Back to Ephesians chapter 1 and picking up at verse 15.
Ephesians 1:15-17
"Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints. Cease not (we never stop) to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; (now here's his real prayer) That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit (the Pneuma Hagion, the gift) of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:"
Before I progress with what notes I have written I must spot to share something that we learned just this morning from the LORD our God. For this we'll turn to Matthew chapter 10 where Jesus is speaking and start at verse 34 but the verse we want is actually 36 but to keep with our style we'll start at 34:
Matthew 10:34-41
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. (36) And a man's foes shall be they of his own household (this household is not ones family but is mans own soul and spirit which are defiled by sin). He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward."
Form here lets turn to John 13:8 where we find this:
John 13:4-14
"He (Jesus) riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that He poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. Then came He to Simon Peter: and Peter said to Him, 'Lord, do you wash my feet (only)?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'What I do you knowest not now; but you shall know hereafter'. (8) Peter said to Him, 'You shall never wash my feet'. Jesus answered him, 'If I wash thee not, you have no part with me' (if the LORD does not do the cleansing of our house that is to say our soul and spirit then we have no part with Him and this He does through the dark night of faith with much Love and with the tools of the fillers soap and the fire of the furnace of affliction, and this operation makes us very uncomfortable, and uneasy we may even sense that He pulled away from us). Simon Peter saith unto him, 'Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head'. Jesus saith to him, 'he that is washed needs not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and you are clean, but not all'. For he knew who should betray him; therefore said He, 'you are not all clean'. So after He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and was set down again, He said to them, 'Know you (do you know) what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord: and you say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another's feet'."
Now we'll look to an Old Testament prophet to get more understanding of what has here been revealed, so let turn to Micah chapter 7 and we want verse 6 but again to keep the flow we'll start at verse 2:
Micah 7:2-9
"The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity. Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her (the mystery harlot of Revelation 17 and 18) that lieth in thy bosom. (6) For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house (mans own heart these are the familiar spirits which have defiled his soul and spirit, the strongman who hinders God's operations within him). Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness (faiths journey is likened to darkness because our senses don't come into play through it), the LORD shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against Him, until He plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His righteousness."
From here we'll turn to Psalm 41 where King David is speaking and look at verse 9:
Psalm 41:2-12
"The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing (during the night watch wherein God does His secret works of Love): thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness (sins hold on the heart wherein we find both our soul and spirit). I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee. Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish? And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it. All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt. An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him: and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more. (9) Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them. By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever."
I'll allow you to draw your own conclusions from what we've here shared and now continue on with our study.
Now what's the purpose? Well you see the more we love Him, and the more of His Love we receive in the dark night the more capable we are of serving Him. And it's the same way in a marriage relationship. The more that husband and wife love each other, no! First we have to learn or know each other because when this happens love springs up and the better influence they're going to have on family, relatives and everybody else, it spreads. True Love spreads like wild fire when it is heavenly based, all else is but temporal love and is self serving. And it's the same way here. Paul prays that we might have such a God given wisdom and knowledge received through His Love. Now we've learned that people here in Tennessee not so much, but in my home state of Wisconsin, that the people were always afraid to share the Gospel or their faith, with people. Because they just didn't have enough knowledge of the Scriptures to be able to answer questions, or confront, rebuke, and so forth. But after they've been around us for a while and get skilled in the Scriptures, they love to witness, they love to talk about the Scriptures. And that's the way it should be, as we grow in Grace through Faith by Love and true Knowledge it becomes easier to share His Love with people.
We can talk to people in any kind of an occupation, and we like to use an auto mechanic as an example. When you talk to one about engines, and cars, is he bashful? Is he shy to talk about his trade? Is he going to put his head down, and act like he doesn't want to talk about what he does best? Heavens no, because you're in his bailiwick now, and he's ready to tell you everything he knows, and that's as it should be. Now that's the way we should be with the Book and our faith in Christ. We have to be so skilled in our knowledge of Him that we don't have to back away when someone comes up with a question or rebuke. We can say, "look this is what the Book says." This is always our best argument. It's not what we think, or what our denomination says, but rather it's, "But what does the Word of God say." Now this is what Paul is praying even for these early believers, that their wisdom and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ might be so great. Verse 18.
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