v. 17-19a I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Is this how I pray for people? No. I usually pray for the things they want: their health, a job, a family member's well-being or salvation, for some situation to work out to their advantage, etc. Not that I shouldn't be concerned or pray for these things, but Paul's concerns are of a totally different nature.
His prayer has to do with knowing God better. This involves the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, which I take to mean, at the least, being able to recognize, understand, and apply God's word. Of course they didn't have the New Testament as such when Paul was writing; in fact, God was speaking directly through Paul and others at that time so that we would eventually have this body of revelation that we can safely and surely consider to be God's word. Back then it may have meant discerning between the teaching of any several people claiming to speak for God. Today it also may mean discernment regarding the many preachers, authors, teachers that are around us. But more importantly, I think it means listening to God's word in scripture, by the power of the Spirit. And it also means measuring other teaching and interpretation of the scriptures by the yardstick of the Bible, also by the power of the Spirit.
Then he mentions three other things that he wants us to know: our hope, our riches, and His power.
Those things are for tomorrow's study.
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