Eph.1:15-17 – Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
Having a deeper and more profound revelation of Christ is one of the sure benefits of having a life of prayer. Jonathan Edwards described heaven as an eternal unveiling of God which he says will take an eternity to accomplish because of the infinite nature of the Lord. Our time in prayer is a taste of the other side, it becomes an unveiling of the Lord to our soul. As we learn the importance of taking time for private and corporate prayer and pursue prayer more and more, Christ Himself will become more alive to us and in us. To know Jesus is the beginning of knowledge, to walk with Him in prayer is life itself, to know Him more is the greatest of all treasures; Paul had tasted all of this Himself and was praying for the church to experience the power of revelation available through prayer. Here is how Albert Barnes describes Paul’s request.
“That is, in order that you may more fully acknowledge him, or know him more intimately and thoroughly. They had already made high attainments, but Paul felt that they might make still higher; and the idea here is, that however far Christians may have advanced in knowledge and in love, there is an unfathomed depth of knowledge which they may still explore, and which they should be exhorted still to attempt to fathom. How far was Paul from supposing that the Ephesians had attained to perfection!”
Prayer can be seen as just a final act of desperation when all else fails or for some it may just be our dutiful responsibility as a Christian. Paul viewed prayer as a portal to the whole reason that we were created, to know Him and to make Him known to our generation. Rather than seeing the Lord as some sort of attendant to make our life more comfortable Paul saw the Lord as the treasure hidden in a field. He is our highest goal, to know Him is the greatest treasure found in this life.
