Knowing God Confidently

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 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 his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. – Ephesians 1:17-19

Yesterday, we talked about the first of four things we should be praying every single day if we want to pray life-changing prayers. We talked about how the goal of praying is not to ask God for Him to give us things we want, but rather to know Him on a more personal, intimate level. If you missed yesterday’s devotion, I would strongly encourage you to go back and read it.

For today, we’re going to continue this discussion and talk about three more things we should pray for daily.

First, we should pray to know the Lord confidently. Like I said before, we are to know God intimately, but we are also to know God confidently. God has taken care of our past by salvation. God is taking care of our present in sanctification. God will take care of our future in glorification.

We put our hope in Him for the past, as we look to him for salvation. We put our hope to Him in the present, as we live for Him in sanctification. We put our hope in Him for the future, knowing we will be like Him in glorification. And the word “hope” in the Bible is not defined as wishful thinking. It’s defined as a “confident expectation.” So when we hope in God, we can know Him confidently.

Second, we should pray that we know the Lord joyfully. When you think of the word “inheritance” you automatically think of what we are going to inherit because we are a part of God’s family - what is waiting for us once we get to heaven. Today’s Scripture passage is not about our inheritance as great as it is, but it is talking about God’s inheritance, which is us!

We are His prized possession. If you have a heart for God, deep down you can’t wait to be with Him. Our Heavenly Father loves us so much He can’t wait for us to be with Him. He wants us to know just how valuable we are to Him, how much of a treasure we are in His eyes, and how precious we are to His heart. When you realize this, you can know the Lord joyfully.

Finally, every day we should pray that we would know the Lord fully. It is one thing to believe that God is all-powerful. It is another thing to know that power, to experience that power, to believe that power lives in us, and to believe that there is no power compared to that power. Knowing God fully means knowing His power and living in His power. There is so much hope and comfort to be found in knowing the all-powerful God.

Dear Lord, thank you for the reminders from Paul about what our prayers should look like as your followers. Help me to know you confidently, joyfully, and fully as I continue to deepen my relationship with you. In Jesus’ name, amen.