The Christian's Knowledge of God (Remastered)

Devotional

Day 1: The Apostle’s Urgent Prayer for Deeper Knowledge

Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians reveals a startling truth: even mature believers need more than doctrinal certainty or moral improvement. He petitions God to give them “the spirit of wisdom and revelation” not as a spiritual bonus, but as the foundation for all growth. This knowledge isn’t about facts but encountering the living God—the kind that makes theology breathe and worship ache. It’s the difference between studying a mountain and feeling its shadow swallow you whole. [00:41]

“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 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 1:16–17, ESV)

Reflection: What spiritual realities have you reduced to mere concepts? Where might God be inviting you to exchange familiarity with facts for awe before His presence?

Day 2: From Birth to the Mountain Peaks of Faith

Conversion is not graduation but initiation. Paul treats the Ephesians’ faith as a newborn’s first cry—essential, miraculous, yet just the start. The Christian life isn’t a plateau of assurance but an ascent where each ridge reveals higher summits. To stop at forgiveness is to camp in the foothills while the Alps loom. True faith isn’t satisfied with safety; it craves the terrifying beauty of God’s nearness. [06:44]

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 3:13–14, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you settled for spiritual infancy? What “ridge” of faith frightens you to climb, yet stirs your hunger to see more of God?

Day 3: Knowing God Beyond Theory, in the Kitchen

Mysticism isn’t for monks. The apostle’s prayer democratizes divine encounter—slaves washing dishes can know God as intimately as prophets. This knowledge isn’t ethereal but earthy, turning kitchens into sanctuaries. It’s not about withdrawing from life but seeing God’s glory in steam rising from pots. The test isn’t mystical visions but recognizing the Father’s voice in the mundane. [42:35]

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
(2 Corinthians 4:6, ESV)

Reflection: When did you last sense God’s presence while doing an ordinary task? How might routine moments become portals to His glory today?

Day 4: The Heart Panting for the Living God

The psalmist’s thirst isn’t metaphor but biology—a dehydration of the soul. This craving isn’t guilt over sparse devotions, but the agony of a lover separated from their Beloved. To pant for God is to feel His absence more acutely than any blessing. It’s the holy addiction that makes comfort rooms and concert halls equally inadequate until He speaks. [34:36]

“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”
(Psalm 42:1–2, ESV)

Reflection: When have you last felt homesick for God? What routines have numbed your thirst, and what might reignite it?

Day 5: All Shall Know Me, From the Least to the Greatest

The new covenant’s scandal is its democracy of encounter. No spiritual caste system—God promises every believer direct access, from the illiterate widow to the seminary professor. This knowledge isn’t earned through asceticism but received through Christ’s finished work. The question isn’t “Can I know God?” but “Do I want to?” [40:54]

“And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord.”
(Jeremiah 31:34, ESV)

Reflection: Have you relegated deep knowledge of God to “experts”? What would change if you believed He longs to reveal Himself to you as personally as to the apostles?

Sermon Summary

Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians begins with thanksgiving, because their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love unto all the saints are real marks of grace. Paul does not rush into petition, but first reminds himself that prayer is speech in the presence of “the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory.” The petition therefore rises out of worship, and the great thing desired is not first comfort, success, or even deliverance from particular sins, but “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.”

Paul knows that the Ephesians have believed, trusted, been sealed with the Holy Spirit, and received the earnest of the inheritance. Yet Paul is not satisfied that conversion should be treated as the end. Conversion is birth, not maturity. The Christian life has heights, depths, lengths, and breadths still before it, and Paul desires that these believers should not remain at the beginning with “the mere first principles,” but press on into the panorama of grace.

Paul’s petition therefore corrects a man-centered way of thinking about salvation. The usual mind asks what man needs: forgiveness, happiness, victory, sanctification. Paul begins elsewhere. God stands first. Salvation must be seen in terms of God, and therefore the apostle asks that believers may know God himself. Sanctification will come in its place, and joy will come in its place, but neither is placed first.

The knowledge in view is knowledge of God the Father, though it is possible only through the Lord Jesus Christ. The Son reveals the Father, and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shines “in the face of Jesus Christ.” This knowledge is not a casual acquaintance, nor merely theoretical, intellectual, notional, or propositional knowledge. Such truth is necessary, for ignorance of God produces superficiality and glibness, but Paul’s word reaches beyond knowing facts about God.

The knowledge Paul seeks is immediate, personal, intimate acquaintance with God. God becomes real to the soul. His presence is known, his glory sensed, his love tasted, and fellowship with the Father and with the Son becomes the substance of life eternal. Job’s “now mine eye hath seen thee,” Moses’ “show me thy glory,” the psalmist’s panting after the living God, and Isaiah’s vision of the Lord all bear witness to this same reality.

The sealing of the Spirit assures the believer, “Thou art my child,” but this petition presses further: to know God himself. This knowledge is not reserved for mystics, specialists, or a religious class. The new covenant promise is that all shall know him, from the least to the greatest. The Christian life is therefore called to hunger, thirst, pant, and press forward until sight replaces faith and the Father of glory is known face to face.

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Key Takeaways

1. Conversion begins, it does not finish Paul’s prayer assumes that real faith, real sealing, and real assurance are not the summit of the Christian life. Birth is glorious, but birth is only the beginning of growth, strength, sight, and maturity. A soul may be truly God’s and yet still need to be led up into the mountaintops of knowing him more fully. [06:44]
2. Salvation must start with God Paul does not begin with man’s happiness, man’s victory, or man’s subjective condition. Paul begins with God, because salvation loses its glory when it is measured only by human need. The order matters: when God is first, forgiveness, sanctification, joy, and liberty take their proper place as blessings that flow from him. [12:13]
3. Knowledge is more than notions The knowledge Paul desires is not less than truth about God, but it is far more than truth stored in the mind. The devils know facts and tremble, but the child of God is called into acquaintance, communion, and holy nearness. Exact doctrine is meant to become living encounter with the Father of glory. [21:57]
4. God gives himself to be known The petition reaches toward a real meeting with God, where his presence, glory, and love are no longer mere words. The soul begins to know what Jacob meant by an awful place, and what Job meant when hearing became seeing. Christianity is not mere religious correctness, but fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. [24:51]
5. This knowledge belongs to all Paul prays this for the whole church, not for an elite class of religious specialists. The new covenant promise is not that a few shall know God, but that all shall know him, from the least unto the greatest. Ordinary work, ordinary weakness, and ordinary circumstances cannot bar the soul that hungers and thirsts for the living God.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:41] - Paul’s Great Petition
[01:34] - Thanksgiving Before Asking
[02:27] - Praying to the Father of Glory
[03:19] - The General Petition Introduced
[04:06] - Faith, Sealing, and the Earnest
[06:06] - Conversion Is Only the Beginning
[08:50] - Beyond Justification and Sanctification
[11:23] - Salvation Must Be God-Centered
[14:52] - Knowing God the Father
[18:21] - The Full Meaning of Knowledge
[23:56] - Immediate Acquaintance With God
[31:39] - Job, Moses, and Holy Longing
[37:23] - Beyond the Sealing of the Spirit
[39:43] - Knowledge for Every Christian
[42:35] - Do You Know God?

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Ephesians 1:15-17
“For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 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,” [00:17]

John 17:3
“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” [16:50]

2 Corinthians 4:6
“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” [17:02]

Jeremiah 31:34
“And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” [40:31]

Observation questions

In Ephesians 1:15-17, what two marks of grace does Paul mention before he tells the Ephesians what he is praying for? [01:34]
In Paul’s prayer, what name does he use for God, and what does that show about the way he approaches prayer? [02:27]
According to Ephesians 1 and the wider passage, what had already happened to these believers before Paul asks that they may know God more deeply? [04:06]
In Jeremiah 31:34, who is included in the promise of knowing the Lord? How broad is that promise? [40:54]

Interpretation questions

Paul is praying for people who already have faith in Christ and love for the saints. Why might that matter for the way conversion and growth are understood? [06:44]
Paul does not first pray for happiness, ease, or even sanctification, but for “the knowledge of him.” What does that suggest about what should stand first in the Christian life? [12:23]
John 17:3 and 2 Corinthians 4:6 both connect true life and true knowledge with knowing God through Jesus Christ. How do these verses help explain why knowledge of the Father cannot be separated from the Son? [17:17]
If the knowledge Paul seeks is more than knowing facts about God, what kind of knowledge is he asking for, and how is that different from mere religious information? [24:51]

Application questions

Many believers are content to stay near the beginning of the Christian life. Where might that be happening personally right now? Is there a sense of having settled for too little when more of God is being offered? [07:49]
It is easy to think about salvation mainly in terms of personal needs—forgiveness, relief, victory, peace. When prayer has been shaped mostly by those concerns, what might it look like to begin with God himself? [13:01]
A person can know many true things about God and still remain distant in heart. Has there been a tendency to live on ideas about God without much sense of his presence? What might that look like in daily life? [21:57]
Eternal life is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. When have prayer, worship, or Scripture reading felt most personal and real, and when have they felt mostly formal or distant? [29:19]
This knowledge of God belongs to all his people, not only to a few especially gifted or unusually free believers. Is there anything that has made this seem out of reach—work, weakness, busyness, personality, past failure? [39:43]
Blessed hunger for God is one of the clearest signs of spiritual life. Is there a real thirst to know God more, or has that desire grown dull? What tends to stir that hunger, and what tends to choke it? [42:11]
“Do you know God?” is a searching question. If that question were brought into this week in a practical way, what change in habits, priorities, or prayer might help toward a more conscious fellowship with the Father and the Son? [42:35]

Sermon Clips

It means that God should be real to us and that we should be conscious of him and conscious of his presence. Oh, I make no apology, my dear friends. The matter is so vitally important. I make no apology for asking a simple question. Have you ever known that? Is God real to you? When you get on your knees and pray, do you know that God is there? Do you realize his presence? That's the thing the apostle is speaking about. [00:25:47]

Now I'm suggesting solemnly that there is a grave danger of our forgetting this and our emphasis becoming false. May we ever follow the apostolic pattern and put things in the order in which the apostle puts them. Later on in this epistle. He has a great deal to say about sanctification, but he doesn't start with it. He's got a lot to say about happiness and joy and so on, but he doesn't start with it. He starts where we should always start, and God forbid that we should ever start anywhere else. [00:14:06]

It means, you see, having fellowship with him, fellowship with God in a true and in a real sense. Let me quote you those two great statements again. This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. The Jews knew about him. They'd been trained in the law. They'd had their scriptures. They knew that that isn't what our Lord's talking about. Life eternal is something new. It's to know God and to know Jesus Christ. [00:29:03]

Our view of salvation must never be man centered. It must always be God centered. You see, it is always with the apostle. He starts off in verse three, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It all comes from God, and all our thinking must be in terms of God. [00:12:23]

To know that I am a child of God. Is there anything beyond that, yes, it's this. It is to know God himself. That is the highest of all. It's a wonderful thing to know that I belong to God. It's an infinitely greater thing to know God himself. [00:38:17]

Well, this is the staggering and astounding thing. He is concerned that we have an immediate knowledge of God, that we have a real acquaintance with God. He is concerned that we should meet with God. He is concerned that we should have, if you like, an encounter with God. [00:24:16]

And therefore we must always pay very close and careful attention to all these apostolic prayers, because it is generally in them we are given these clear visions of the christian life in its height and its depth, its length and its breadth. We see something of the glory of the life into which we have been brought by God's amazing grace and love. [00:08:10]

It doesn't merely mean a casual, cursory acquaintance. It doesn't just mean a superficial knowledge of something. There is such a knowledge, of course. There is just ordinary knowing. That isn't what the apostle means. It isn't the term he used. He used a term which conveys these ideas that it's accurate knowledge, it's exact knowledge, it is certain knowledge, it is experimental knowledge, it is profound knowledge. [00:18:56]

It is a knowledge that is possible to all. And thank God, the history of the church throughout the centuries confirms this. This is not a matter of intellectual understanding. It doesn't depend upon circumstances and conditions. There is only one thing that controls this, and that is the realization that it's possible and then the desire for it. [00:41:51]

That's knowledge of God, my friends. Not indirect, but direct, not a knowledge about, but immediate, personal. It's the kind of thing that Isaiah speaks about in the 6th chapter of his prophecy when he says, I saw the Lord that particular year when the king died, I saw the Lord sitting upon the throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple, and the house was filled with smoke, and the post of the door moved, the glory of God. [00:34:36]

That's the thing the apostle is talking about. Not mere theory, not mere notion, not something abstract, not something academic, but personal, immediate, a real meeting. That's the knowledge of God. [00:25:21]

Do you still offer petitions for people like this? And the simple answer is, yes, there is infinitely more possible. Conversion is not the end, it's merely the beginning. It's the mere first step. [00:06:37]

What the apostle always prayed for his converts was this, that they might come to know God. He's not thinking primarily about subjective states and conditions in them. He's thinking about them in their total relationship to the Almighty God. [00:13:42]

I press forward. God forbid that anybody should stay there at the beginning with the mere first principles of the gospel of Christ. I'm praying for you, he says. I want you to come on and begin to share in this tremendous christian life into which you have come. [00:07:49]

So that here the knowledge about which the apostle is speaking is primarily and essentially a knowledge of God the eternal Father. Of course, as the apostle makes quite plain in this epistle, as the New Testament makes plain everywhere, this knowledge is only possible to us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, so that there is a sense in which you can't separate. [00:16:16]

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