As I study the Bible, I am awed and amazed when God speaks directly through me with a verse or even a passage. During my study time a couple of weeks ago, the Lord pulled a verse out of Ephesians that I had read many times. However, this time, I found new meaning in it. I knew this verse must be important to God and a message that He wanted me to focus on because it is the very verse my pastor taught on the following Sunday.

In the opening chapter of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul is writing a letter of thanksgiving and prayer to the church in Ephesus. Impressed with their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love of all people, Paul proclaims that he has not stopped praying for the people of Ephesus and giving thanks for them. In each of his prayers to God about the church of Ephesus, he asks one thing continually:

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him” (Ephesians 1:17).

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul showed the church a powerful prayer that has changed my life and can change your life as well. Before you do your daily Bible study or do any reading of God’s word, pray this prayer just as I do:

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant me a spirit of wisdom and of revelation that gives me a deep and personal and intimate insight into the true knowledge of Him for we know the Father through the Son.

These words invoke the Holy Spirit to assist us with a deeper revelation of God’s word and let Him know that we would like a deeper understanding of what we are reading.

But what exactly are we asking for when we ask for wisdom and revelation?

Wisdom is defined as the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise. Wisdom is the first and highest gift of the Holy Spirit because it is the perfecting of our faith. The truth of Christian beliefs is more important than the things of this world, and wisdom helps us to order our relationships to the created work of God properly, loving creation for the sake of God rather than the sake of ourselves. Working with both the intellect and will of man, wisdom illuminates the mind and instills an attraction to the divine purposes of God.

We can also define wisdom as a progressive growth in what the Holy Spirit implants in the heart of man and instructs in the gospel of Christ, the hidden wisdom of God which guides man into truth and opens the treasures of wisdom. Wisdom is hidden in Christ and shows what is practical and experimental. We are joined with the love of Him, faith in Him, and obedience to Him.

Revelation is defined as a surprising and previously unknown fact, especially one that is made known in a dramatic way. The Holy Spirit loves to reveal new and hidden things to us! When we are first converted to Christ, the Holy Spirit reveals who Christ is and the things of Christ. After this conversion, He reveals Jesus and His righteousness and the righteousness and authority we now have in Christ because we follow Jesus. As we continue to grow in Christ and our relationship grows stronger, the Holy Spirit continues to reveal new and hidden things to us, things that God wants us to know and things He wants us to work on.

Just so we are clear that God wants us to have this wisdom and revelation, let’s look at a couple more verses:

But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared or those who love him” these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. (1 Corinthians 2:7-10)

And from the very mouth of Jesus Christ Himself:

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. (Matthew 11:27)

Wisdom and revelation are a gift that God gives each of His children through the blood of Jesus Christ. We all can tap into this wisdom and revelation. Pray today that God always gives you wisdom and revelation each time you read His word.

Next week, we will dive further into this subject of wisdom and revelation and how God gave these gifts freely in the Bible.