Ephesians 1:17-18 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁷ 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, ¹⁸ having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

It should be obvious from all the words that have been shared thru the prophets that God has every intention for His creation to come to know Him. This revelation of knowledge is not educational, it is heart knowledge. Once the Spirit of truth is given, His is the indwelling presence of God. Coming to know Him there is not a matter of education but rather experience in the Spirit.

God will make Himself know in our hearts in a way that only He knows we will understand. We can tell ourselves that we can come to know God by reading His Word. Jesus Christ is the Word. The Holy Spirit will only testify of Jesus Christ and revelation of who He is in us only begins with reading His Word, the bible.

How will God make Himself known? That is a personal question that only God can answer to those who seek Him with their whole hearts. Doing that is not a mental exercise. Spirit speaks to spirit and as such is a different way of hearing and seeing than with our natural eyes and ears. Paul prayed this for the people in Ephesus because He knew that God would find a way to touch each believer in a way that they would understand.

Seeking God begins with accepting that God is reaching out to us in ways that we are willing to accept. Listening to others and how they hear God may only lead to frustration in trying to make God answer us like someone else and not ourselves.

No matter how we hear God, the message will always be the same because God does not change.

Acts 26:9 English Standard Version (ESV) “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth.”

Hebrews 11:1 English Standard Version (ESV) Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Convinced verses conviction. Convincing is an operation of the natural mind and subject to change. Paul was convinced by his teacher Gamaliel because his teacher was a learned man with a title to be respected. On the road to Damascus Paul was shown the truth.

The issue of conviction is related to who speaks the truth to us by faith. There is no changing of the mind because the issue is settled by faith in the heart where conviction rules.

Romans 12:2 English Standard Version (ESV) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The Spirit of truth changes our mind and our way of thinking.

Romans 8:5-6 English Standard Version (ESV) ⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

Living by faith is seeking the truth from He who is true, submitting ourselves to His Lordship, obeying by faith, and allowing Him to change both our hearts desires and our way of thinking.

Deuteronomy 29:4 English Standard Version (ESV) But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.

That is an OT truth because Christ had not come at that time.

Isaiah 32:3 English Standard Version (ESV) Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will give attention.

A word of prophecy of what was to come after Christ’s work was done.