Ephesians 1:17

Letters to the Faithful - Ephesians 1:17

Berean Standard Bible

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.

King James Bible

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

-----------------------------------

To all the saints of God across cities and nations, called out of darkness into His marvelous light, held fast by grace, and sealed with the promise of His Spirit, I greet you in the love of Christ Jesus our Lord. May peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, who was, and is, and is to come.

I write to you with affection, burdened with holy longing that you would not merely believe in God, but truly know Him—not in theory, not in distant admiration, but with intimate, experiential understanding of His heart, His ways, His wisdom, and His will. It is my prayer that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give to you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know Him more deeply.

There is a kind of knowledge that comes from books and teachers, and there is another that comes only from walking with the Lord in the quiet places. The wisdom of the Spirit does not come through the accumulation of information, but through the surrender of the heart. Revelation is not the reward of the intelligent, but the inheritance of the humble. If you are hungry to know God, you must come not with pride, but with reverence, for the secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him.

Many of you have trusted in Christ. You believe in His death and resurrection. You have confessed Him as Savior and you walk in His name. But I ask you: Do you know Him? Do you know His voice, His leading, His joy, His grief? Do you know what pleases Him? Do you feel what breaks His heart? Have you beheld His holiness, not just in word, but in trembling awe? Have you encountered His love, not as an abstract concept, but as a presence that undoes you, heals you, and remakes you from within?

This is what I long for you—not merely to know about Him, but to know Him.

The Spirit of wisdom and revelation is a gift. It opens your eyes to see beyond the surface of things. It teaches you to discern what is eternal from what is passing. It reveals the heart of the Father and the mysteries of His kingdom. The Spirit does not come to impress, but to illuminate. It leads you into truth that transforms—not just your theology, but your living.

When you are given wisdom by the Spirit, you no longer chase after empty things. You begin to see how fleeting the treasures of this world truly are. You stop measuring your life by success, attention, or pleasure, and start pursuing what is eternal—righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. You begin to value obedience over outcome, presence over performance, and the hidden will of God over the applause of men.

When you walk in revelation, you begin to pray differently. Your prayers shift from lists of desires to cries for alignment. You no longer ask merely for God to bless your plans, but for Him to reveal His. You stop trying to fit Him into your life and instead surrender your life to be fit into His purposes. You begin to hunger for Scripture, not as duty but as delight, because the Word is no longer distant—it speaks, it convicts, it draws you deeper into fellowship with the living Christ.

I urge you, brothers and sisters: seek this wisdom. Ask for this revelation. Pray not for a better life but for clearer vision. Ask not for ease, but for understanding. Say to the Lord with your whole heart, “Show me who You are, that I may walk in Your truth.” He is not a God who hides Himself from the sincere. He is not silent to those who seek Him with reverent hearts. He reveals Himself to those who will treasure the unveiling.

But you must make space for Him. The Spirit of wisdom does not compete with noise. You must be still. You must unclutter your life, quiet your soul, and learn to listen. You must turn your eyes away from the distractions of this age and fix them on the beauty of the Lord. You must sit long enough in His presence to let Him speak—not as a guest with a short visit, but as a lover who abides.

This kind of knowing changes everything. It changes how you see people, how you endure suffering, how you interpret hardship, and how you carry hope. When you know Him, truly know Him, you are not so easily shaken. You become rooted, like a tree planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in season. You do not wither when storms come, because your strength is not in your circumstance—it is in the One you know and trust.

And knowing Him compels love. For to know Him is to love Him, and to love Him is to obey Him. This is not legalism but longing. You will not ask, “How close to the line can I live?” but “How close to His heart can I walk?” You will not settle for religion, but pursue relationship. You will not be content with outer forms, but press in for inner fire.

So I call you to that deeper life—not a life of performance, but of pursuit. Not a life of perfection, but of presence. Let the Spirit lead you beyond the shallows. Let Him open your eyes to the beauty and majesty of the God you worship. Let Him awaken in you a hunger for more—not more of the world, but more of Christ.

May your days be marked by increasing awareness of Him. May your nights be filled with His counsel. May your decisions be governed by His whisper. May your heart burn with His love, and may your hands carry His kindness. And above all, may your life become a living testimony that God can be known, truly known, by those who seek Him with all their heart.

Grace be with you all. May the Spirit of wisdom and revelation lead you from glory to glory until you see Him face to face.

----------------------------------

O God, Father of glory, exalted above every throne and dominion, yet nearer to us than our breath, we come before You not as the worthy, but as the redeemed—those whom You have drawn by mercy and awakened by grace. We kneel in awe of who You are and lift our hearts to ask for what only You can give.

We do not come today seeking earthly reward, nor do we ask merely for comfort or convenience. We ask for something eternal, something precious beyond all earthly wealth. We ask to know You. Not in theory, not in passing, but in truth. We ask for You to reveal Yourself to us—not as a concept to be studied, but as a living Person to be encountered, loved, and obeyed.

O Holy One, give to us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the deep knowledge of who You are. Illuminate our understanding. Pull back the veil that remains over our hearts. Let the eyes of our souls be opened to behold the beauty of Your holiness, the depth of Your love, the greatness of Your power, and the perfection of Your ways. We are blind without Your light. We confess that no amount of study or effort can make us see unless You open our eyes.

Give us wisdom that transcends intellect. Give us revelation that bypasses mere information and causes transformation. We do not want to only know about You—we want to know You as You truly are. Let Your Spirit search the deep things of God and impart them to our hearts. Let us be taught from Your presence. Let us be drawn by Your voice.

May we know Your heart—what pleases You, what grieves You, what You desire for us. May we know Your will—not only what You command, but why You command it. May we know Your character—not just the words that describe You, but the actual weight and glory of who You are. Let that knowledge humble us. Let it strip us of pride and drive us to worship.

Reveal to us the mystery of Your purposes, the hope to which we have been called, and the riches of our inheritance in You. Let us not live as beggars when we have been made heirs. Let us not settle for secondhand faith when You invite us into communion with Yourself. Forgive us, Lord, for every time we have been content with shallow devotion. Forgive us for substituting religious duty for relational depth. Forgive us for seeking Your hand more than Your face.

Let Your Spirit come upon us afresh—burning away distraction, purifying our affections, and enlarging our capacity to know and love You. Dismantle our misconceptions. Shatter the idols we have made in our own image. Expose the falsehoods we have believed about You and lead us into truth. Let the fire of Your Spirit consume every counterfeit image and awaken in us a holy longing to behold the real You.

Teach us to hear Your voice amidst the clamor of this world. Train our ears to discern Your whisper. Speak in the stillness of our hearts and in the chaos of our days. Teach us not just to ask, but to wait. Not just to speak, but to listen. And when You speak, give us grace to obey—immediately, joyfully, and completely.

Let the knowledge of You shape the way we live. Let it drive how we love, how we forgive, how we endure suffering, how we serve others. May we reflect what we behold. May the radiance of Your character be seen in our speech, our thoughts, our decisions, and our actions. Let those around us be drawn not to us, but to the Christ who is alive within us.

And Father, we pray not only for ourselves, but for the whole Body of Christ. Let this Spirit of wisdom and revelation be poured out on Your Church in every place. Let leaders seek You before they seek influence. Let congregations hunger for depth over popularity. Let a holy pursuit of the knowledge of God rise up across generations, across cultures, across denominations. Make us one in our desire to know You, and in knowing You, to become like You.

We do not ask this for our glory, but for Yours alone. That Your name would be hallowed in our hearts, that Your kingdom would come in our lives, that Your will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. We surrender again to Your sanctifying work. We lay down our striving and open our spirits to receive.

You have not hidden Yourself to remain unknown. You have revealed Yourself through the Son, and now You draw us by the Spirit. So here we are—ready to be taught, ready to be changed, ready to walk in the light of who You are. Grant us this gift, Lord: not riches, not fame, not ease—but the deep and abiding knowledge of You.

We wait on You. We lean into You. We believe You will answer, because this is the very desire of Your heart—for Your children to know You as You truly are.

And so we pray—all of this—in the name of the One who has made the way, who is Himself the Truth, and who leads us into Life.

Amen.