Skip to main content

Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation

          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 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, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength. (Ephesians 1:17-19 NIV)

 

            I suspect I’ve written about this passage recently in connection with Battle Bible verses, but this morning’s walk included some prayer time about plans for this summer, and the three things that came to mind were hearing and trusting God and praying more effectively. That brought this passage to mind.

            We are allowed to pray for the Spirit to be given to us. And what that Spirit provides is wisdom and revelation, so that we can know God better. We’re allowed to pray to know God better. We are allowed to pray that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened and that we may know the hope to which he has called us, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people (us!), and his incomparably great power for us.

            Can you begin to imagine? Any one of those would be overwhelming. Consider one. Because we don’t think we have received much wisdom or revelation, can you imagine what it might be like to receive more? What if wisdom and revelation from God were such a normal, regular thing that – in general – it no longer generated more of a response than from hearing from anyone else? I don’t mean that we would treat the revelation with the contempt that we so often show toward others – but that it would be as normal for us to say, “This morning, God said …” in the same way that we’d say, “This morning, my spouse/parent/child/neighbor said ...”

            Now, part of the Spirit of revelation would address the other dangerous side to this – with our hearing from the world, the flesh, or the devil and saying, “God said…” But this brings us back to the walking on the water incident. What if Peter had gotten it wrong? What if it hadn’t been Jesus calling him to walk on the water? The worst-case scenario is that he would have died trying to do what he believed he was called to do. He would have died trying.

            The other issue is the possibility that if we received such a revelation, we would grow proud. Paul was not permitted to tell others of at least one of his visions, and he was given a thorn in the flesh to keep him from being proud. But the problem is that worry can keep us from becoming monsters and destroying for the love of destruction, but it can also cause us to become a different kind of monster that destroys for fear of doing anything.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Right Road

          Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:7-12)                  For years before GPSes existed, I told people I wanted something in my car that would tell me, “Turn left in half a mile…turn left in a quarter mile…turn left in 500 feet… turn left in 100 feet…turn left now …You missed the turn, Dummy!” The problem isn’t necessarily that I get lost so much as I’m afraid I’ll get lost. I don’t want to have to spend my whole trip stressing over the next turn. I have the same problem with my spiritual journey.   
Post a Comment
Read more

Died as a Ransom

                 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. (Hebrews 9:15)                  This is something I’d really rather not think about but here it is and it’s important. I was reading in Bold Love about seeking revenge.  The author wrote of seeking justice when a supposed Christian does something sinful, harmful, and/or horrific, like sexually abusing a daughter.  And the thought that came to mind was of God asking if Jesus’ death was sufficient payment to me for the sin committed against me.                I have no specific longing for revenge, vengeance, or justice. I’m sure there are some lurking somewhere in my heart, but this wasn’t a response to one. It was more a question of principle. Jesus’ death was sufficient payment for to God for our sins.  That’s the standard Sunday Schoo
1 comment
Read more

Out of the Depths

  Out of the depths I have cried to You, Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the sound of my pleadings.   If You, Lord, were to keep account of guilty deeds, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, so that You may be revered. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and I wait for His word. My soul waits in hope for the Lord more than the watchmen for the morning; Yes, more than the watchmen for the morning. Israel, wait for the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption. And He will redeem Israel from all his guilty deeds . (Psalm 130)             I like Mr. Peterson’s interpretation of the first line. “The bottom has fallen out of my life!” Of course, the problem for some of us is the fact that we’re drama queens, and/or we’re weak. Any time anything happens that disturbs our sense of mastery and control, the bottom has fallen out of our lives. If the past couple of days have taught me anything, they’ve t
1 comment
Read more