Ephesians 1:17

[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him (Ephesians 1:17 AMP)

Paul lays out a template for us to use when we go before the Father on behalf of people for whom we pray.   He says that he prays for wisdom and revelation but not just for anything.  Both of these requests are specifically directed towards the purpose of knowing God in a deeper and more intimate way. 

I think many times when we pray for wisdom and revelation we might have our focus on the wrong destination.  While it might be good, it may not be best.  For instance, when I pray for wisdom to know God’s will for my life, that’s a good thing, but the best thing would be to pray for wisdom to know God in a way so personal that it would be obvious what He wants me to do.  In the same way, when I pray for revelation to know what an area of Scripture means so that I can share the truth of His Word with others and apply it to my life, that’s a really good thing.  However, the best thing would be to have the Holy Spirit reveal to me the intimate and deep thoughts and heart of God so that my information would be constrained and filtered through the love that is the essence of God’s being and not just an impersonal lecture.  I think Paul put it this way:

And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2 ASV).

God has promised to give wisdom to anyone who asks:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him (James 1:5 NKJV).

James, the brother of Jesus, goes on further in his Epistle to describe the kind of wisdom we get that is from Heaven.  He obviously understood this concept that wisdom and revelation which comes from God will bear the fruit of who God is:

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy (James 3:17 NKJV).

Today I will ask for wisdom from God – not for the things that I typically do – but for the ability to know God in a deeper and more intimate way so that I can be a more effective witness to the world for Christ.

Check out Gennarino's devotional on this same verse at:  Ephesians 1:17