Praying Wisely

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 17 is our text today. But I'd like to start reading in verse 15. That notes the transition where prayer is the main subject. Today's title, if you like to take notes and write down what the title of the message is, is "Praying Wisely." So Ephesians chapter 1 verses 17 to 23, the subject is prayer and today's message title is "Praying Wisely." And I want to get serious with you — that's with you, not at you, but for you and with you — on the subject of prayer. We're going to be on prayer here for the next few weeks, and to get serious about prayer together as a church, we will be becoming more dynamic in our prayer life. And in order to become more dynamic in your prayer life, we can study the prayers that are in the Scriptures. And so how then can we move ourselves from an average prayer life to a dynamic prayer life? The answer is study the prayers in Scripture. We have prayers that Jesus has prayed, which we can outline and model. We have prayers that the Apostle Paul has for us that we can outline and model. And all kinds of other prayers around the entire Bible, but I will focus on the Apostle Paul's prayers and I'll have a case for training from those to start off.

And so for today, let's go ahead and read the entirety of this section together on prayer. And that starts in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 15 and it goes all the way to the end of the chapter. So read along with me in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 15 and following. The Bible 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." And in verse 17 is where he actually starts praying. This is an overflow. Verse 17 says, "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the full knowledge of Him so that you, the eyes of your heart, having been enlightened." You see that in the past tense. You've been saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your heart's eyes have been enlightened. That's having been saved by Jesus Christ. So he's speaking to the true church here — so that you, the eyes of your heart, having been enlightened, what is the hope of His calling? And so for those of you who have been saved, now you can enter into a fuller knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and even know the hope, the hope of His calling. What are the riches of His glory? It's only the saints that can truly know the richness of God's glory. "The riches of His glory and of His inheritance in the saints. Verse 19: and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of the might of His strength, which He worked in Christ by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at the right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the age to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet and gave Him as head over things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all."

Pause with me in prayer if you would. Father, it's only right to pause and pray after we have read a section on prayer. Lord, this is a passage where the Apostle Paul, being underneath Your divine inspiration, now also is overflowing — not only giving thanks for the Ephesian church, but Lord, he is praying for them. And this first area, this first point, is to get a spirit of wisdom, and I pray the same for us, dear Jesus. Give us Your wisdom today. We pray. It's in Christ's name we ask. Amen.

And so I want to first of all start with a case for training — all right, a case for training — and ask you the question: should we study and imitate the Apostle Paul's prayers? And this is a very baseline idea of the fact that you would model your life after the Apostle Paul. Is that right to do so? Well, the answer you should be saying in your heart and mind is, well, yes, it's Scripture. The Bible says so. And so it is Scripture. The answer to that first question is all Scripture is for training.

And so the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:16 that all Scripture is God-breathed and it's profitable for teaching and reproof and for correction and for training in righteousness. This word training in the Greek has a twofold idea. It includes both education and cultivation. Education and cultivation. Culture is a big deal, guys. I'm not talking about a worldly culture. I'm talking about how we do what we do in here as the church. How we cultivate what we do really formulates little hearts and minds. How you pray, what you say, what you pray, how you worship, how we preach, how we lean upon the sufficiency and authority of the Word of God. A lot of this stuff is caught. It's absorbed. It's understood. It's not just taught and instructed to the mind, but the culture — the idea of a cultivation within one's heart and spirit. Those things are caught because you're placing emphasis upon it and people understand that. Especially youth, especially teenagers are very discerning in these areas. The Greek idea of training includes both education and cultivation.

Let me unfold this idea a little bit more. Underneath the idea of education, reviewing the right information repetitiously is educating. It's one idea of being able to educate someone. You're reviewing the right things repetitiously. Say the right things over and over, and over, and over again. We believe in the Bible. That's a common phrase. The Scriptures are sufficient for life and godliness. That's a common phrase. What does the Bible have to say? That's a common phrase. We need to lean upon the authority of the Scriptures and really press in the fact that God is holy. Pray like Jesus prayed. All these wonderful things — repeat these things repetitiously. Those things that you won't repeat, you need to reward those things by placing emphasis upon them with your smiles, with your attaboys, with your encouragement. Place these things very clearly upon people's lives, and that is cultivating an education. That is training. You train for success. If you plan to train for success, you'll have winners, not losers, on your hands. You'll have people — especially young people — trained for the day of temptation, to be able to run from temptation rather than getting absorbed by temptation. Especially the ways of the world are so strategically designed by Satan to grab onto the emotions and to pull them in like a tractor beam.

Have you trained those who are underneath your spiritual authority? Have you trained them in a way that they can resist the devil? Have you trained them? Here in the passage we're asking the question: have you trained those whom you are over how to pray? Have you ever thought to train someone how to pray? Training. Training is not just educating. Can you tell somebody to pray and then they go and have a dynamic prayer life? Well, no. You can tell them all day long until you're blue in the face. But until you actually not only educate them on how to pray, but then go and cultivate the meaningfulness of prayer with them — does it actually take root? And so we need to educate in a way that is formulating a life. It's cultivating a life. So you have not educated — you have not trained someone — until they can repeat it and do it. Not until the one whom you are discipling can actually repeat it and actually do it and then actually train someone. Have you educated them? Have you trained them? Have you set them up for success?

And so all Scripture, according to 2 Timothy 3:16, is for training. And the Scriptures here that we're reading are talking about prayer, and we're talking about training people how to pray. Praying wisely, specifically. A little bit more — not only just education, but some on cultivation. We must cultivate our prayer life, and training includes cultivating. Now this is a term that is used in horticulture. You must cultivate the soil. You must cultivate an atmosphere that is prime for that seed to flourish. If you do not remove the stumps and the rocks and the thorns and the thistles, do you really expect that tomato plant to produce?

You must do the work to remove the obstacles so that that gospel seed, so that that prayer life example can have that opportunity to thrive. You've got to do the hard work, my friends. You've got to remove the distractions. You've got to create the time and the space for prayer to happen. And if you don't, then they won't.

Pretty easy, right? If you don't do it in a way that is transferable and repeatable, it's not going to get done. And so have you trained those who are underneath your spiritual authority how to expect a harvest in prayer? One of the main points in today's passage is that when the Apostle Paul prays for the Ephesian church to have wisdom — a spirit of wisdom — scholars say there is zero doubt from the Apostle Paul's heart and mind that God would actually give them wisdom. And so after he prays for wisdom for the Ephesian church, he moves forward with faith and confidence and a good night's sleep that the Ephesian church would have the wisdom of God to be able to apply it to their lives, especially in the areas for which he has given them an example on how to pray.

And so we must then press forward to teach and to cultivate how to pray repetitiously until they can actually do what you have taught them. So keep it up, and keep it up. Oftentimes this is not just a season of training, but a lifetime of repetition of the main things. The main things do not become the backseat things. The main things aren't pushed to the back burner, but the main things are pushed up front and prioritized. And prayer obviously is that. And so true training is educating and cultivating. True training is content and culture. You can have all the head knowledge you want, but if you don't have a life that lives out what you know, you're a hypocrite. And so we have to be able to take what we know and move it over into what we do. I say it like this all the time for theological education — for students who are studying the Word of God in Bible college or whatnot — is that studying and serving go hand in hand. You must not only study what the Bible says, but you have to live it out and serve it. You have to serve. You have to live it out. You have to actually apply what you're learning. And then you own it. Not until that point have you actually been trained.

And so should we study and imitate Paul's prayers? Well, all Scripture — yes — is for training. 2 Timothy 3:16. Another point that I'd like to give to you is that Scripture says to imitate Paul. You may be thinking to yourselves at the beginning of this message, well, I'm not going to mimic some man's prayer life. Well, the Bible says to, in 1 Corinthians 11:1. It says, "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ." And that's Paul speaking to the church at Corinth, and he is mentioning to them: mimic me, model my prayers, act like me, because I am acting like Christ. Pray like me because I'm praying like Christ. Do what I am doing. Learn this. Develop a culture of this. So have you ever thought to really truly teach someone how to pray? Have you ever thought of that? How do you actually do it?

Well, I was talking with Wayne the other day, and Wayne and Edith teach Alejandro how to pray. I was so thrilled as a pastor to hear that we have parents that actually spend time with their child Alejandro in prayer every single night. And so I applaud that. I'm happy for that. One way to develop a dynamic prayer life is to imitate Paul. And one of the most dynamic disciples in all of Scripture is the Apostle Paul. And in the Greek it is akin to being a mimic — imitating is to be a mimic. A mime. You see what this is. Now, it means — the word imitate in 1 Corinthians 11:1 — this is what it means. It means to become. It means in the continuous sense, be becoming. This continuous idea of being educated and developing a cultivation of mimicking and being like another person — it is a continuous idea with — I know this is a lot, but follow me — with the aim of having permanent results. You're not aiming at nothing. You're aiming at a harvest. You are training for success. You are doing what you're doing in a way to obtain a result.

And so in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 1, it talks about being imitators of Paul, just as he is of Christ, so that after a season of training, there will be permanent results. Your life has been changed. You've been doing these right things for so long now that it has become part of who you are. It's not a flippant — this is not an effort. It's not getting high on caffeine and doing something once in a while. It's not fasting and praying severely and saying, well, I'm on fire for Christ right now, but I wasn't last month. No, this is who you have become. You've become dependent upon prayer as a prayer warrior because you have seen the results of Paul's prayers and you have seen how much emphasis Jesus placed upon prayer. When you analyze and outline the prayers in Scripture, it will change your life. And I am on a mission with you to become more dynamic in our prayer life, because the results that need to happen matter. It's beyond us. The results in our little imitators — the disciples that are right beneath us, right around us — the results in their life matter. The gospel continuing forward is, by and large, dependent upon you and your character and your life in Christ, and how you pray and how you read, how much emphasis you place upon the Word of God and aligning yourself with Christ.

And so again, in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 17, the call is to join in my example: "Brothers, join in following my example." Philippians 3:17. And so this idea of imitating Christ as a fellow imitator is not only stated in 1 Corinthians 11:1 but also in Philippians 3:17.

It's important that we imitate Christ and we find good mentors around us that are Christlike, that are following the Scriptures. And you read the Scriptures and you cultivate an idea in your mind that I'm going to imitate these brothers, these mature sisters in Christ, until I have been changed and conformed into the likeness of Christ. Until I have truly brought into my life a conformity to Christ. Until I'm living like them. Until I'm saying things like them. Until I'm living like them. And around here, do we not have amazing men of God? Do we not have amazing women of God? We have the right people in positions of teaching and leading here at Beulah Baptist Church for you to emulate, and for you to come alongside, for you to serve side by side, for you to live and do life in like fashion. I'm not just bragging on them because I love them. I am bragging upon their dedication to Christ, their dedication to God, their dedication to submitting to the Scriptures. They don't care about their feelings. They don't care about the surface stuff. In fact, they would — gladly yield to the Word of God. If anything in their life did not measure up, they want to know. And so I commend our leaders, our elders, our deacons, our Bible study teachers.

And so we must all have mentors. We must all have those whom we emulate, whom we look up to in our life. We must be getting the gospel, getting the Word of God, getting nutrients from those who are pouring into us, and then we must as a personal responsibility find ways to live it out and teach others. This is God's way, and I would say choose your mentors wisely. Choose who you will emulate wisely. There are character qualifications in the Scriptures that we hold to as a church before you can teach, before you can lead. There are qualifications — okay — in 1 Timothy chapter 3, especially for deacons and elders, and in Titus chapter 1. There are qualifications before the church lays their hands of approval upon you and says, yes, you are a good person to be a leader so that others can emulate you. That's very important. Choose them wisely. Choose them by prayer. Pray wisely.

And now that I have made a case — for the rest of the exposition of this text, as the weeks unfold — that we should in fact emulate the Apostle Paul's prayers, and that this prayer is good for us to be trained by, you can feel completely safe and confident that everything that unfolds in the upcoming weeks by way of training your life for godliness is in fact right and true, holy and pure. Everything that the Scriptures say for us to do in the next verses is for our life to be better, to become more dynamic in our prayer life.

And so for today's message title, "Praying Wisely," verse 17. Look with me: "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom." Folks, this is a very, very important way to start off your prayers. God, You are all-knowing, and I am nothing but a simpleton.

I can't rub two thoughts together and work out anything logical without Your help. God, I humble myself before You. Help me to understand. Give me wisdom. Lord, help me. When you start your prayer life in a humble fashion, a bowed posture, then now you're in position to receive divine information that the Holy Spirit would see fit to trust with you, because now you're humble. Do you think God is going to give to the prideful information so they could use it for their own glory? Absolutely not. But God will give to the humble and the contrite information to be able to be used in a humble way.

So verse 17 acknowledges that wisdom is right to ask for. Now there's something very neat by way of observation in verse 17 that I want to bring your attention to. All right, you've got three fingers. Hold one up: "that the God" — first Person of the Trinity — "of our Lord Jesus Christ" — second Person of the Trinity — "the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom" — by the Father, by the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is a Trinitarian prayer. Paul has already done this in the beginning, from verses 7 to 14, in recognizing the Trinity, and then again at the very beginning. Paul is a Trinitarian. He believes in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and this is repeated again. And if you would take note of things that are repeated in the Scriptures, you would be wise to take note of those things and to implement them in your life. And so I would encourage you to think Trinitarian in regards to praying.

Point number one in regards to praying wisely is this: appeal to our triune God. This prayer is an appeal, and Paul is appealing to this triune God whom we love and trust. And so we know that he has already mentioned God the Father in verse 3, Christ in verse 7, and the Holy Spirit in verse 13 prior to this. And now he does it all in one verse, and this — as he starts to pray — starts his prayer list of appeals. Are you good at asking God for things? Amen. Well, that's great. Well, now this is Paul's appeal list, his prayer list. He is listing out some things here for the Ephesian church. By the way, he's not praying for himself alone. We need to get outside of ourselves in prayer and pray for the church. Paul is praying for the church at Ephesus, and he is appealing to the triune God these things. So verse 17 is the start of Paul's prayers in his prayer list of appeals, and to appeal to God is simply to petition God, to ask God.

Ephesians 6:18 continues this idea of petitioning, and it mentions it twice. "Ephesians 6:18: praying at all times with all prayer and petition, in the Spirit, and to this end being on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints." This word petition means to ask. It's synonymous with praying. If you're petitioning God, you're praying to God. If you're asking God, you're petitioning God. If you're appealing to God, you're praying. All these synonymous terms help us to understand that we are to be not only acknowledging God, but acknowledging the triune God and petitioning and asking God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This is very clear, not only in the Apostle Paul's life, but Jesus acknowledges it as well.

Let me read to you in Luke chapter 12 verses 8 to 12. Listen for the triune God being acknowledged here by Jesus. "And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God. And he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven to him, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him. Now when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you are to say." Here Jesus is also acknowledging the triune being — His Father God, which is part of that. And then also in 2 Corinthians 13:14, listen to this ending greeting, how he ends this book: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." Isn't that a wonderful way to end the book of Corinthians?

And so all three Persons of the Godhead were involved in this first prayer as Paul starts the prayer. But just make a couple more observations with me if you would. In your own salvation, is not all three Persons involved in your salvation? Well, yes. Is not all three Persons of the triune God to be acknowledged in baptism, in the Great Commission? Right? "Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." Is it not just holy and right to pray and to acknowledge all three Persons of the Godhead? Paul did, and so should we.

Point number two is: appeal to our triune God specifically. Not only point number one — appeal to our triune God — but also appeal to Him specifically. And as you go back to Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 17, the remainder of that prayer list goes like this. I'll rattle it off — you can just listen, because I'm going to go from one subject to another to another to another through the rest of the passage. And here is Paul's appeal list. Verse 17 is a spirit of wisdom and of revelation. Verse 18 is an appeal for the Ephesian church to know the hope of His calling and to know the riches of His glorious inheritance. And then verse 19 is an appeal to the triune God for the Ephesian church to know the greatness of His power toward us — God's power toward us — to know that. Sometimes we forget that. And then in verse 20, to know Christ raised and now seated at the right hand of the Father. And then in verse 21 is an appeal for the Ephesian church to know Christ's authority as He is head of the church. And then in verse 22 to know Christ as head over all things, including the church — not just the church, but head over all things — and that He has been placed far above all things. And then in verse 23 to know Christ, who is our fullness. Our fullness. We are satisfied in Christ.

And Paul appeals to the triune God to help the Ephesian church not to abandon Christ and to be perhaps temporarily satisfied in the wealth of Ephesus, or temporarily satisfied in a fleshly way — to go to the temple of Diana and to commit some atrocious acts there. His appeal is for the Ephesian church not to go to the library and indulge in intellectualism, but to be filled and fulfilled, filled to overflowing in Christ. He's appealing for this and asking for this.

And then in chapter 2 and verse 1 — it's amazing — I love yes-and-no, black-and-white scenarios. Then he switches and he compares the fullness of all of this knowledge of God and experience of God and being in Christ with deadness. There's a contrast here. Chapter 2, verse 1 says, "And you are dead in your transgressions and sins." And so this rich appeal list — Paul's prayer list — is contrasted with emptiness, contrasted with deadness, contrasted with the ways of the world. So Paul is praying, but he's also painting. He is painting a very clear picture for the Ephesian church to see: life in Christ is bright and beautiful. All the colors on the spectrum are being used in trying to portray life in Christ. Our union in Christ is wonderful beyond description. It's so much — so many wonders and so many glories — that we could preach and teach and talk about this until the cows come home, or till Christ comes back. And then, in just bold black letters: you are dead in your transgressions. You were empty without Christ. You were headed to hell without any hope. You didn't know any of the richness, you didn't know any of the fullness, you didn't know any of the gloriousness of Christ. You were empty, you were blackened, you were dark, you were without the light of Christ. And so this contrast helps us also to pray, because Paul is painting this beautiful, clear mental picture of what life in Christ is and is not.

I think that is worth mentioning — in verse 17 — that the central idea of the text is a phrase, and it is "knowledge of Him." And now your knowledge of Him — if you're a recipient of God's gift of wisdom — and knowledge of Him: the rest of these ideas fall underneath this main idea of knowledge of God. If knowledge of Him — a further knowledge of Him — Paul is appealing that the Ephesian church would know more about God, would know more of His glory, would know more of His fullness. He's praying that they would continue to be sanctified in Christ and grow in their prayer life and grow as Christians. And so now this spirit of wisdom, as an idea that falls underneath the main idea of our knowledge of God, is so important. Knowledge of God will afford you the ability to apply wisdom. Knowledge of God — knowing His will — will afford you the wisdom to be able to live out truth. And now as the Holy Spirit illuminates the truth to those who pray for it, we will see as a church family our prayer life becoming more and more dynamic.

For the children — I'll include something for you today. If you are familiar with blue whales, go look up today how big blue whales are — pretty cool — but there's something very fascinating about blue whales. Over the centuries, most scientists felt like they were mute — couldn't speak, not a nothing, couldn't communicate. But as science developed and they had scientific instruments to be able to measure how blue whales spoke, they actually found out that they can communicate over thousands of miles — even from the New York Harbor to England's harbor, they can communicate over thousands of miles. It's because of their low, profound, bass-like way of speaking. Now, scientists say that this range is well below an A1 and well below even an F1 if you're musically inclined, which I am not. I had to look that information up.

We simply could not hear the blue whales communicating. We didn't have the right wisdom, the right tools, the right understanding. I tie that in with being able to be tuned into God's wisdom. Paul asks for the Ephesian church to be the recipients of this gift, which is the spirit of wisdom. Look in verse 17 — it is a gift: "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom." This is a gift.

God's wisdom is information about Himself. It's personal, and whom He chooses to disclose Himself to, to reveal Himself to, to open His heart to, is His prerogative. I would highly recommend that you humble yourself before Almighty God and ask Him respectfully to give you some of His wisdom. God, help me to understand Your Word. Help me to know more of You. Help me to be more like You. If you just stop life and you get with God and you ask Him, I warn you that what you do not know will surprise you, and God will reveal to you what you do not know, and it'll be humbling.

And then all of a sudden you're back to the very basics of Christianity. We serve a big God and I'm not Him. We serve a big God and I'm no more than an ant. We serve a big God who is in control of everything. I'm no more than a grain of sand. I'm glad that God knows how many grains of sand there are on this earth that He created.

And so what we do not know — like as if the whales had not communicated for thousands of years — will be made known to you, because He is imparting to you wisdom.

If you are in our Bible study classes or come on Wednesday nights, then you know that one of our main verses is John 14:26, and that the Holy Spirit's role — part of His role — is to teach you the truth. He illuminates the Scriptures so that you understand more about Him. And this is coming from rightly dividing the Word of God. And this is so personal with God. This is so intimate with God. This is your personal prayer closet time. When you are studying God's Word, when you have the Lord's heart open before you and you are reading the very words and the identity and the information of who God is, you need help understanding this wonderful thing called the Word of God. Paul, by way of intercessory prayer, is asking that God would give the Ephesian church wisdom. And he is so confident that God is going to do this. Let me prove it to you.

In the text again, verse 17, this request is stacked. It's stacked with "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory." It's stacked with confidence in the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory. When you think about those terms, you think, wow — Paul first calls upon the supreme God of the earth and the universe and the Creator of all things, the uncreated One. He calls upon God. And then he stacks this with the fact that we are calling upon our God, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory. This tangible way of being in touch with God is reachable, folks. This is tangible. You can actually obtain this. He says this: "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory." And so Paul is calling upon the supreme Father in a tangible way. And then he stacks it with even further confidence by calling Jesus Christ Lord — the master of all things who works all things according to His will. Back in verse 11 in chapter 1: "In Him" — being Christ — "we also have been made an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who worked all things according to the counsel of His will." And so we have confidence that God works all things according to His will. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord of glory.

This phrase — "the Father of glory" — is so unique in Scripture. It's simply tied into the Lord of glory in 1 Corinthians 2:8. The God of glory. And Jesus here is simply the embodiment of God's glory. We know that from John 1:14. And so, with the time that I have remaining and with the attention span that you will give me, let me ask the question and follow up with you: what is wisdom? What is the spirit of wisdom? We now have examples set before us that we truly should emulate our prayer life after the Apostle Paul's prayers and through his convictions. And now we will simply explore what wisdom is.

The Hebrew terms for wisdom really bring out a lot of meaning. In Exodus chapter 28 verse 3, wisdom is the skill to produce a product. And the product here that Paul is praying for is a sanctified life in Christ. And so that's the skill of being able to develop a life in Christ. In Proverbs chapter 22 — turn there with me if you would, because wisdom shouts. Wisdom is shouting out so that fools will hate wisdom, but Christians will love wisdom. In Proverbs chapter 22 and verses 17 to 21, what is wisdom? Well, "incline your ear and hear the words of the wise." Proverbs 22:17: "Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise and set your heart on my knowledge" — not your knowledge.

We are estimated as ants, as nothing. Think of us as an ant looking up at a human being, and you as God trying to explain to an ant these concepts of who God is. We need help. Our little peon brains cannot comprehend God without help. "His knowledge — in verse 18 — for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, that they may be established on your lips, so that your trust may be in Yahweh." I have a legacy translation that translates God's name here as Yahweh. "Have I not made — this is great — I've made you known today, even you. I have made you known. Have I not written to you excellent things of counsels of knowledge, to make known to you the veracity of the words of truth, that you may respond with the words of truth to him who sent you?" So when you ask what is wisdom, it's knowledge of God. It's excellent teachings. It's counsel from God's knowledge of Him. It's truth. More than truth — it is truth applied. What is wisdom? If you're taking notes, write down this: wisdom is God's truth applied. That's the simplest way that I can impart to you what wisdom is — God's truth applied. And if you know God's truth and you apply it, then you're wise. If you know God's truth and you don't apply it, you fill in the blank.

The intelligent, sensible reasonings of God's truth, applied in a timely and skillful way, utilized and applied, is wisdom. This is learning how to succeed in life. Our God is a sovereign God of order and control, and happiness comes when you learn how to live. And that's why we live according to our sovereign God's order. Happiness is a byproduct of being faithful. Happiness is a byproduct of living out God's wisdom in your life. Otherwise, you're going to be chasing what you think will make you happy — the never-ending cycle. But wisdom brings joy in Christ. That's the way that Paul could say, "Rejoice, and again I say rejoice." And Paul said that not only in Philippians 4:4 but in 1 Thessalonians 5:16: "And again I say rejoice." I mean, how can Paul say this through writing from prison? He is tapped into a better source than his own. He is tapped into a better source than what the world can provide.

These are amazing things. What is wisdom? Wisdom often comes from a Job-like experience. Job 12 and verse 2: "I have a heart of wisdom." How did Job get that wisdom? Through experience. Through hardships.

And a lot of wisdom is imparted to us by God's sovereign hand by allowing hardships to come into our life. And so wisdom comes from hardships. I call it experiential wisdom. And for those of us who have been following Christ for a long, long time, you're like, man, God has been faithful — I've sought You, I've walked with You — and yet, like Job, You've allowed me to experience some serious hardships. And you have some experiential wisdom that others have not, because they have not walked in your shoes. And you have the ability now to impart that kind of wisdom. And that wisdom includes skill in even civil matters. And that wisdom includes — as stated in Isaiah 19:11 — wisdom includes living uprightly. Wisdom includes God's wisdom flowing through your faculties of understanding and insight and intelligence.

Therefore we must acquire wisdom. Listen to Proverbs 4 and 5: "Acquire wisdom. Acquire understanding. Do not forget and do not turn away from the sayings of my mouth." Why is this? Man in the world should have followed his own wisdom.

Guys, acquire wisdom. Gaining wisdom is the wisest thing that you can do. Wisdom is then not to abandon your father's and your mother's instructions — Proverbs chapter 1 verse 8. Wisdom is to be content and not get greedy — verse 19. Wisdom is to receive God's words — chapter 2 verses 1 and following. Wisdom is to treasure God's commandments. Wisdom is to pay attention to wisdom. Wisdom is to incline your ear and your heart to discernment. And so where is discernment? Where is wisdom? Incline your ear. Make your heart to listen and to obey. Wisdom is to call out for understanding, the Scriptures say. Wisdom is to seek and to search for wisdom. That is wise. And so essentially, to seek wisdom is to seek God.

And in Proverbs chapter 2 verse 6 it says God gives wisdom. God gives wisdom. Proverbs chapter 2 verse 6: God gives wisdom. So it would be wise of you to seek God, as the Apostle Paul is praying for the Ephesian church and asking for wisdom. Hey, you don't have to wait for someone like the Apostle Paul to pray for you to get a spirit of wisdom, because James chapter 1 verse 5 says that if any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives it generously without finding reproach. Isn't that beautiful? God will give you personally wisdom.

And so now I conclude with four short take-home truths. Take-home truth number one: pray for wisdom. Real simple. Pray for wisdom. Put that at the top of your list. God, give me Your wisdom. Pray for wisdom.

Number two: learn God's wisdom. Praying for it and getting wisdom is one thing. Now you need to put it into practice. And in Ezra chapter 7 verse 10, Ezra purposed in his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it and to teach it. This wise guy — I say that not facetiously — Ezra, a priest, a very wise man, studied the law of the Lord and he got God's wisdom from the Word. And then he took the initiative to figure out how to practice it. And then once he figured out how to apply God's wisdom, he taught it. That's your model. Learn God's wisdom. Take-home truth number one: pray for wisdom. Take-home truth number two: learn God's wisdom.

Take-home truth number three: put it into practice. We just talked about that. Put it into practice.

And number four: proclaim God's wisdom. Proclaim it. Forget about all the other foolishness. Do not fill the air with foolishness. Do not waste your breath on anything other than imparting the wisdom of God. There's too much to talk about in the Word of God to talk about futile things. Colossians chapter 3 verse 2 says to set your mind on things above and not on things of the earth. Colossians 3:2 is an instruction for you to set your mind on things above and not on things of the earth. And if you were to impart wisdom, then you're going to talk about God, theology, bibliology — if you're coming on Wednesday nights.

The book of Timothy, or if you're in Bible study with our Bible study teachers, you're going to talk about Ephesians, coming on Sunday mornings. You're going to talk about your prayer life. There is so much to teach and to talk about in regards to the wonders and the glories of God that you would not waste a lot of time. Don't waste a moment's time on futile things. Forget about things that do not point to Christ, and aim your words to be able to teach and to train up those who are around you in Christ. Proclaim God's wisdom.

Ephesians chapter 3 and verses 9 and 10 give us this manifold wisdom mandate. In Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 9: "and to bring to light for all what is the administration of the mystery which for all ages has been hidden in God who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known through the church." This wisdom that I'm talking about today is understood by saved people only. The church — this wisdom that I'm talking about — is distributed to others through the church. Nobody else has the wisdom that you have. Nobody in the world — the lost people have their philosophies, and it's empty. Lost people have their ideas on how to handle money, who to work for, who to marry, all this other type of stuff. Lost people have what they feel like is wisdom. But Colossians chapter 2 verse 8 — hear me today — I'm telling you the worldly philosophies are empty. They are elementary compared to a high and lofty God. They speak as if they know what they know, but it's empty. And if you model your life after lost people, you will reap — like David did in Chronicles, where in his pride he counted Israel against God's authority.

And then who suffers? You? Yes. But the 70,000 men whom God struck dead because of David's disobedience — it was so unwise to go against the counsel of God. And folks, our lives matter, because like when David disobeyed, others suffered — not just the ones who died, but the families of those whom God struck because of disobedience. Your disobedience against God's wisdom — even not knowing God's wisdom, being aloof from the truth — is not only unwise, it comes with a cost in your own life and in those who are around you. The church matters. Our life in Christ matters more than I can communicate to you. It is so unwise not to seek God's wisdom and to apply it. It is so foolish to act like a fool. These simple sayings are so deeply, deeply rooted and illustrated in Scripture. And I beg and I plead for us as a church to take seriously this upcoming season and become more dynamic in your own personal prayer life — asking God for wisdom. Ask God for wisdom. He will show you what you do not know about Him. He'll make you a more sanctified saint. He will help you to make a difference in people's lives.

Asking God for wisdom is the wisest thing you can do. And I'm so thankful for the example of the Apostle Paul in this text, to help us to ask for wisdom.

At the end of the day, our problem is sin and the solution is Jesus. Mark 1:15 says to repent and believe the gospel. Let's pray together.

Father, we do thank You so much for today's teaching on praying for wisdom. Praying wisely is the wisest thing that we can do. We need You, dear Jesus, more than ever before. And as this whole world gets more and more confusing and more and more demanding upon our thought life, upon the attitudes of our heart, upon our time and money and our being — God, help us to seek You and deny ourselves. God, help us to seek You, dear Jesus, and run from the ways of the world. God, help us to set before us godly authority and lean into that. Dear Jesus, like the Apostle Paul says, imitate me as I'm imitating Christ. And the book of Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 17 says to obey your leaders, for it is well for you — it's good for you. I pray, God, that we would view this manner of praying for wisdom and emulating elders and those who are in spiritual authority over us, that we would submit to our leaders, that we would submit to You, that we would seek Your wisdom out in these ways, and be humble and contrite, and be content, be gentle and kind, and have You as the forefront of our lives.

Dear Jesus, in this next upcoming season of our life, as we truly analyze the Apostle Paul's prayer for the Ephesians, I pray, God, that we would take it personally, that we would be trained by it, and that we would be made into more effective, more meaningful, closer to You in prayer. Make us, dear Jesus — prayer warriors. Make us, dear Jesus. I pray to ones who are lovers of prayer, who pray all the time, who would not give up our prayer time for anything. I pray, God, that You would help us not only to be prayer warriors, but Father, for those who have not humbled themselves before Your Almighty being — and whom You have said to us that we are sinners in need of a Savior, we've fallen short of Your glory and we will not go to heaven unless we repent and believe the gospel — I pray, Father, if one here has never truly repented and said, God, I know I have sinned and I am sorry, and I recognize the fact that the penalty for my sin I could never pay in its fullness, I could never extinguish the stain of sin upon my heart and life, I could never be completely guilt-free — I need Your salvation, provided by the atonement that You earned and placed upon my heart — God, I need You. I need Your salvation.

Lord, if there is one here that needs to cry out to You, I pray that they do that. That today would be the day of their salvation. That they would see the cross as something that is necessary, and that their works nullify the cross if they're leaning upon their works, dear Jesus. I pray that they would see the fact that You sent Your Son to the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, for those who would repent and believe, as necessary. I pray, Father, that those who have not been saved would be drawn by Your good Holy Spirit unto repentance, to have godly sorrow for the things that they've done wrong, and to show them, dear Jesus — I pray that You'd show them how to be saved, be guilt-free, and to be saved. And we love You, dear Jesus, and we ask You for these things, and it's in Christ's name that we do pray. Amen.

Won't you stand and join us as we sing?