Wisdom and Revelation | Apostolic Prayers

SPEAKER 03 : 0:01

Paul is praying that the Holy Spirit would fill us and supercharge us, that we would truly be walking in revelation and enlightenment, that we’d be filled with this internal light. I’m going to go through seven prayers that the apostles prayed in the New Testament and help you to model their heart in your own prayer life. You see, when we pray, we have to have faith. If we don’t have faith when we pray, our results are going to be limited. But the Bible says anything we ask for in prayer, believing that we’ve received what we asked for, we shall have it. So having faith when we pray to be effective is critical. But sometimes it’s hard to have faith if we don’t know that what we’re asking Father for is His will. But one thing I can assure you of, the things that we’re gonna be focusing on in the apostolic prayers that I’m gonna help you apply to your life, you can have faith whenever you pray for yourself for these things. And it’s an awesome feeling to be able to come before Father in Jesus’ name, asking Him for things that you know is His will or are His will for your life, and therefore knowing you’re going to receive what you’re asking for, that your prayers are going to move God’s heart, and He’s going to respond to those prayers, bringing increase in your life in many different ways. Father God, in Jesus’ name, thank you, Father God, for the New Testament. I want to thank you for the revelation that you’ve given us for every single one that’s under the sound of my voice during this series. Father God, I ask you to release life into our hearts. Father, that you’d produce faith, clarity, and confidence as we join to look to you together in these lives of the apostles through their prayers. In Jesus’ name, amen and amen. We’re going to begin then the series today, beloved ones, by going to the book of Ephesians, one of my favorite books in the New Testament. We’re going to go now to the first chapter in the book of Ephesians, and we’re going to look at Paul’s apostolic prayer, beginning there in verse number 15. What I’m going to do is I’m just going to begin verse by verse to look at these apostolic prayers, to dissect them, if you will, so that we can focus on each concept that the apostle raises before Father, once again, knowing, you and I realizing that as we’re doing this, the same things that the apostle was asking for are still God’s heart to give you and I, his children, on earth here today. So have peace and bear with me. Now, here we go. Beginning in verse number 15. Paul begins, he says, for this reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus, which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers. So the first thing that we learn is that this is a prayer. Paul is sharing that he’s praying these things unto the Lord for us. And who is he praying for? He’s praying for, beloved, those that belong to the Lord, those that have faith in Him. Having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus, which exists among you, And the badge of that faith was that they had love. He said, not only have I heard of the fact that you have saving faith, that you’re truly children of the Lord, but I’m also hearing of the love which exists among you, which the older I get in the Lord, the more I see that love is the fruit of the Holy Spirit that will remain forever, right? Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifies us. All the gifts of the Spirit will pass away, the scripture tells us, except for faith, hope, and love, and love being the greatest of all. Jesus said, by this will all men know that you’re my disciples if you love one another. In other places of scripture, we hear concerning our own walking in love, that if we’re walking in love and the love in our life is increasing, then we’re truly on the journey. And I guess this is a good place just for us to kind of pause and You know, because Paul told us, he said, examine yourselves, Paul said, to see whether you’re in the faith. In other words, it’s important that we look at ourselves. It’s important that we examine ourselves. We can’t just go through life coasting without looking at ourselves. So Paul said, examine yourselves test yourselves to see whether you’re in the faith. And I think one of the ways that we can examine ourselves to see if we’re really on the journey is to see, are we on the journey? Ask ourselves, are we on the journey of love? Are we walking in love? And is our love increasing? Now, none of us are perfect. We’re on this journey to perfection and the perfection is love. And so once again, As we’re in this apostolic prayer in Ephesians chapter one, beginning in verse 15, Paul identifies who he’s praying for. He’s praying for those that have a living faith in the Lord Jesus. He’s not just some, you know, imagination. People hope that he’s real. No, these are people that know Jesus is real. Their faith is alive. And he said, they’re walking in love. So if you have a living faith in Jesus and you’re walking in love, not that you’re perfect, but you’re growing and walking in love and you’re striving to walk in love, then this prayer, beloved, is for you. Let’s continue on and see what Paul says. He says in verse number 16 again, that he does not cease giving thanks for us. He said you there, of course, but it speaks to us as well, while making mention of you in my prayers. And now he begins to pray. Verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Father of Glory. Now, just to point out the Hebrew roots of our faith here for a second, Paul always addresses his prayer to the Father. Generally speaking, it’s always to the Father in the name of Jesus. And we see that modeled here. And he’s asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give to you. So I want us just to consider this for a second, the model through which Paul prayed. Even when he began his letter, he said, grace to you and peace, Paul said in the beginning of the book of Ephesians, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I’m trying to just place our relationship with the Godhead or the Trinity in order. Sometimes Christians are so focused on Jesus that they forget that it’s because of the Father’s love for them that Jesus was sent. Remember the most famous verse in the Bible, right? John 3, 16. God so loved the world that He sent His only Son. Who is the God that so loved the world? That’s the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, after Jesus had risen from the dead, and had not yet ascended to the Father. Some of those early followers of his saw him and they tried to take a hold of him, and Jesus said, do not touch me yet, for I have not yet ascended. He said, do not touch me. He said, for I have not yet ascended to my Father, and to your Father. So that’s who the prayer is addressed to, that we have a Father in heaven. He’s the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. And getting back to the Hebrew roots, and in the Hebrew Bible, we see him referred to through the Hebrew letters, Yud, Hey, Vav, Hey, which most ancient Hebrew scholars of the ancient Semitic language feel is pronounced a breathy Yahweh. So this is who Paul is praying to here, the God of Israel, who is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is referred to about 7,000 times in the Tanakh or Old Testament as Yahweh. Paul says, I do not cease making mention of you in my prayers, that in verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, Yahweh, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. So Paul begins praying for the church, praying for you and I, God’s people. that Father would give us a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge, listen now, of Him. Not just wisdom for wisdom’s sake. Not just so that we could be wise in the world, although wisdom is always good in every respect. But specifically, Paul prays that we would have wisdom in the knowledge of him, that you and I would have wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God, who he is. Now, I want you to listen for a second here. Revelation is critical. Paul is linking wisdom and revelation together. Revelation, beloved, is the bedrock for what the church is being built on. Listen, Jesus said to Peter, who do you say that I am? Peter said, some say Elijah, some say John the Baptist raised from the dead. And then Yeshua said to Peter, to Simon Peter, but who do you say that I am? And Peter said, thou art the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one, the son of the living God. What was Jesus’s, what was Yeshua’s response back to Peter? Jesus said this, he said, blessed art thou, Simon, son of John, for flesh and blood has not revealed, get that word revealed, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. And then Jesus said, and on this rock, I will build my church. I believe the rock that Yeshua was referring to there when he said to Peter, on this rock, I’m going to build my church. I believe the rock that Jesus was referring to is the rock, beloved, of revelation. You see, the Bible tells us that everybody that hears and learns from the Father, comes to Jesus. So our faith is built on revelation, in the knowledge of Him, on the wisdom to understand that Jesus is the only way, not the world’s mindset, that tells us, you know, Jesus is one of many, not the world that tells us, you know, to be politically and culturally correct and not to push our faith on anybody or to have an intolerant mindset by which we’re saying Jesus is the only way. That’s not the wisdom or revelation of God. But we have the wisdom and the revelation of God that Jesus is the only way. But beyond that, Paul is praying that we’ll see how beautiful and trustworthy and faithful and powerful Jesus really is. So right now, we’re going to pick up on this prayer that Paul prayed. And I’m going to share with you, beloved, a prayer so that we can enter into this right now. We’re going to ask for wisdom and revelation. So Father God, in Yeshua’s name. I ask you to give us now a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus. Father God, we right now with Paul ask that you would give us your people a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God. Father, we want to know you. Father, we want to see you. We want to see your beauty. We want to see how beautiful, Jesus, you really are. So, Father, we thank you that you desire to answer this prayer, this prayer, Father, that we would be filled in the wisdom and the revelation and the knowledge of you. So, Father God, once again, we come knocking. We come asking. We come seeking. We come drawing near, asking you, Abba, Father, to give us wisdom and and revelation in the knowledge of you, of how beautiful you are. And Father God, how much you love us. In Jesus’ name, amen and amen. Beloved, this is not a prayer to just pray one time. This is a prayer to keep focused on through the rest of our journey here on earth, that Father would continue to reveal himself to us. This is actually what Paul is asking for here.

SPEAKER 01 : 12:30

You’re listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus. And Rabbi, we’ll be right back in a moment. But first, I want you to know that our desire is to see God move powerfully in your life. And if you have a prayer request, we invite you to submit it online at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Our team will prayerfully lift up your request to the Lord, believing with you for God’s guidance and love in your life. Submit your request today. All around the world, people are searching for truth and hope. That’s why Rabbi has traveled to places like Haiti, Nigeria, and beyond, sharing the gospel and strengthening believers everywhere. Through powerful outreach events, lives are being transformed. But we can’t do this without your prayers and without your financial support. So pray and donate today, discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And now… Here’s Rabbi Schneider.

SPEAKER 03 : 13:35

Let’s continue on. In verse number 18, Paul continues, he says, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. Notice once again, Paul by name mentions the fact that this is a prayer. He says, I pray. He’s contending with God that you and I would possess this, okay? This is a focused ambition of Paul, that the church would be made complete. So what does he say? He says, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. In other words, that our heart, our inner man, our inner spirit, our soul, beloved, would be filled and saturated with light, that we would have a spiritual eye, an internal eye, not a physical eye, but an internal spiritual eye, that we would be enlightened to be able to see and experience these realities that Paul is asking for. Let’s look again. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. You know, Some people speak of the enlightened ones that have existed throughout the ages, you know, the people that are into new age. They speak about certain ones that are enlightened. Well, I want you to hear me, beloved. Those that are truly enlightened are those that know the God of the Bible, the Judeo-Christian God, the God of Israel and the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is true wisdom. This is true knowledge. This is true enlightenment. But more than this, what I want to stress for you and I today is that God is calling us outside of religion. He’s not talking to us about becoming more religious. He’s talking to us about really knowing Him and knowing unseen spiritual realities. He’s wanting to bring us in to an experience that we’re perceiving in our experience through our inner man that is of the nature of the Spirit. In other words, Paul is praying that the Holy Spirit would fill us and supercharge us, that we would truly be walking in revelation and get it now, enlightenment, that we’d be filled with this internal light, that our mind would take on the mind of Christ, that we would take on the mind of God. And this happens, beloved, through a spiritual transformation by the Holy Spirit that affects the way we perceive life. So Paul was asking that the way that we see would be supernaturally enlightened. You know, certain ones are able to see in the spirit deeper and farther than others. But all of us, all of God’s children have the potential to be able to perceive life with spiritual eyes and to be able to see into divine spiritual realities and mysteries, to be able to understand God’s ways and to comprehend him. So let’s listen once again. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know, get it now, the next thing Paul’s asking for here, what is the hope of his calling? In other words, Paul wants us to understand, beloved, where we’re going. He wants you and I to understand what our destiny is. You know, that’s one of the most important questions in life that everyone has asked themselves. Why am I here? And where am I going? I mean, if you get right down to it, if we strip everything else away to ask ourselves, what are the most important questions of life, wouldn’t they boil down to, who am I? Why am I here? And where am I going? What’s my purpose in life? Listen to what Paul says there. I pray the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know the hope of His calling. In other words, Paul is praying that you and I will comprehend not only how significant we are, which we’re going to see as this verse continues, but also that we’ll have a sense of our destiny, of God’s call on our life, who He’s made us to be, who He’s calling us to be, and what He’s bringing us into. Because you know what? If we don’t know where we’re going, If we don’t have a target in mind, we’re going to drift through life like a ship that’s being tossed by every wind that comes around. We have to have a goal. We have to have a focus. And Paul is praying that you and I will understand our call. You know, the great saint of old said that man’s goal is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. And I think that’s a pretty accurate definition of our calling, beloved, to know God, to glorify him and to enjoy his love forever. I want you to know you are so much more than you think you are. Your destiny is so much bigger and greater than you know that it is. The Bible says, I is not seen. An ear has not heard, neither has it ever entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those that love Him. I want you to know, beloved, God has something supernatural and special in store for you. God has a call on your life. You’re going somewhere. I know that sometimes it feels like you’re just existing. Sometimes you just feel maybe like you get up in the morning, you do the same thing every day. It feels perhaps to you like life doesn’t have significance. But I want you to know that you’re being changed, that as you cooperate with God and seek God right where you’re at in your present circumstances that may seem mundane, God is doing something supernatural inside you. See, the Bible says the present trials we go through aren’t worthy to be compared with the eternal glory that going through these trials is working in us. I want you to know, beloved, you’re significant. God loves you and he has a purpose for your life. The greatest gift, beloved, that you could ever give somebody is to lead them to Yeshua, to Jesus. In the book of Romans, chapter 15, verse 25 through 27, Paul shared how the Macedonian church, which were Gentiles, gave him a love gift to help him reach the saints in Jerusalem. You are doing the same thing today conceptually. You’re allowing me to help people in Jerusalem by broadcasting the gospel, beloved, into all of Israel. I want you to know, every dollar that you give of your money with the right heart towards the spreading of the gospel, it will be rewarded at Jesus’ return. I believe that as things get more difficult on planet Earth, more Jewish people will receive the Lord. Will you help me reach them?

SPEAKER 01 : 20:34

Amen. Thank you, Rabbi. And friends, if you want to help us reach the Jewish people, would you support us today? Just go online to give at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. You know, your giving, it helps us reach Jewish people like Howard. Here’s his testimony. Shortly after I had watched Rabbi’s program, I did come to faith in the Lord in Yeshua. Rabbi is one of the greatest teachers I’ve ever listened to. And you know, I was actually with Howard when he shared this, and I love his authenticity. He basically shared with us that had it not been for Rabbi, he wouldn’t be saved today. So I want you to know the things we’re sharing, it’s unique it’s the gospel but it’s from a very special perspective that allows people to see jesus in a way that they’ve never seen jesus so i want to thank you for supporting this ministry and being a part of it and i also want to remind you don’t forget we have a complimentary resource package and it explores the wisdom of the Aaronic blessing. It’s absolutely free and it’s a PDF and audio guide that walks you through each powerful phrase of the blessing. You’ll discover how these ancient words provide power and also protection over your life today. I believe it’s really eye-opening and it’ll give you a fresh perspective of how to apply the Aaronic Blessing over your life and also over your family and your children. We would love to make sure that you get your free copy. So go to myfreegift.com forward slash peace to get yours today. Now here’s Rabbi with the Aaronic Blessing.

SPEAKER 03 : 22:21

What I love about the Aaronic blessing is that it did not originate with man. The words actually proceeded from the very essence of God himself. The blessing comes from the book of Numbers, chapter six. So listen to these words and receive the blessing of the Lord into your life today.

SPEAKER 02 : 22:39

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Shalom.

SPEAKER 03 : 23:29

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with His countenance. And the Lord give you, beloved one, His peace. God bless you and shalom.

SPEAKER 01 : 23:50

I’m your host, Dustin Roberts, and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Join Rabbi Schneider again next time to find the hope of your divine calling. That’s coming up Tuesday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.