In our previous post, we introduced you to Paul’s prayer to the people of Ephesus. Paul continually prayed that the Ephesians would receive the full blessings of wisdom and revelation from the Lord:

“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)

This week we are going to dig deeper into how we can receive this spirit of wisdom and revelation from God.

So how do we receive this spirit of wisdom and revelation from God?

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that “the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” Jesus also tells us in Matthew 11:27 that “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.” I wanted you to read these two verses together because they go hand-in-hand.

Let’s start by breaking down these verses. Paul talks about the “natural” person. This may seem like an unfamiliar term to some of us so let’s define it first. What Paul is referring to is the person we are before we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Our natural person fights against anything that is of God (Romans 8:7). Until we are a “spiritual” person, or as Paul says spiritually discerned, we cannot understand the things of God and cannot follow the will of God.

So how do we become a spiritual person? That’s where Jesus comes in. As Jesus said, everything has been handed over to Him, which includes us and our salvation. The only way that we become a spiritual person is by believing that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior of our lives (Romans 10:9). Once we belong to Jesus, He will choose to reveal the Father to those who follow and serve Him.

Because the Ephesians believed in Jesus whole-heartedly, Paul continued to pray that the spirit of wisdom and revelation be revealed to them. When Paul began preaching in Ephesus, many people were very open to belief in Jesus. However, Ephesus was also a hot-spot for pagan worship housing the temple to the goddess Artemis. The craftsman feared a loss of income from people no longer buying pagan idols and converting to Christianity and started a riot driving Paul and his coworkers out of Ephesus (Acts 19:23-41). Paul continued to pray for wisdom and revelation so the pagan ideals would not overtake the new Christian believers.

These words were not written solely to the people of Ephesus. Letters to the churches were often passed around from church to church and applied to each individual church. These same letters are also written for us today. Paul wants us to have a spirit of revelation and wisdom through our belief in Jesus Christ. He also wants us to understand two very important points about revelation and wisdom:

1. We do not come to a knowledge of God by intellectual means but by the revelation of the Spirit through Christ Jesus. We absolutely cannot “find” this spirit of wisdom and revelation on our own. It must be given to us through our belief in Christ Jesus.
2. An intellectual quest for God that does not include belief in Jesus Christ will come up empty-handed. God will not reveal Himself to someone who does not believe in Him or that He exists.

Once we receive the Spirit of God, our lives begin anew. God will open our eyes and we will begin to understand what He is calling us to do for Him. God has called you and me to live in fellowship with Him. This means we are to live in harmony with Him and to walk in the light of the truth of His word. If we say we have fellowship with God and we are still walking in the darkness of our old sinful nature, we do not have true fellowship with God and we cannot have a full revelation of God.

Our fellowship with God is a never ending fellowship. We will know and understand His power and we will work in God’s might strength. God’s power was able to raise Jesus from the dead and that same power resides in you once you accept Jesus as Lord of your life. Make the choice to live for Him every day and to receive the fullness of His wisdom and revelation.