I pray that the Father of glory, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would impart to you the riches of the Spirit of wisdom and the Spirit of revelation to know him through your deepening intimacy with him. I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of his calling—that is, the wealth of God’s glorious inheritances that he finds in us, his holy ones! Ephesians 1:17-18
When we pray for our sons and families there are many things to pray for: health, strength, safety, wisdom, peace, etc. But one thing is of paramount importance in Paul’s mind as he prays for the church at Ephesus: that they truly know God. This should also be paramount in our hearts and minds as we pray for our sons, our families, the Taylor football team and community, our churches and our neighborhoods. Nothing is more important than knowing God!
There are many words used in the Bible that can be translated “to know” or “to have knowledge.” The Greek word that Paul uses in his prayer is epignōsis. This indicates knowledge that is full, thorough, precise and accurate. It is asking God to reveal Himself through His Spirit in ways that reveals who He is in His completeness. It is requesting that their hearts are growing in ever deepening intimacy with Him. There is no greater gift we can ask for.
Paul specifically asks that the Ephesian church also be given the ability to see and experience the hope to which they have been called, namely that they would understand their unique position as God’s inheritance. Paul uses a form of the word inheritance three different times in this first chapter of Ephesians, making it effectively a keyword. He desires that the Ephesians (and us too!) understand that what we need more than anything is to understand the immeasurable greatness of the principle that we belong to God and He belongs to us and that we know Him as fully as is humanly possible.
This week as we come before Papa God let us pray that God would show our sons, families, the Taylor football team and all the Taylor University community a full and accurate portrait of Himself, that it would be something they experience and not just see. Pray that hearts and minds be prepared to see God as He is, be prepared for deeper intimacy with Him and understand that we inextricably belong to Him. Pray that we all would be transformed by what God reveals to us and in us.