To my Earth-suited heavenly family,
The purpose of inLight Adventures is to provide a point of contact with supporters of inLight Consulting, Inc., and to serve as a discussion forum on topics related to spiritual leadership and the transformation of the church in America. In addition to the monthly updates of our progress as a ministry organization, I am using this site to reflect on my own development – truths embraced, lessons learned, transformations accomplished, etc. That may be news to some of you – that what you read here is real life for me, and not just vicarious musings of a fellow Christian.
You see, it is impossible for me to separate the maturity of this ministry from my own. This also applies to my life as a husband, father, friend, elder, etc. I have come to realize that the Lord has squished the pieces of my life back into the whole He intended. So, in some respect, each entry is an update of our progress as a ministry.
My intention has been for each entry to be a testimony of His gracious work in my life. My prayer is that they have helped you learn something about God’s word, and yourself, that will encourage you to radically pursue Him. Your feedback, questions and criticisms are encouraging and edifying. It is the Body of Christ ministering together – that we might be united, as the Father and Son, that the world would know… (John 17:20-23).
So, how do I segway to a short (yeah, right) comment on wisdom and revelation. Let’s start with a few assumptions:
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Prayer is important;
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Most Christians want to know what God is trying to do in their lives; and
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We need all the power that He is willing to give us.
If you’re with me on this, then read on (if not, let me know where I lost you).
Apparently, these things (prayer, purpose and power) are more important to God than to His children. I don’t mean this as a criticism. I think it is encouraging to know that God wants more for us than we can think or imagine. He knows our weaknesses; and has made a number of allowances for them.
One such allowance is the models of prayer He has provided in Paul’s epistles – some call them “Apostolic Prayers”. These are intercessions we can pray for ourselves and our loved ones. The one I have in mind can be found in Ephesians 1:15-23 (yes, go ahead and read it). I want to concentrate on verse 17 for now – I’ll come back to the others in a later entry.
…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.
It is important to know when the “Father of glory” wants to give you something. He is the One that loves you with the love of a perfect Father. He is the One that desires to give you more than you can think or imagine. When I was a child and my father wanted to give me something, I got excited. And we can get excited about what the Father of glory wants to give us through this prayer.
But regrettably, many blow by this prayer because it is just too much to imagine. It must be a “sweet by-and-by” prayer – something we will get when we go to heaven. This might be true if the focus of this prayer was about “the knowledge of Him”. After all, His ways are above our ways and His thoughts are above our thoughts. However, that is not the spirit of this prayer (no intended play on words) – not the place He wants us to start.
To understand God’s intention in this prayer, we must understand “the spirit of wisdom and revelation”. Here are a few definitions that will help:
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Wisdom (Sophia): broad and full of intelligence; used of the knowledge of very diverse matters
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Revelation (apokalypsis): laying bare, making naked; a disclosure of truth or instruction concerning things before unknown; used of events by which things or states or persons hitherto withdrawn from view are made visible to all; manifestation; appearance
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Spirit (pneuma; not capitalized): in this case, the disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul of any one (the efficient source of any power, affection, emotion, desire, etc.)
To put it simply, this prayer is for God to give the power, affection, emotion and desire to obtain broad knowledge of very diverse matters, and event specific disclosures of truth or instruction.
Do you see it!?! Paul is praying that God would give a hunger and matching power for the truth.
This has been a significant paradigm shift in my faith journey. Yes, I learned early on that God was responsible for “the wisdom and revelation”; even the power. The Bible even says that He is all of those things. But, for so much of my life, I thought I had to manufacture the hunger and desire. Now I know that He will give that to me, as well. Philippians 2:13 says it this way:
“…for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
All we have to do is ask, and trust Him for the result. My personal testimony is that the power of prayer is incredibly effectual when we understand what we are praying for, and trust Him to give us the answer in His perfect love. And that’s all I have to say about that… for now.
Your fellow traveler,
Rob