24.What was the burden of Paul’s prayer for the saints in Ephesus?

That God the Father would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God.

What is one of the great needs of Christian people today? It is the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God.

Man has created a substitute for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. This substitute is the discipline called theology. Theology is an effort of the human mind to systematize what is known and assumed concerning the Christian religion. Theologians have a tendency to disagree over their conclusions. It really does not matter whether or not they agree because most of such endeavors are empty of the Spirit of God.

The Kingdom of God cannot be measured by the human mind. The Kingdom of God comes only by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, as Christ is formed in us.

We need to pray for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God. We need to pray that God will restore apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers to the Body of Christ. We need desperately to be fed the living Word; the Word that nourishes the inner man with Christ; the Word that is the body and blood of Christ; the Word that transforms; the Word that brings light and peace to our minds, enabling us to escape being molded by the influence of the wicked world in which we are living.

Information added to the mind can be helpful at times, but more often than not, theological information makes us proud of our "knowledge" and divides us into warring camps.

The Spirit of wisdom and revelation creates unity and maturity in the Body of Christ. Every saint can receive the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of the almighty God. Paul shows us that the way to such understanding is through prayer. We need to pray every day that God will bestow on us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may increase in the true knowledge of God Himself.

It is important to the working of the new covenant that each saint receive the Spirit of wisdom and revelation and begin to know Christ and God for himself.

And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest (Hebrews 8:11).