Wow, what a revelation if this Scripture, beloved! In Ephesians 1:17-23 he prays, not that the church would receive more information, but that God would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Paul is praying this over believers. Mature believers. Faithful believers. People who are already saved, sealed, and walking with God. Yet he is convinced that without revelation, something vital is still missing.

This tells us immediately that knowing about God and knowing God are not the same thing.

You can attend church faithfully. You can quote Scripture accurately. You can serve wholeheartedly and love sincerely and still only know about God. Paul is not praying for better behaviour, stronger discipline, or deeper commitment. He is praying for revelation. Because transformation does not begin with effort. Transformation begins when God is revealed.

The word Paul uses for knowledge here is epignosis, it’s a greek word. It is not surface knowledge or accumulated facts. It is full knowledge. Experiential knowledge. Relational knowing. It is the kind of knowing that happens when truth moves from your head into your inner being. But even deeper than the Greek, this prayer echoes a Hebrew understanding that Scripture has always carried. The Old Testament word for knowing is yada.

Yada is not academic. It is intimate. It is experiential. It is covenantal.

Scripture uses yada to describe Adam knowing Eve. Now look, being together alone and having just one another… think about the concept that she was made FOR him, while he was put to sleep she was fashioned out of his ribs. He knew her, he knew everything about her… It is used to describe God knowing His people. It speaks of closeness, vulnerability, shared life, and encounter. Yada is not something you study from a distance. You cannot yada God through someone else’s revelation. You cannot yada Him by mastering theology alone. Yada requires proximity. Presence. Revelation.

This is why Paul prays that the eyes of their hearts would be enlightened. Not their intellects. Not their emotions. Their inner sight. Their spiritual perception. In other words, you can be sincere and still be blind. You can be devoted and still live beneath what is available. You can be obedient and still operate without revelation.

We often try to change first and hope revelation follows. God works the other way around. He reveals Himself first, and transformation follows naturally. When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, he did not need a sermon on holiness. When Peter encountered Jesus in the boat, repentance poured out of him. When Saul encountered Christ on the road, his entire life realigned in a moment. Revelation produces repentance. Revelation produces surrender. Revelation produces obedience.

This is why information alone will never transform you. Information can inform behaviour, but only revelation transforms the heart. Without revelation, faith becomes managed. Obedience becomes forced. Spiritual life becomes performance. But when God reveals Himself, striving gives way to surrender. Change becomes organic. Holiness becomes a response, not a requirement.

Many believers believe in God but do not know Him. They know His attributes. They know His promises. They know His expectations. But they do not know His nearness. They have knowledge without intimacy. Familiarity without encounter.

Paul is praying for a shift. From facts to fire. From belief to knowing. From knowing about God to knowing God.

And this is why dryness does not always mean disobedience. Sometimes it simply means a lack of fresh revelation. You can live on yesterday’s manna for only so long before your soul starts craving something living again. Revelation cannot be manufactured. It cannot be forced. It must be received.

This prayer in Ephesians 1 becomes an invitation we must learn to pray for ourselves. Lord, reveal Yourself to me again. Open the eyes of my heart. Move me from knowing about You to knowing You. Do not let me live on borrowed encounters or old revelations.

Because the greatest danger is not ignorance. It is familiarity without encounter. There is more of God to be known. There is deeper seeing available. And there is transformation waiting on revelation.

And it always begins the same way.

God, let me know You.

Love
V.L