Praying to Know God Better

Good Morning, it is so good to see everyone this morning, I am going to tell you that this mornings message will be coming to you out of the book of Ephesians so go ahead and turn there with me if you will, want to talk to you this morning on this subject, praying to know god better.

I wanna start the message by asking 2 questions and offering one answer for both.

WHAT IS THE GREATEST NEED IN THE WORLD TODAY?

WHAT IS THE GREATEST NEED IN THE CHURCH TODAY?

The answer is the same: The knowledge of God

Unsaved and unbelieving people need to know God in order to be saved from his eternal wrath.

John 17:3 ESV

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Every human being is born a sinner, our sin separates us from God and we cant be restored to right relationship with God by any good works we can perform. We receive eternal life only by knowing God through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. Lost people need to know God savingly.

But saved people need to know God increasingly. So you have been saved, great but are you investing the time neccesarry to intimately know the God with whom you will spend all of eternity? If you will remember the passage from where Jesus says that there will be many who will come before him expressing all the many deeds they did for God while on Earth but notice what Jesus tells them for those who had an intimate relationship with him he says well done my good and faithful servant, but then there was that other group saying the same things as the first, they spoke of all the good deeds they had done, but He told them depart from me you workers of lawlessness, for I NEVER KNEW YOU.

To know God is about more than just meeting God, it is personal relationship not just formal introduction. it is intimacy not just making acquaintance, in fact the evidence that someone truly knows God is that you will never be content with what you already know about God. Paul talk about this consuming passion in

Philippians 3:10 HCSB

My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,

Philippians

When Paul wrote those words he had met Jesus 30 years before he wrote them. it is arguable that no other person in history knew Christ better than Paul did. It is likely that no one else in history has done more to make Christ known than Paul did.

But he was not satisfied with his knowledge of God and he did not feel that he knew God well enough. The ultimate desire of Paul’s heart was to know Jesus intimately and increasingly, this should be the consuming passion of every Christian. It should be our hearts desire to know God better.

But How?

how can we get to know God better?

teaches us today that one of the primary means by which we are able to know God better is through believing prayer. is all about God it consists of 2 long elaborate God focused sentances, the first is in verses 3-14 which records a celebration of the soverign grace of God that has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ JEsus in the Heavenly places.

The second is founf in verses 15-23 our text,which is where Paul asks that his readers be given a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God. First Paul offers praise to God then Paul offers requests to God both go together.

John Stott says that to have a healthy Christian life it is of the utmost importance that we follow Pauls example and keep Christian praise and prayer together. Our text is about Christian prayer…

Pauls letters usually start with a prayer report where he tells his readers that he is praying for them and WHAT he is praying for them. This is why often times when someone is telling me about an issue they are having I have found myself telling them the same thing, I am praying for you, and this is what I am praying for.

I didnt do this on purpose but the Holy Spirit works in much of the same way he has always worked and I guess as a pastor like Paul was I feel the weight and burden of everyones issue when they tell me.

In this passage we find two prayer reports, we find a prayer for spiritual enlightenment, and in chapter 3 15-21 we find a prayer for spiritual enablement. These prayers overlap, we need both understanding to know right and we need power to live right. Paul prays for both in this letter but he begins in this prayer with a prayer for enlightenment, a prayer for his people to have greater understanding.

A prayer that we would know God better.

If you want to see the passion of a ministers heart, if you want to know what consumes the minds of myself and Cory, then you need to know that all week every day of the week we are praying and thinking of how to help you know God better.

This is one of the prison epistles of Paul. He wrote this letter chained to Roman soldiers while under house arrest in Rome, he was awaiting trial, he did not know if he would be set free or convicted and executed. But during this season of uncertainty he did not respond to his circumstances with fear and doubt, he responded with prayer.

We see in our passage that he did not only pray for his own circumstances he prayed for other people. No doubt Paul prayed that lost people would be saved but Pauls prayers typically focused on the needs of the church, for Christians. This is what we find here in his letter to the Ephesians, we find him praying for the needs of the saints.

We don’t know what their needs were and scholars agree that this is a circular letter meaning it would be passed along from church to church, and that Paul himself didn’t know the specific needs of the churches, but yet he prays confidently for his readers. He does not pray about physical sickness financial challenges, family problems, personal goals or worldly success he prays about the things that matter the most. He prays with spiritual issues, he prays for heart level issues that are at work underneath the skin.

Paul prays for their greatest need even though he didn’t know their need. He prayed about their true need, not just their felt need. He prayed about what they needed the most, he prayed that they would know God better, and without knowing your business, I declare that’s what you need the most. YOU NEED TO KNOW GOD BETTER, I NEED TO KNOW GOD BETTER!

More than moeny more than a new job, more than healing more than relief from enemies more than deliverance, the most important need in your life is to know God better, and the most important need in my life is to know God better.

Prayer is how we know God better

In our passage today Paul shows us how to pray to know God better and WHAT TO PRAY TO KNOW GOD BETTER

How to Pray to know God Better

Ephesians 1:15

Ephesians 1:15 ESV

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,

For what reason?

This points back to the beginning of the chapter verses 3-14, where Paul lays out all of the blessings God has blessed us with in the Heavenly places. Paul tells us God chose us before the foundation of the world. He tells us how Jesus Christ has redeemed us by the blood of His cross, God the Holy Spirit has sealed us until we receive the full inheritance of our salvation.

God knew us in our mothers womb, He knew the day we would receive Him as Lord, He blessed us in Christ before He even formed the Earth! But we couldn’t earn it so God sent Jesus to earn it for us, then He gave us the Holy Spirit to seal us into salvation, to make us safe and secure from all alarms, leaning on the everlasting arms. One day by Gods power He will return and the dead in Christ shall rise first and then we who remain will be caught up together with Him to receive what God has been planning for us since before the world existed....

God HAS YOUR PAST COVERED, YOUR PRESENT COVERED AND YOUR FUTURE COVERED

But even though Paul was confident that our salvation was safe in the hands of GOD He still prays, for the saints. He declares God is in total control and then says for this reason I am praying for you. This is confusing to some people, people will ask if God is real why pray?

I mean if He already knows everything, if He already controls everything, and if God is gonna do whatever God wants to do anyway then why pray?

When a person asks this question there is a couple of answers there to give them:

Because the word of god commands it

Because prayer works

But our passage gives us several other reasons you ought to pray. Namely it seems to teach us that true worship naturally flows into believing prayer. The sign that you praise right will be that you pray right.

The connection of these passages teach us, that we will not be able to access or appropraite the blessing that are ours without prayer. You will never understand fully the truth of who you are in Christ without prayer. God is soverign but Paul says I still need you to pray so that you will know how great this God is who is on your side.

So he begins to report in verse 15, 16 and 17 telling us how he prays for the saints. There is a lesson here. We learn something from his instruction and his example. He teaches us not just what to pray but how to pray.

He teaches us to

Pray for one another

What we need to notice though to start that how you address God matters, you oughtta know that how you address God should remind you of who you are talking to so before Paul gets rolling he says before I tell you WHAT I prayed let me tell you about WHO i PRayed to.

Ephesians 1:17 ESV

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

Ephesians

First of all he says I have been asking the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of glory to do something for you. In other words he wants to reassure his readers that he is praying with confidence. Church you can pray with confidence, you can pray with confidence in the goodness of God this is what Paul means when he calls God the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You can pray with confidence in the goodness of God, you do know that God is good dont ya?

But how do you know God is good?

Its not just that He got you up this morning and started you on your way,and put bread on ya table and clothed you in your right mind, and gave you a reasonable amount of health and strength. He did all that but thats not the real proof that God is good, sometimes we wonder if God is good when we look at bad things but its not the circumstances of life, that declare that God is good....

If you wanna know God is good, run to the cross, and look at Jesus this is the clearest picture of the goodness of God this is what Paul means when he says that I been praying to the God of the Lord JEsus Christ, if he was just God He would be Holy and vengeful and angry but Hes not JUST GO HES THE GOD OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!! WHICH MEANS THAT HE IS A GOOD GOD, HE IS THE GOD WHO SENT HIS SON INTO THE WORLD TO DIE ON THE CORSS FOR OUR SINS THAT WE MIGHT HAVE A FRESH START AND A NEW BEGINNING AND ANOTHER CHANCE.

God is good when you think about Jesus and all he has done for you through tha sacrifice.it ought to give you confidence to pray knowing that God loved you so much, and desired a relationship with you so much that He would sacrifice the only Son He ever had in order to get you in return.

When I was a little boy I had friends that would just come to the house in and out they would come, one time in particualr I remember hiding as a friend of mine named cole was coming from his house to mine, He busts into the house my father and mother sitting there with my grandparents and he runs straight through the front door wihtout knocking runs straight by them and into my room.

My grandad looke at my dad and said:what is going on here?

Dad said oh dont worry thats my sons friend, Cole came back down the hallway and said Kyle aint back there, where is he?

My dad knowing that i was hiding behind them told him, he hasnt made it home yet. Cole said well hes usually home by now...

Dad said well I dont know what to tell you he should be home soon,He just bolted out the door.

Grandad asked dad you let that little boy talk to you like that?

Dad said again: THATS MY SONS FRIEND

He’d come by and when i would be grabbing some snacks out the pantry he would just grab him some snacks and he could get away with it cause dad said he is my sons friend, what right do you think you have, to come before the throne of God and ask ANYTHING AND EXPECT A FAVOR FROM GOD IN RETURN?

WE ARE SINFUL OUR HEARTS ARE FILLED WITH INIQUITY WE HAVE STEPPED OUTSIDE THE WILL OF GOD, BASED ON OUR GOODNESS WE DONT DESERVE ANYTHING FROM THE LORD.

BUT OUR GRET HIGH PREIST IS SITTING BY THE FATHER RIGHT HAND AND WHEN YOU COME TO GOD IN PRAYER THE SON SAYS TO THE FATHER DONT WORRY DADDY THATS MY FRIEND, AND BECAUSE GOD IS THE GOD OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST WE CAN PRAY WITH CONFIDENCE IN THE GOODNESS OF GOD!!

But not only can you pray with confidence in the goodness of God

PRAY WITH CONFIDENCE IN THE GLORY OF GOD

He is not just the God of our Lord JESUS CHRIST He is the Father of Glory, He is the Lord of Glory.He is the infinitely glorious Father His glory and it is the hope of our great future listen to say that He is the Father of my Lord JEsus Christ means HES GOT MY YESTERDAYS UNDER CONTROL, BUT TO SAY HES THE FATHER OF GLORY IS TO SAY HES GOT MY FUTURE UNDER CONTROL. SO IT DONT MATTER WHATS GOING ON IN MY LIFE JESUS IS THE SAME YESTERDAY TODAY AND FOREVERMORE, AND I CAN PRAY WITH CONFIDENCE, THAT HE IS ABLE TO DO EXCEEDINGLY ABOVE ALL THAT I COULD EVER ASK OR EVEN THINK.

Thats how to pray to know God better. But let me tell you what to pray to know God better

Ray Pritchard “Prayer is the thermometer of the soul”

You wanna tell me what somebody believes dont tell me what they say, tell me what they pray

Paul here gives us a thermometer of his soul by recording for us what he prays

HE AINT PRAYING FOR LITTLE TEMPORARY THINGS

HES PRAYING GOD SIZED GOD EXALTING PRAYERS

He says I been tlaking to God this is what I am asking Him for

THAT HE WOULD GRANT YOU A SPIRIT OF WISDOM AND OF REVELATION IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM

I been praying asking God to help you know God better

When he asks for God to give you a spirit of wisdom means this is not somethign you can figure out on your own this is a spiritual thing. WISDOM refers to spiritual insight

Chuck swindoll has my favorite definition for wisdom He says “WISDOM IS THE ABILITY GIVEN BY GOD TO SEE LIFE RIGHT AND RESPOND TO LIFE RIGHT.

He says Im asking God to give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation thats the source of the knowledge of God. That God would reveal Himself to you, you cannot figure God out on your own, and He says I am praying that God will show Himself to you. He says in the knowledge and that word knowledge is intensified in the language

it is personal deep intimate knowledge He says I am praying not that you nknow about God but that you fully know GOD Are you still with me?

I KNOW PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP i dont know if I told yall that or not I kow him, if he comes on the news I just hear his voice I dont even have to see him I just hear his voice and I say oh yeah the president is on the news. I know what his voice sounds like, I know what he looks like, I can tell you things about his biography, I have even read a portion of his book the art of the deal, I know about his training I know about his political positions, I know the president but I DONT REALLY KNOW THE PRESIDENT

I dont know him he doesnt know me.

But I know my wife Amy, I met her for the firs time at a church softball game when I was still lost as last years easter egg. She was a favorite among the youth group, the pastor ofthe church even thought of her as his own daughter.

Back then she wasnt my type, but namely because she would not have touched me with a 10 ft pole back then.We have known each other for quite awhile now and Ive gotten to know her personally, and Ive gotten to know things about her that no one else knows. We have unspoken means of communication, because we know each other.

I know her well enough that I can look at her and ask her whats wrong and she say nothing and i still know somethings wrong. Vice versa

I KNOW ABOUT PRESIDENT TRUMP

BUT I KNOW MY WIFE

Paul says that I’m praying that God would do something in your life so that you don’t just know about god but YOU KNOW HIM PERSONALLY INTIMATELY AND DEEPLY FOR YOUR SELF!

Psalm 34:8 HCSB

Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him!

Do you know Him?

Do you want to know Him better?

Then pray confidently, knowing that He loves you, pray expectantly knowing He desires to give you every good thing, pray that your prayers are centered around Him being glorified because when He is glorified trust me, you will be satisfied.

Let’s pray