Three essential questions determine nearly everything else in our lives.  

• Does God exist?   
• Does God love me?
• Is God powerful? 

If God does not exist then we are on our own and “might makes right.”  There is no help coming and there is no judgment against evil.  The powerful rule like ruthless drug lords…imprisoning and killing anyone who opposes them…until a more powerful and more ruthless drug lord appears. Unselfish acts will be for the suckers because all that matters is to look out for number one.

If God does exist, but does not love me in a personal way, then he is still of no help. He will live detached from me, uncaring about my needs or crisis.  He will act as judge but not as savior or redeemer.  That is even more frightening that a world without God.

If God does exist and loves me, but is not powerful, then he may cry when I am wounded or in need but he will not be able to help. Like a poor and aging uncle who lives far away, he may be concerned, but I will still essentially be on my own like an orphan child.

However, if God does exist, loves me in a personal way, and is infinitely powerful then I can live unafraid, unselfishly, and with joy because the God of the universe is looking out for me. That is the message of the Bible and especially of the gospel. To the extent that I believe those things I will have peace, confidence, and freedom.  To the extent that I don’t believe those things, even as a believer, I will live with anxiety, try to control everything and everyone around me, and feel unwanted and unloved.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul said that the asked continually that God would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that they might know Him better (Eph.1:7).  The truth is that we need revelation to know that God exists, that he loves us deeply, and that he is able to do more than we can ask or imagine.  We can get those biblical facts in our head but we can’t know them in our hearts without the Holy Spirit revealing that truth to us. The Holy Spirit writes God’s truth on our hearts.  The more we believe it in our hearts, the more we can walk in peace, in faith, and in love.

It’s fairly apparent that we need revelation to know those things in the sense of having them written on our hearts so that we live by God’s promises even when to do so is irrational in the face of natural reason.  But why wisdom?  One definition of wisdom is “knowing how to apply the word of God in a given situation.” In others words, wisdom is knowing not just God’s will, but also his ways.  I need to know his ways, so that when things in my life seem to indicate his lack of care or power as seen through natural eyes, I will not doubt because I know his ways and know that when the time is right, he always comes through.  That is an essential facet of wisdom.

In our present circumstance, America is in turmoil.  The prayers of millions of believers seem to have gone unnoticed in the courts of heaven. The future is uncertain and Satan seems to be having his way no matter which side of the political landscape you stand on.  Fear, division, hatred, and accusation are the flavors of the day…except in heaven. Those are the works of Satan but he does not work in heaven where we are seated with Christ and where we are now citizens.  

 As believers, we can reason ourselves to those biblical positions, but what we need is for those truths to be our very first thought in the face of every crisis or uncertainty. Our first thought must be underscored by a certainty that God is working powerfully in the shadows and he already has our welfare in mind.  Those are our first thoughts when the nature of God and the promises of God are written on our hearts.  

This is a season in which I pray that God will give each of us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may know Him better.  Paul said he prayed that prayer over and over for those in Ephesus because there is no end to the depth of knowing God.  I encourage you to make that your prayer as well…over and over.