As you may know there has been fresh conflict in Israel the last few weeks. I have been praying for the peace of Jerusalem and all the people caught up in what’s happening. All these people that God loves so much. How He must grieve for every lost life and every broken heart.
It’s got me thinking again of what I wrote in January (Nation). The fact that Israel is a nation but it is also a living revelation of God. The source of Jesus, the Son of David (Matt. 1, 20:29-34; Lk. 20:41-44). I am praying for the people when I pray for the peace of Jerusalem, but I am also praying for the revelation of God.
How do you pray for something so colossal?
Then it dawned on me: Paul gives us a prayer for revelation in Ephesians 1.
“Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Crist, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.” (Eph. 1:15-19 NKJV emphasis added)
Paul told the Ephesian church how he was praying for them. In fact the prayer I quoted here goes on for several more verses. He was thanking God for them and asking God to give them a spirit of revelation, so they could know God and have hope in Him. The way to pray for revelation is to ask for the Holy Spirit to share the knowledge He has with us.
There is a time in the bible that God tells a prophet to pray for the nation of Israel by asking for the Spirit to fill them. Ezekiel 37, God takes Ezekiel to the valley of dry bones. Where God has him prophesy over the bones until they come together and regenerate into bodies, then they are filled with breathe and life. Even when they are alive they are still dry and hopeless in their hearts, so God has Ezekiel prophesy one more time that they would be filled with His Spirit and live in His acceptance.
The word used for “breathe” in Ez. 37 is “ruach.” It means breathe, wind, spirit, or animus. So Ezekiel spends a chapter speaking the word ruach over the whole house of Israel. First over their bodies – ruach – they are filled with breathe. Then over their spirits – ruach – their hope is restored. Finally God promises to bring them back to their land and fill them with His Spirit – Ruach – their purpose as revelation is restored.
If you read this as revitalizing the revelation, it only happens through the Ruach of God. It seems to me that Ezekiel is praying for the Spirit of revelation to fill the revelation until it is restored to the uttermost. Part of that restoration process is the restoration of their hope.
Paul’s prayer for the church of Ephesians to be filled with the Spirit of revelation involved hope as well, the hope is Jesus. So when praying for the Spirit of revelation over the nation, the hope they need is the same: it’s Jesus, Yeshua (Hebrew version of Jesus’ name). Restoration to the uttermost doesn’t happen until the revelation has Jesus in it, and you can’t get Jesus, Yeshua, in the nation until you speak Ruach over it.
The second ruach of Ezekiel’s prophecy can’t actually be fulfilled without the third Ruach of God filling the whole nation of Israel. The Ruach of revelation fills the revelation with the hope of Yeshua until the nation/revelation is restored to the uttermost and living in its true and full purpose.
The prophecy of the valley of dry bones has not fully come to pass. Peace has not fully come to Jerusalem yet. So I will keep praying. I am not Jewish, but I love the chosen people of God; and I am grateful for their history that brought the revelation of God into my small life. I will keep speaking Ruach of revelation over the revelation that is still searching for its hope. I pray they find that hope in Jesus and come into full shalom (Hebrew for peace that means restored wholeness), and are themselves filled with the Holy Ruach of God so they might be restored to the uttermost.
-Etta Woods
Worship & Prayer 