Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
When we start praying Paul’s prayer “for the eyes of our understanding to be enlightened” (Eph. 1:18) it is like turning on a light in our mind. Slowly, but surely, we will be able to see with our understanding the invisible world. Some of us we will actually see the invisible world with our natural eyes, but all of us can see the invisible world with the eyes of our understanding.
Seeing the invisible sounds so super spiritual that many people wrongfully conclude it is only for the very spiritually gifted. In some circles you would be considered the radical fringe for even believing in such phenomena. Those are big lies from hell to keep you from tapping into the spiritual senses that God has given every believer (Heb. 5:14). So the question that begs to be answered is how does this practically play out in our lives – what do we see?
First you need to know that the understanding that Paul speaks of is the part of your mind that can draw conclusions about matters and can make distinctions between right and wrong. It is the part of the mind that is designed to have insight and comprehension; it is the seeing part of our minds that is why it has eyes. It is actually the mind of our heart. It is important to note that this side of heaven we will never see fully, only in part, and that is enough. God designed it that way and gave us others to see the parts we are missing (1 Cor. 13:12).
When the eyes of our understanding are enlightened there are three“what’s” that we will begin to have comprehension and insight into (Eph. 1:18-19). This is a very brief look at each of these. This is not a theological perspective, but my personal seeing with the eyes of my heart.
1. The hope of His calling on our life
The most basic question everyone faces in life is why am I here? What is my purpose? To know the hope of His calling is to know your purpose in life. Everything God created has a purpose, no one is a mistake and those who do not know their purpose get lost, and wind up being abused by life. Abused means abnormal use, not used for its intended purpose. If you do not know what you are created for anyone can come along and assign a use for you and you become who they say you are, because you do not know who you are. This is the root of great hope.
2. The riches of the glory of His inheritance in you
Jesus stated, “The glory which You (the Father) gave Me (Jesus) I have given to them (us)” John 17:22. I believe the glory Jesus is talking about is the glory of being a son or daughter of God the Father (John 20:17). God considers us to be part of His riches just like a godly parent considers their children and grandchildren the most prized possessions in life. In effect, Paul was praying that we would see ourselves the way the Father sees us. That we would realize how much He loves and values us. If we could just see ourselves from His point of view, we would live differently.
3. The exceeding greatness of His power toward you
Of the three things we can see, I am sorry to say that I have the least spiritual insight on this one. However, that is beginning to change as God is releasing a fresh revelation of the intense suffering and violent death of Jesus. This will lead us into the realm of His power (1 Cor. 1:18). Paul described four realms of power that worked in Christ when He was raised from the dead.
1. Power – dunamis, it is the power to do God’s will
2. Working – energeia, it is the energy to do God’s will
3. Mighty – ischuos, it is the power to overcome and defeat Satan
4. Power – kratos, it is the power to rule
The Father desires to open our heart’s eyes to see and understand what we were created for, who we are, and how to experience and live out of the exceeding greatness of His power.
Many Blessings, BW