For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 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, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1:15-20)
This is a text that I often go to when ministering freedom and healing to broken and oppressed believers. Most of us continue to live with our brokenness because we don’t truly understand who God is, what he has provided for us, or who we are in Christ. Through the years you have probably known someone that continued to live in a hurtful, abusive situation year after year. Perhaps they were in an abusive relationship or a job where they were underpaid, overworked and never appreciated. They clearly hated their situation and it was clear that it was taking a toll on them emotionally, physically, and spiritually. And yet, they would not take steps to free themselves from the relationship or to seek different employment.
I have visited with a number of individuals in those situations. Some finally made the break after they became absolutely desperate. I asked them why they had stayed in those hurtful situations so long when everyone they knew encouraged them to get out. Inevitably the same reasons always surface. One reason was fear of the unknown. As bad as their situation was, they knew what they had and feared having nothing at all if they left the relationship or the job. Most of us would believe that nothing was better than what they had, but fear that the future might hold something even worse kept them where they were.
Others viewed themselves in such a way that they truly believed they didn’t deserve anything better. The messages from their past had convinced them that they were worthless, low achievers whom no one would ever love or value. Their abusers or unappreciative employers reinforced those beliefs so they thought life would never offer more because they didn’t deserve anymore. So … they stayed.
The third reason was that their mothers or fathers had modeled that life for them by continuing in abusive relationships or staying in dead end jobs with a sense of resignation that the world would offer them nothing more. These abused and oppressed people in some way believed that what they were experiencing was “the norm” because they had watched their parents endure it all the years they were growing up. In some subconscious way they probably sought out what their parents had modeled because that was familiar.
Our spiritual lives can be the same. Many believers continue to live with a sense of insignificance, a painfully negative view of themselves, oppressive thoughts, addictions, and general sadness because they believe there are no real alternatives for them or because they simply don’t deserve more in this world. Some even believe that God has visited their misery on them so that continuing in their pain is a way of “paying for their sins” even though Jesus had already paid for every sin. Many have simply taken on an identity of pain, rejection, and failure. They can’t imagine being anything or anyone else and so they stay in that place for decades.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul affirms their faith and love and his excitement about their newly found life in Christ. He then lets them know that he has been constantly praying for them and asking God to give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. He says that he is praying for the Spirit to give these believers both of those gifts so that they might know God better.
We can come to know God through study, teaching, conversations, etc. to an extent. But if our faith and understanding of God stay at an intellectual level then God remains a concept more than a person. We tend to know about God rather than knowing God. Revelation deposits truth in our hearts – in our core being – and that is where profound change and healing occur. Wisdom is knowing how God perceives people and situations and acting in accord with God’s view of things. To know how God thinks is a huge step toward knowing God. To know how he feels about people, especially ourselves, is also a huge step toward knowing him. Paul is really asking God to reveal both his mind and heart to the believers at Ephesus so that they might truly get to know him. And as they say, “To know him is to love him.” To know his love for us is also the most healing thing in the universe.
Paul goes on to say that he has asked the Father to enlighten the eyes of their hearts that they might also perceive what they have in Jesus. In short, Paul declares that they have hope, riches, and power in Jesus. They have hope because God has a future for them that is full of life and blessing if they will trust him enough to receive it. They have the riches of heaven available to them if they will receive his promises by faith. They also have the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and that created the universe working on their behalf. Most of us have read those truths and promises in scripture and would say we believe them. But for many of us, the belief is an intellectual position rather than something we have “written on our hearts.”
The work of the Spirit is revelation and revelation writes truth on our heart. When we get the truth in our hearts it changes things. Believers who stay in their brokenness and oppression don’t know God, who they are in Christ, or the riches that are theirs if they will pursue them. They hear these truths but haven’t received them in their hearts. They need revelation. They need an experience with God, a fresh and personal word from God, or a teaching to explode in their hearts. They need the Holy Spirit to give them wisdom and understanding to know what God has just done in their lives and to receive it as a gift from him.
I believe that we need to pray Paul’s prayer constantly for ourselves and for those who are struggling in their faith. We desperately need divine wisdom, the revelation of God’s truth, and for the “eyes of our heart” to be opened so that we might fully understand everything that is ours in Jesus as well as the power our Father is willing to wield on our behalf. When we grasp those things we can let go of the present and step into the future. We can exchange the devil’s view of who we are for the Father’s view of who we are. We can lay fear about the unknown aside and trust that God already has it worked out in marvelous ways.
Today I pray that God will give you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation that you may know him better and that he will open the eyes of your heart so that you may know the hope, the riches, and the power that are yours in Jesus Christ. I hope you’ll pray the same for me. Be blessed.
