Ephesians 1:15 “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,”

Ephesians 1:16 “Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;”

Ephesians 1:17 “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:”

Ephesians 1:18 “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,”

Ephesians 1:19 “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,”

Hello readers, hope you are having a good week. In this blog, we are talking about knowing what you got given by God when you got saved. I called this blog “Know what you got”, which is inspired by the phrase “that ye may know what” from the verses quoted above, and note that there are three “what”s in these verses. You know that saying “you know what?” well, turns out you should know what, and Paul is praying that they and us will know what.

When you get saved, you get a whole more than you know at the point of saving faith. You enter the kingdom of God as a child by simple faith, reception of the precious seed of the gospel into your heart… but what do children do? They grow. Healthy children grow, and healthy believers should grow. We grow in grace, but also in knowledge, because knowledge, as “they” say, is power. And it will be in your walk too… not knowledge as in “I know more than you” but knowledge in terms of getting to know your Saviour, and knowing who he is, what’s done for you, what he’d have you do. And more specifically, knowing and understanding how your salvation translates to your real life here and now. Because how can you “walk circumspectly” and wisely if you don’t know anything, as the Bible says “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”.

And it’s so important to understand our salvation after we are saved, and know what God has given for us, and done for us, and is doing in our lives… because knowledge, and the light and sight that knowledge brings, is so important for the Christian. We must have the enlightenment of understanding to navigate this very dark world that has many pitfalls, tricks and traps waiting for the child of God.

And often we settle for so much less than what God gave us, and we don’t begin to realize what we actually have in Christ and the immense value of what God has given us. I believe there are many Christians who are content to simply draw the line at believing on Jesus Christ to “get them out of hell”, but he never did more for them… when he did and does do a whole lot more.

We were born for a higher purpose in life than just living like a “highly evolved” animal and dying. You weren’t created just to have fun, work a job, getting married, have kids and die. Yes those things are part of life, but they are not the reason for life. And this understanding is so important because when we fail to understand who Christ is, what he’s done for us, who we are now, and what we have right now… our lives fall far short of realizing the potential that they have.

After salvation, the Holy Spirit brings enlightenment, and the light doesn’t stop. The lights get turned on when we get saved, and we understand and see things a whole different way. And that’s what’s missing from many professing Christians… enlightenment, and the lack thereof. That’s why they “I don’t see things your way” or they “see it differently” to the Bible. And remember, without light, you cannot see… anything. Everything we see is because of light “what maketh manifest is light”.

And when we should be light, often it’s a case of who turned out the lights. And how can you be a light in this world if you’ve got no enlightenment yourself? And without enlightenment, how can you go forward? Remember Jonathan when he found honey dropping in the woods and tasted of it and his eyes were enlightened, and where everyone else was tired and faint, that honey renewed his strength to keep going forward in the battle. How can you go without light to see where you’re going, what you’re doing.

And with the enlightenment of the Spirit, we are supposed to see things, see things that help us to handle trials, persecution, setbacks, unexpected and unforeseen events. With light and sight we are able to live a life that’s based on wisdom, counsel and revelation from God. See we have hope, riches and power, yet we often live like we’ve got none of those! And that’s really what this blog is about, coming to an understanding of what we have, that without understanding, we just don’t know we’ve got it, and our lives suffer as we live without realization, without revelation.

And we know that this enlightenment is spiritual. Because you can’t light yourself, God has to light your candle, and he can and will, and he does it through saving faith in and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And with this light, it enables you to see things how they really are, and it enables you to walk acceptably before God. It enables you to make wise decisions, it gives you perception that others don’t have, it makes you see things which cannot be otherwise seen. I mean, it gives you sight all the way to heaven and future glory. Knowing what lies in the future on the other side of death really helps doesn’t it. Imagine having no hope because you have no sight because you have no light and no life.

Most importantly, with understanding comes knowledge, because when you understand who Jesus Christ is and what he has done and does and will yet do for you, when you understand the hope, the inheritance, the power… then you’re well placed to handle whatever life throws at you. And life can get pretty rough, how can you navigate life without understanding and knowledge? For instance, if you don’t understand Genesis, you will find yourself blaming God for letting bad things happen in your life.

And so when Paul heard of the faith of the believers at Ephesus, he constantly prayed for them, and he tells them what he was praying for them… and it essentially is “know what you’ve been given and know what you’ve got in Christ”. We’ve been given everything in Christ. So know who Jesus Christ is. Understand what he has done for you. Understand what he has given you. And when you know this, that certainly helps us, or should help us. After all, “ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”. Now I can know that with the trial I’m going through what Christ is doing, and how Christ can use what I’m going through, rather than thinking what the hell is happening to me and why has God abandoned me. See, that understanding and knowledge can give very different perspective and really help us handle and endure what we are faced with!

I was thinking just recently thinking about this verse in Hebrews 2:10 “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” See, God will use suffering in your life to perfect you. We don’t want to suffer, but God perfects us in suffering. If you don’t know that though, your suffering will seem like God is being cruel to you, abandoned you, hates you, it will even make you question that he loves you or even exists. What about James 1:4 “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” See how if you’ve asked God for something, or you’re going through something, it can seem like God’s not there, not listening… but just maybe God is going to weave a perfect work in us through patience. And knowing that helps us be patient.

Understand and know this, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Because when you understand the lovingkindness of God, and when you understand he loves you, and he doesn’t make promises he can’t keep, and he’s not a liar, and he doesn’t change… then that certainly should make a difference to your life here and now shouldn’t it?

So I hope this idea of “know what you got” helps. Because Paul was praying that for these people. They’d been saved, they’d been forgiven their sins, the Holy Spirit dwelt in them… now what? We’ve got real lives to live, we’re still here, we’re saved… what’s that done for us? What’s that doing for us? What’s he doing for us? What are our life decisions going forward? I pray as Paul did that we all realize what we’ve got “in Christ”.

This entire book is about the blessings and benefits of being in Christ. So read it, understand where you’re seated, understand where your hope is, understand the power that is now working in you… far out, did you realize the same power that raised Christ from the dead is now in you? What’s harder to overcome, your sin problem or death? If God was powerfully enough to raise Christ, he’s powerful enough to deliver you from your sin. So understand that, then now you know that… then live in that! Abide in Christ practically. You got in Christ when you get saved? Stay there. And know what you got in Christ!

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