Praying with Paul: Recieving Revelation
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Intro:
15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:
Tonight, we will begin a study entitled, Praying with Paul. The subject of my message is Receiving Revelation.
We spent most of last year, Praying through Acts. I enjoyed looking at the Early Church and how God used them. Each week I sought to remind us that the book of Acts was a book of prayer.
We looked at the results of their prayer life. God responded to their communication with Him by enabling them to:
speak in tongues
preach the Gospel
heal the sick
open blind eyes
raise the dead
escape from prison
have visions and dreams
forgive their enemies
take the message of Jesus to the then known world
Everything they did was accomplished through their dedication and diligence to pray.
I find prayer an interesting topic.
We can define prayer. It is communication with God. We speak to Him, He speaks to us.
We understand tell of the importance to pray.
We know we should make time to pray every day.
We realize the results of prayer as God does within us what is humanly impossible.
Prayer takes on two aspects— public prayer and private prayer.
In our Sunday School class, we discussed some of the unique aspects of Pentecostal churches. One person mentioned they noticed everyone prays out loud at the same time, which is not always seen in other churches.
In every service, we hear people pray. And public prayer is important. We should never silence our prayers.
But our public prayer is built on the foundation of private prayer. We all need to have a prayer life.
The unique aspect of our private prayer life is that we often keep it private. I mean private is in the name.
We might share something God spoke to us in private prayer. The results of our private prayer life, or lack thereof, will become evident over time.
I have been fortunate to have times of private prayer with my spiritual fathers and mentors. Whether it was with Pastor Tucker, Pastor Davis, or times with Loyd, I have listened to them prayer and learned about talking with God.
What about the early church leaders?
What was it like to listen to them pray?
While we will not get to sit with them and listen, some of their prayers are written for us to read.
The Apostle Paul took time to record on paper how he prayed.
He shared his spiritual desires for the church in Ephesus. We will break down his prayer and look specifically what He asked God to do for the Ephesians.
He told them that he did not stop praying for them. He mentioned them to God every time he prayed.
As we study, I pray that God will stir our hearts to prayer with Paul, trusting God to do in us what He did in them.
Let’s look at three requests he made to God on behalf of the Ephesians— He asked God to give them [Knowledge of God], [Wisdom of God], and [Revelation of God].
Let’s begin
1. Knowledge of God
1. Knowledge of God
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
Paul was an intelligent man. He spent much of his life in Jerusalem, learning from the famous Pharisee Gamaliel. Before he came to Jesus, Paul was one of the smartest religious leaders in Judaism.
But there is a difference in knowing ABOUT God and knowing Him personally.
Case and point, there are two holidays on the calendar much of the world celebrates—Christmas and Easter.
We just celebrated the birth of Christ. Millions of people know ABOUT how He came to earth and details surrounding His birth.
Banks, schools, and governmental of close on Good Friday. People might know about the death and resurrection of Jesus.
But knowledge is not enough. God is not interested in an intellectual knowledge of Him, He wants personal knowledge.
We could call this head knowledge and heart knowledge.
Head knowledge is knowing facts about God. Heart knowledge is knowing God personally.
Knowing God is more than having facts about Him memorized. He wants a personal relationship with us.
Paul prayed that the Ephesians would know the Lord— personally.
How could they know God?
2. Wisdom of God
2. Wisdom of God
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
Paul prayed that God would infuse His people with the wisdom. Wisdom in this sense is more than having good sense or knowing what to say or not say.
No, wisdom here is a gift from God. Paul wanted them to have wisdom so they could apply their knowledge of into their personal lives.
Paul was a living example of this. Before meeting Jesus on the Damascus road, He knew all about God, or so he thought.
Once God saved Him and changed His life, the Holy Spirit showed Him how to apply what he knew about God to every day situations.
Paul wanted what the wise King Solomon encouraged:
3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding,
4 If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures;
5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
8 He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints.
God gives wisdom to His followers so that He might preserve them through this thing called life.
There are many times we do not know what to do or where to go or how to respond.
If we will commit to prayer, He will give us wisdom at the right time and in the right place.
Think of all the times Paul needed wisdom. The Lord showed Him just what to do.
Knowing about God is not enough. To possess and intimate and personal knowledge of Him, we need the wisdom of God and...
3. Revelation of God
3. Revelation of God
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
Paul understood the importance of needing revelation. He knew all about God and His promises when he was a pharisee, but it was all head knowledge.
God wanted him to know in his heart all God could do in and through him, but it would not happen without revelation.
If wisdom helps us apply God’s word in our lives, revelation gives us insight from God.
Receiving revelation is supernatural in nature. Only God, who we cannot see, can show us something about Himself to our hearts.
One author explained that so much hangs on the word revelation, it spells the difference between:
darkness and light
spiritual death and spiritual life
dead religion and living faith
Paul understood both. And he watched the Ephesians change from knowing ABOUT God, to knowing Him personally with wisdom and revelation.
When he went to Ephesus the first time, he found twelve men who had knowledge about God, but lacked wisdom and revelation.
But something happened to them. Upon hearing the truth of God’s word, He opened their eyes, they were baptized in water and filled with the Holy Spirit.
Now Paul wanted God to enlighten them. That the light of God would illuminate their eyes, helping them experience the full revelation of His plan for their lives.
God does not keep Himself a secret. He reveals His love and power to us.
Close:
How did Paul pray?
We do not know every conversation he ever had with God, but he did give us a little insight into how he prayed for the Ephesians.
He wanted them to have supernatural knowledge of God. But he knew it was impossible without wisdom and revelation.
I feel Paul’s prayer is fitting for our lives.
I agree with Paul:
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
Do we want to know Him?
Do we want our family to know Him?
Truly knowing the Lord will never really happen unless we have the wisdom and revelation of God in our lives.
The good news is God wants us to know Him. He stand ready to pour out wisdom and revelation to those who pray.
Let’s pray with Paul this evening.
wisdom and revelation
in our lives
in our church
in our families