John Flavel writes of this passage that a saving, though scattered knowledge of Christ will bring us into heaven; but a knowledge of Christ that is regular and systematic, as well as saving, will bring heaven, into US (paraphrased). And truthfully, isn't that our objective if we want to see this world transformed by and for the glory of Christ? Should we not bear His image in everything that we say and do? Paul is both offering a prayer and issuing a challenge here, a prayer that we would be filled with the fullness of the knowledge of Christ with everything that this entails, but a challenge that we would take this prayer seriously, consider his words: full assurance of understanding, knowledge of the mystery, full of wisdom and understanding... these are words that evoke effort, that speak of labor of the mind, and spiritual struggle. While it is true that we can gain none of it unless God grant it, it is also true that God is not in the habit of rewarding sloth. And in that tension between grace and effort, lies both our difficulty and our promise. It is difficult because we're often averse to real mental labor. So we fight against our own minds which wander in mere moments; but there is also opposition from without. For we live in a time where we are spoon fed opinion as fact in ten second sound bytes, told that to depart from the herd and think something different is both dangerous and immoral, while any effort to consider real facts apart from spin is labeled as hate... there are a LOT of hurdles to get by. But the promise is that when we set ourselves to obey God, to seek Him to OBEY Him, we will find the very God of heaven aiding us to understand, to see, to draw near to Him. Beloved, the fight is real, but the rewards are even MORE real, and when you start to break free of the shackles that both culture and self place around the mind, you will find the most wonderful thing imaginable; that the glory of Christ is being formed in you, heaven made real, made manifest, right here, right now.