Having the Eyes of Your Hearts Enlightened

All right, if you would open your Bibles to Ephesians Chapter 1, Ephesians chapter
1. We are continuing our study as we go verse by verse through the book of
Ephesians. We spent a number of weeks in the first half of chapter 1 of Ephesians
where we see Paul's prayer of blessing as he, a prayer of a hymn of praise as he
proclaims the blessings that we have in Christ. And last week we turn to the second
half of chapter one, which is his prayer of Thanksgiving and petition for the
Ephesian believers, and that's in verse 15. So we will continue our study in that
today. I did want to say thank you to everyone that prayed for me as I prepared
for this sermon. If you remember Bob last week, he mentioned calling us out if we
pray for the leaders of the church, if we pray for Bob as he prepares for a
sermon. So I just thank you for those that reached out and said you were praying
for me. I remember the first time that I prepared.
A singer -songwriter by the name of Cody Fry released a song called Pictures of
Mountains. Has anybody heard of Cody Fry? Like a handful of people. Grant, and I
think my wife and my mother have heard of Cody Fry, and that's it. So he's not a
very popular artist, but he's popular in our household. So he released a song called
Pictures of Mountains. It only has like 600 ,000 views on YouTube, so it's not a
very popular song. But in this song, he is describing his lament over our culture's
tendency to experience life through our phones, that we don't go out and do things
or talk to people in person, but that we just communicate and experience the world
through our devices and through our screen. So I want to read you some of the
lyrics from that song. He says in the first verse, I sit in my car outside
restaurants and bars reading about what's inside. I look up opinions about news and
religion, so I don't have to use my own mind. I should call my friends, but I
read their posts and said. And so he gets to the chorus. Like dancing a waltz with
no partner, nobody's holding your hand. Like singing duets is a solo. The harmony is
just in your head. It's almost as if I've been everywhere, almost tasted the food,
almost breathed in the air, but nobody's hearts ever pounded from that feeling of
being surrounded by pictures of mountains. And so he'll go on in the song to state
how, I don't know if you guys have done this, but I've done this before. If we
want to figure out if the weather's changed, if the temperature's changed, we look
it up on the weather up on our phone rather than actually, you know, stepping
outside to feel what the weather has done. And so as he continues to lament through
the song, he turns at the end to share the realization these have, and I'll read
you the last stanza. He said, I thought that I knew what a mountain was like till
I stood in the valley and looked up at the sky. And I felt my heart beating
faster. That feeling I'd been chasing after is something that no one can capture in
pictures of mountains. Now, don't we know that to be true? If any of you all have
been to the Grand Canyon before, you know that it's one thing to see pictures of
it, it's to read all about it on Wikipedia, to know the dimensions of its depth
and its breadth. But you don't know the Grand Canyon until you actually see it in
person. And that's what I think Paul is getting at in his prayer for the Ephesians
here at the end of Chapter 1. It's that he wants us to have the eyes of our
hearts enlightened to see the spiritual realities that we have in Christ, the
spiritual realities that he praised God for at the beginning of chapter one, and
then he will pray for the Ephesian believers to have their eyes, their hearts
enlightened to that. So let's turn to God's word, and we'll read the whole prayer
that he has for the Ephesians, starting in verse 15. Before I do that, though,
I do want to pray for the spirit's illumination as we study God's word. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we acknowledge and confess that any man -wrought efforts to understand
your words, the scriptures, are vain and futile. And so we ask,
just like Paul does in this prayer for the Ephesian believers, that you would give
us the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of you, and that you
would illuminate and enlighten the eyes of our hearts to the realities of our
spiritual blessings in Christ. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.
This is the Word of the Lord from Ephesians Chapter 1 starting in verse 15. For
this reason, because I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love
toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in
my prayers, 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, having the eyes
of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he's called
you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the
immeasurable power of his greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to
the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from
the dead and seated him as his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all
rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named,
not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things under
his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body,
the fullness of him who fills all in all. May God add his blessing to this reading
of his word. As Bob said last week, as I said, we've moved into our prayer that
Paul has for the Ephesian believers. We studied last week his prayer of Thanksgiving
for their faith in the Lord Jesus and their love for all the saints. And we saw
the beginning of Paul's prayer of petition for those Ephesian believers. So he prays
that God would give them a spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the knowledge of
him. And now today I want us to turn how Paul continues to ask for them to
receive that spirit of wisdom and of revelation. So you look at verse 18 and 19,
the beginning of 19, that's where we'll be today. Paul prays that for them having
the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which
he's called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and
what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. So Paul prays
that by having the eyes of their hearts enlightened to these spiritual realities,
they would know God. And so we see, again, those three spiritual realities that they
have their hearts enlightened to. That's the hope of his calling, the riches of his
inheritance, and the greatness of his power. And again, what I think Paul is
ultimately asking for what he's praying for God to do and how he expects God to
answer his prayer for them to have a spirit of wisdom and of revelation of the
knowledge of God is that they would know these spiritual realities. And so by having
our hearts enlightened to these spiritual realities we have in Christ is how we
ultimately know God. Having our hearts enlightened to the spiritual blessings in
Christ is how we know God. Now, before we can see these spiritual realities,
though, Paul says that we have to have our hearts enlightened. We have to, the eyes
of our hearts enlightened. Again, following up on his request in verse 17. So the
eyes of our hearts aren't a physical organ that exists, right? I'm looking out for
any doctors in the congregation to support me on that. There's no eyes hidden inside
of my heart. When the Bible refers to the heart, it's referring to the center of
our being, it's our control center. It's who we are in our true self. And so when
it refers to the eyes of our hearts, it's saying how we discern spiritual realities.
The heart is who we truly are at a spiritual level. And so it's with the eyes of
our hearts that we discern spiritual realities. And so Paul's saying he's not that
their eyes of their hearts would be opened but enlightened so our eyes of our
hearts are already open to some form of spiritual reality it may be tainted though
it may be dark and look at what paul says just three chapters later in verses or
in chapter four verses 17 to 18 he's talking about the gentiles and he already
talking about the ephesian believers he says command them to no longer walk as the
Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They, again, the Gentiles, are darkened
in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that
is in them due to their hardness of heart. So before our hearts are enlightened,
we only know darkness. We can only see darkness. Darkened hearts are hard hearts.
And we have to have our heart softened by the grace of God to be able to have
enlightened hearts. We cannot perceive spiritual realities until the light is shown to
us. And so Paul can command these Ephesian believers in his prayer, or pray for
them in chapter one, to not walk as the Gentiles do, because God has already
enlightened their hearts. He tells us in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6,
for God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Again,
with our hearts, we perceive spiritual realities. Before that light is shown on us,
we only knew darkness, but now we know light. The verb tense here for the word
enlightened carries with it the sense of a completed action with with an ongoing
result. So when we come to faith, when the Ephesian believers came to faith,
they had the eyes of their hearts enlightened. But that's not something that stopped
just at the moment of faith. We continue to have the eyes of our hearts enlightened
to these spiritual realities. And so what is that ongoing result from that
enlightenment? What's knowledge? Again, he's praying that they would know. And know
what? Again, those three spiritual realities. What he says, what is the hope to
which he's called you? What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the
saints? And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe?
And so in a moment, we will get to and walk through each of those three spiritual
realities. But I don't want us to pass over the fact that we can know these
things, that you may know. Your translation might say that to have the eyes of your
heart in lighten in order that you may know, or that so you will know. This isn't
a passing or a surface level knowledge. This is a deeply felt,
a perceived, a settled knowledge. The common Greek word for knowledge is noses.
You may have heard that, and to know would be gnosco. But the Greek word here in
verse 18 to know is from the root of Ado, which is actually to see and to know.
It is a knowledge that is perceived with sight. So again, we're tying that back
into the eyes of our hearts being enlightened, that we want to see these realities
and we want to know these. We want to stand in the valley and look up and see
the mountain so that we would know the mountain rather than just reading facts about
the mountain.
You know, Paul wants them to see these realities again. We've had our heart's
enlightened when we believe in Jesus, and now he wants to perceive these realities.
And so it's why we ask for illumination each time we read scripture, like I almost
forgot to do a moment ago. We can't understand scripture without the spirit's
enlightening. And so, you know, is that something you do during your daily quiet
time? Do you ask for the Lord's help to understand God's word? Now, I'm not good
at doing that. you know five out of seven days when I'm reading scripture if I'm
even there seven days a week I'm not asking the Lord's for the Lord's help and so
I confess that I need to do that more and so I urge you and myself to do that
each time we come to scripture that we ask for the Spirit's help to enlighten us
to the realities that we see as we dive into God's word so Paul wants us to know
he wants us to see and he wants us to see these spiritual realities so let's walk
through each of those The first one that he wants us to be enlightened to know is
the hope of.
When we think of hope, it's something that we are hoping for, and typically it's
something we're hoping for that is not likely to happen. It's something that maybe,
if everything falls right, just might could happen. Like, I hope the Razorbacks win
another football game this year. So I don't know how likely that is to happen. But
I'm glad it's basketball season, but anyway, we won't talk about last night either.
So, again, it's the opposite of biblical knowledge. Now both the, it's the opposite
of biblical hope. Both the way that we use hope, though, and the way that the
biblical writers use hope, acknowledge that the hope is something that's outside of
our control. Now, when we talk about our hope in this world, we ultimately don't
have control over the outcomes of those things. And even if it's not something as
dire as the Razorbacks winning another game, which seems pretty dire, we still use
hope in a way that acknowledges that we don't actually have control over the
outcome. Like, I hope all of our family gets to be able to get together for
Thanksgiving. I have pretty good confidence that family's going to get together. We
plan to get together. We're going to assign meals to do that. But ultimately, I
don't know until I get there on Thanksgiving Day that all my family is going to be
together on Thanksgiving. That's different than what biblical hope is. Now, biblical
hope still acknowledges that we don't have control over the outcome but we do know
who is in control over the outcome and that outcome is sure because of who is in
control look back at what it says about the hope it's of his calling it's the hope
to which he has called you God has called us invited us to something that though
it's not completed yet it certainly will be you know we hope in it in his calling
we don't hope for it typically we talk about hope and hoping for something but we
hope in god and his calling there is a fixed nature to what we put our biblical
hope in you know worldly hope is focused on wishful thinking biblical hope is
focused on confidence you know this calling is a calling to all the things that
Paul has already told us about that are our blessings in Christ that we studied at
the first at the beginning of chapter one you know look back in verses 3 to 14 he
says that he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and blameless before him he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons and
all of this is to the praise of his glorious grace you know the reason we have
hope is because we are in christ We are in him. Paul in the next chapter will
tell us that we, the Gentiles, before Christ, were without hope and without God in
the world. Before Christ, no hope. In Christ,
sure hope.
There probably many times this past week that you felt hopeless. Whether it was
something trivial like no end in sight to the standoff between YouTube TV and
Disney. Or maybe it was something more related to physical needs, like no end in
sight to a government shut down that can't pay its workers or feed the hungry or
even cancels flights. No. Or could have been feeling hopeless about something of
eternal significance, like a family member who you have prayed for that they would
turn to Christ over and over again and you see no hope of repentance within them
when you're faced with these hopeless moments where do you turn where is your hope
does anyone remember the first question that we read in the new city catechism this
year back in january i've got the slide so the first question in the new city
catechism what is our only hope in life and death. And you guys can join with me
as we recite the answer together. That we are not our own, but belong,
body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior,
Jesus Christ. Paul wants us to know the hope to which God has called you.
The hope is certain in the end, a place that we will one day be. We are being
called to a person and a place, but it's also ours to hold now. It's not just
hope in death, but it's also hope in life. It's not like God has just secured the
final outcome and left us to kind of figure it out until we get there. We can
live differently now in this world because of the hope we have in Christ. And so
let that change how you view the seemingly hopeless moments, however trivial they may
seem in this life. You know, many of you have been studying 1st Peter in our men's
and women's Bible study during the week. And 1 Peter 5 says this,
if you'll look with me, 1 Peter 5, 6 to 10. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the
mighty hand of God. So at the proper time, he may exalt you. Casting all your
anxieties on him. Notice it's all your anxieties because he cares for you. Be sober
minded be watchful your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lying
seeking someone to devour resist him firm in your faith knowing that at the same
time are the same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood
throughout the world and after you have suffered a little while the god of all
grace who has called you to his eternal glory in christ will himself restore
confirm, strengthen, and establish you. We can stand firm in our faith as Peter
commands us to because of the hope that we have in Christ. We are not alone in
facing suffering, and it won't be forever. The hope of his calling is sure.
In the midst of challenging circumstances and trials, trust in this sure outcome that
he has called you to his eternal glory in Christ. Now,
I'm just, I'm thinking about the cherries as we prayed for earlier, and their
continued trust in God through deep valleys of continued health trials and struggles,
but they continue to confess and to know that God will never leave them or forsake
them. Now, grasping the hope of God's calling points us to God's trustworthiness and
his trustworthy character. It points us to the God who can be counted on. It helps
us to know him and his trustworthy character. Let's move on and look at the second
reality that Paul prays for them to know. He prays that their hearts would be
enlightened to know the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. Now,
the Greek here allows for two different interpretations. is he talking about the
inheritance that we are to receive one day or is he talking about God receiving us
as an inheritance and Bob talked about this when we studied verses 11 and 14
earlier in the chapter you know are we to receive an inheritance or are we God's
inheritance is allotted portion his chosen people now I'm inclined to think that
Paul's use of inheritance here in verse 18 refers to the inheritance that we are to
receive. I think if we look at, he talks about the calling with which he has
called us, and then as we will see in a moment, the measurable greatness of his
power towards us. I think it logically would follow that the inheritance would also
be towards us. And even the last time we saw Paul mention inheritance was in verse
14, talked about the inheritance that we will receive one day because the Holy
Spirit is the guarantee of that inheritance. But even if I'm wrong,
and Paul is talking about God receiving us an inheritance, there really is no
difference there. They're both two sides of the same coin. The point here is the
riches of the glorious nature of this inheritance that he has among the saints.
Whether we are given it or we are gathered in as an inheritance, it is a lavish,
rich, an overflowing blessing. This isn't the first time the Ephesian church would
have heard words like this. Paul in his third missionary journey, we see this
recorded in Acts, and in Acts chapter 20, in 19 and 20, spent three years with the
Ephesians in their church. And then later on in that journey, he gathered the
Ephesian elders together and had an extended discourse with him and look at what he
says to them in Acts chapter 20 verse 32 he says and now I commend you to God
and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you the
inheritance among all those who are sanctified so you see the parallels there of
what he's told them inheritance among those who are sanctified his glorious
inheritance among the saints you know the saints are those who are sanctified they
are those who have been made holy and I want to remind you that the saints aren't
a separate class.
Are they any different than the hope to which he's called you? You know, it's a
fair question to ask. There's something that we know that we will receive. We
haven't received fully yet. One commentator I read this week was helpful to point
out that there is a different emphasis, though, between the hope and the inheritance.
The hope, the emphasis there is really on assurance that we can be sure about the
salvation we have in God, and the riches points to the blessings that we receive in
that inheritance. So I thought that was helpful. And so what are these blessings
that we're to receive? Well, it's an extension, and it's similar to what we already
receive that we have been made in Christ. It's worshiping God. It's fellowshiping
with the saints. It's joining together in worship with one another. But it's all
without the presence of sin. It is pure worship, pure fellowship, pure light in his
presence with no inner dialogue about what people think if I'm raising my hand in
worship or prideful thoughts about how good I sing and sound singing compared to
other people around me. You know, it's even what Rick read for us and was thinking
about during catechism. It's being given a new name, being given white robes. So new
clothing we get that one day. This is a glorious inheritance. You know, it's an
inheritance that are glorified. We just think about being glorified, that we will be
made like Christ. We are being made like Christ. We think about the journey of
salvation. We think about our justification when we are declared righteous, even
though there is no righteousness within us at all. We think about then the next
step of sanctification, where we are being made progressively righteous, though we are
not completely there and then one day we will be glorified it is completed
righteousness no more sin forever eternal life and that is one of the greatest
blessings that we have and riches of that inheritance is eternal life you know i
can boldly uh or jesus said that he was going to prepare a place for us to you
You know, another blessing or another inheritance that we receive is a new home. You
know, when I think about inheritances, I think about wills, last wills, and
testimonies. I think about movie scenes where a family is all gathered into a
lawyer's office, and they found maybe it's some hidden will that no one knew about,
and they open it up and they read it, and surprise, like, everything's given to the
housekeeper, like, because all the family was terrible. And so they gave it to them
and said. And so that's not what's happening here. You know, we are heirs, we are
fellow heirs with Christ, and we get to receive a blessing through this inheritance.
You know, there is a familial aspect that is related to this inheritance.
You know, knowing that we have this inheritance encourages us when we do feel alone
or forgotten. He has promised us an inheritance and he's promised us this inheritance
in the saints it is with other believers it's not just about me in jesus it is
about me in jesus but it's also about me with every single one of you who have
put your faith in jesus we get to share in this inheritance together you know it
is rich it is abundance it is full and we are completely satisfied in this
inheritance. So when you feel run down or empty or alone,
remember the inheritance that awaits you. How does understanding this inheritance
change your view of God? I think understanding the riches he lavishes on us,
shows us his love and his care and his light in his people. It helps us to see
the fatherly care God has for us. You know, we're typically used to thinking about
God as a righteous judge who has offered us forgiveness by punishing,
pouring out his wrath on his son in our place. We sang about that and in Christ
alone a moment ago. And while those are true, there is also a relational aspect
that comes through our justification and our salvation. We have been predestined for
adoption as sons, as Paul told us earlier. And so having our hearts enlightened to
these riches helps us to know God in a deeply personal and a fatherly way.
You know, think about what does an earthly father do? You know, he provides for his
family. He provides financially. He provides spiritually. He provides physically for
the household. He protects. He guides. And it's the same with our heavenly Father.
He provides. He protects and he guides us. Just think about your life.
Are there ways that you are looking for other sources, other men or women or
substances to provide you with protection or provision or guidance that is not coming
from the father. Consider the blessings of his inheritance that awaits us and trust
in his fatherly care today. All right, but let's go to the last thing that Paul
prays for them to be enlightened to know. That is the immeasurable greatness of his
power toward us who believe. We won't spend long on this because the following
verses, verses 19 to 21, really serve to describe in detail the power that is
directed towards us in Christ. And so we'll leave that for studying next week. But
I do want us to see two important things here about this power. One,
that it is immeasurably great, and two, that it is towards us who believe.
So quickly, his power is immeasurably great. You know, immeasurable. You know, the
Greek behind that conveys the idea of being beyond the mark that would normally be
set. We expect one thing, and God's power is way beyond that. Who is the strongest
person or hero you can think of? We are big into superheroes at our house these
days, so we like to play. It's Spidey friends, I don't know how of relative
strength Spider -Man is. We think of Superman, you think of even some of the
villains like Thanos, they are pretty strong. And so, a certain unnamed four -year
-old in our household likes to come up with new superheroes of his home, and his
latest creation was one named Super Powerful A. I don't know what the A stands for,
but he's Super Powerful A. He is stronger than giants, and he is faster than
horses. So I thought I would go to chat GPT and see if he could,
I don't know if Chad GPT is a man or a woman. So I thought if Chad GPT could
give me an image of what Super Powerful A is. So I asked Chad GBT to give me an
image of a superhero named Super Powerful A who's stronger than Giants and faster
than horses. And this is what Chad GPT came up with. So not too bad.
I mean, it's a little on the nose in putting the descriptions there, but I thought
it was pretty fun. So one time when this unnamed four -year -old was describing super
powerful A, and the size of his strength, he said he was even stronger than God.
So, of course, I had to come in and say, no, we're not going to say that. Nothing
stronger than God. Or he said, why do do we not say that was like well nothing
stronger than god and why well because god created the heavens in the earth god is
all powerful and there's no one that is stronger than him so do we actually believe
that though do we actually understand the strength of his power that nothing is
stronger than him you know the greek for greatness here is the word megathos which
also sounds like another superhero. It is the only instance of this Greek word in
the Bible. It is used to describe God's power towards us. And I think the selective
use of this word shows the immeasurable greatness, the magnitude,
the great size, the all -encompassing nature of his power towards us.
And that takes us the second thing I want to see about his power, is that his
power is directed toward us. It is for the benefit of us. It is to us.
Again, we will describe next week the nature of this power from the following
verses, but we do see from those verses that this is resurrection power. It's the
same power that raised Christ from the dead is the power that is directed towards
us. And just think about the intensely personal nature of all of these three
realities, the hope to which he is called you, the greatness of his inheritance
among the saints, the riches of his inheritance among the saints,
and the greatness of his power towards us who believe. You know,
if you remember from our study earlier in the chapter that Paul is writing this
letter to Ephesian believers. These would have been Greek believers. Paul himself was
a Jewish believer in Christ. And we saw some of the way that the pronouns changed
as Paul's writing his letter where he's referring to you, the Gentile believers being
separate from him as the Jewish believers. But look at who he says, this power is
directed towards. It's directed towards us. It's to all who put their faith in
Jesus, Jew or Greek, all who put, all who believe.
Now, his power is towards us who believe. And so I'll ask each and every one of
you today, do you believe?
If you don't believe, his power, you don't have access to this power.
If you don't believe, you have no inheritance.
If you don't believe, you have no hope. There is no hope to which he's called you.
If you do not believe in Jesus, there is no hope of eternal life.
There is one day that we will all stand before the judgment throne. And if we are
in Christ, we have this resurrection power towards us. But if we don't, there is no
resurrection power for you. If you don't believe, you will bear the cup of God's
wrath. So I urge you today, repent and believe.
And for those of us that do believe, there are still many times where we feel
powerless, don't we?
You may feel overwhelmed by the things that are going on in the world you may feel
overwhelmed by the things going on in your specific world what is our only hope and
in life and in death that we belong that we are not our own but belong body and
soul both in life and death to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ we've seen this
power on display in our own lives, haven't you? You know, first, we've been given
new hearts. We've been shown the light to believe the gospel. And what amazing power
that is to soften the hearts of unbelievers into faith in Jesus. We see his power
in healing diseases as we ask and pray for him to do. We see him do that.
We see his protection from natural disasters and hurricanes and in tornadoes,
even here in our town and in our church body. Are there things in your life?
It's easy for me to pray for the things that I can rationally understand God will
answer. Like healing someone from the flu. Ultimately, I know that God is the one
who heals people of diseases, but I can understand rationally the means that he
uses. He uses medicine like Tamiflu or rest in time to heal people from the flu.
So it's easy for me to pray for something like that because I kind of expect what
the outcome is going to be. But when it comes to praying for big things like
terminal diseases or the faith of a family member who has hardened their heart time
and time again, I am less quick to go and pray for God to do those things.
So I need to confess of my unbelief of God's power and bring all of those requests
to God. You know, we can sing, My God is so big, so strong,
and so mighty. There's nothing my God cannot do.
You know, Jesus said in Luke 18, what is impossible with man is possible with God.
So don't be afraid to take those impossible requests to God. You know, understanding
his power towards us helps us grasp his protective power for sheep.
And God's power knows no limits towards us. It is immeasurable again. So don't be
afraid to ask for him to use that power towards you. Having our hearts enlightened
to these spiritual blessings in Christ ultimately is how we know God.
Once our hearts are enlightened, we're no longer just looking at pictures of
mountains. We move beyond intellectual knowledge. We are standing in the valley. We
are looking up at the mountain in front of us. We grasp his attributes. We see the
blessings we have in Christ, and we know God. We know what that mountain truly is.
These blessings point us back to God himself. They help us to see God's trustworthy
character, his fatherly delight in his children, and his protective care for his
sheep. And I think all of this serve to answer Paul's prayer for the Ephesians
believers that they would have, the spirit of wisdom and the revelation in the
knowledge of God. You know, the knowledge of God. What a difference that makes this
week. You know, if the eyes of my heart have been enlightened to the hope of his
calling, I know God will be true to his word and his character, so then I can
persevere through times of unemployment, knowing that Hebrews 13 tells me he will
never leave me or forsake me. If the eyes of my heart have been enlightened to the
riches of his inheritance, I can know God's fatherly delight in his children.
So I can confidently follow Christ in this life, even if that means leaving my
family or possessions behind, knowing, as Jesus tells us in Matthew 19, that whoever
has left families or land, for my namesake, will receive a hundredfold and will
inherit eternal life. If the eyes of my heart have been enlightened to the
immeasurable greatness of his power, I can know God's protective care for his sheep,
and I can confidently and continually pray for victory over besetting sins as 2
peter one tells me that his divine power has granted us all things that pertain to
life and godliness what a blessing it is to know god let's pray
heavenly father what a blessing it is to know these realities that we have in
christ What a blessing to know the hope to which you've called us.
To know the riches of your glorious inheritance in the saints. And to know the
immeasurable greatness of your power toward us who believe. You are the creator of
the universe, the author of life. Father, you are the author of our spiritual life.
You have shown the light in so that we would we would know you and know these
spiritual realities what wonder that sinners like us can know you a holy and
righteous god we thank you for christ and all the blessings that we receive in him
it's in christ's name we pray amen