April 27: 3 things you need to know

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him—since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened—so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength. This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.  (Ephesians 1:17-20  NET)

In this prayer for the members of the church in Ephesus, Paul asks God to give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that they can know God better. Even the Bible can be a closed book to us unless we have the author of the Bible—the Holy Spirit—to help us understand it. Because of this Paul prayed that the eyes of their hearts be enlightened. Here I believe heart is used not to mean the center of our emotions, but our inner selves, and what an important truth this is. Our inner selves have eyes, and those eyes can be open, or they can be closed; they can be enlightened, or they can be mislead.

This Holy Spirit inspired prayer asks for God to reveal three things to Christians. First, for them to know what is the hope of their calling. Do we live our lives in the understanding that when Jesus returns we will be welcomed into the new heavens and new earth, or do we forget this most of the time? Do we meditate on what life will be like in the presence of the Father and the Son? Do we look forward to our new, glorious bodies which will never age or be touched by any weakness? Do we constantly remind ourselves that life in heaven will never end, and does this thought give us the energy and inspiration to endure the hardships of life that we encounter here? These are what a believer’s hope is all about.

The second thing we should know is the wealth of His glorious inheritance for those of us who believe. Do we think of ourselves as wealthy, or do we get caught up in what we physically see right now? Do we think of ourselves as children of the Almighty, who have an inheritance that cannot be measured in human terms? Do we have a spiritual audacity because of this glorious inheritance, or do we get caught up in the lies of the devil, and end up living in a marginally depressed state of mind? Children of God need to constantly remember who they are and what is theirs.

The third thing we must know is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe—the same power that raised the Lord Jesus from the dead. Do we act like this same power is ours, or do we allow fear and anger to control us? Do we boldly step out in faith determining that great miracles will happen in our lives, or do doubts keep us from believing that this power is ours? 

We cannot afford to be blind and mislead any longer. We need the wisdom and revelation of God to understand how we are to live as true men and women of faith in this world—our hope, glorious inheritance, and incomparable power.