come to really grasp thoseblessings.
Pray to know the Father’s blessings
Paul prays this prayer of revelation that the Holy Spirit will help us to know three particular blessings:
‘I pray 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 his holy people’
(Ephesians 1:18)
This is the hope of God’s calling to the Christian faith which we receive at the beginning of our journey,the inheritance we receive at the endand the power required throughout the journey. And I want us to take a look at all three.
1) Pray to know the Hope of the Father’sCalling
‘I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you’
The calling here refers to the call to the Christian life, in other words you have been called to a life of hope. But it may be even better than you think. With worldly hope there are several possible outcomes and we have an optimistic desire that one of them in particular will happen. We might hope that a certain football team win the league or that we won’t have a parking ticket when we return to our car later than the time we’ve paid for. Is that a sure hope? No.
Christian hope isa confident expectation in the fulfillment of the promises of God.In other words, God has called you to a sure hope–a secure hope. We have hope in life, thatGod will work all things for our good. We have hope in death, that we will go to be with the Lord. God wants you to know you have been called to a life of secure hope.
What were we called from? From a life with no hope:
‘remember that at that time you were separate from Christ ... without hope and without God in the world.’
(Ephesians 2:12)
We move from hopelessness to a hope in Christ. Many of us would take the tough times with God over the good times without Him anyday.
Do you need hope? We might say that we see any hope in our situation, but in the same way we cannot always see things we reply on. At a crossroads, we can’t see that the traffic light for the approaching cars has turned red, meaning it’s safe for us to cross –but we can see that ours has turned green and just trust that all the traffic lights are in proper working order. We could stare at a pregnant lady’s tummy for as long as we want we would never see the baby withouta sonogram machine–we trust that the baby is there but we can’t actually see it ourselves.
You can stare at the truth for as long as you like but if you really want to see the hope there you are going to need the Holy Spirit.
So we pray for the Holy Spirit’s revelation that we might know the hope of our calling.
2) Pray to know the gloryof the Father’sinheritance
‘That you may know…the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people’
(Ephesians 1:18)
If we are called to a life of hope at the beginning of our journey, Paul’s next request for revelation is that we would know there is a glorious inheritance at the end. If we are children, then we are heirs –heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory(Romans 8:17).
Have you ever noticed how much the destination impacts your view of the journey? It might be like travelling to a grandparent’s house as a child or going on holiday.
‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard,and no mind has imaginedwhat God has preparedfor those who love him.’(1 Corinthians 2:9, NLT)
It’s so glorious that you can’t see it with your eyes or hear it with your ears.It’s difficult to even imagine! So we need revelation from the Spirit.That’s how Paul wants us to live–with an eye on the destination.Not just tohave a vague sense of our eternal destiny, but to really grasp it. Live in the light of eternity and a glorious future!
Some people object to the notion that we should consider our inheritance.They say things like, ‘you are so heavenly minded that you are no earthly use!’But it’s when we forget about heaven that things go wrong here.
Think about how living in the light of an eternity with God will change the way you think about giving in our short time here on earth. Think about the decision whether or not to invite someone to church for Christmas or to Alpha.
3) Pray to know the greatness of the Father’spower
‘That you may know…his incomparably great power for us who believe.’
(Ephesians 1:19)
Hope is about the first steps on the road. Inheritance is about our destination–we need power for the journey. We don't need to generate more power, but we need to realise what we already have. We have the power to heal, the power to overcome sin and the power to break through our struggles –all given to us by God.
Let’s pray together…
Glorious Father, give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that we may know You better. We pray that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened in order that we may know the hope to which you have called us, the riches of Your glorious inheritance in Your saints, and Your incomparably great power for us who believe.
Amen.
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