God wants to show you things you cannot see with your human eyes. He wants to guide you in ways that do not make sense to your human mind. He wants to reveal things you have never imagined before. But to do this, you will need to tap into something within that maybe you’re not use to using. A part of you that has been hardened a bit.
I’m talking about the eyes of your heart.
We used to sing that Michael W. Smith song:
Open the eyes of my heart Lord
Open the eyes of my heart
I want to see you
I want to see you
To see you high and lifted up
Shining in the light of your glory
Pour out your power and love
As we sing
Holy Holy Holy
What the heck was he singing about? The eyes of your heart? Well, he’s actually singing about a prayer prayed by Paul In Ephesians 1. Here’s that prayer, verses 17-19 ” I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
What does he mean by “the eyes of your heart be enlightened”? The same thing we sing, “open the eyes of my heart”.
Your heart signifies your true self. Your inner being. Beneath the layers, it is who you really are. And these eyes are the eyes that see deep within. Eyes that see exactly what God is trying to show you.
Now, it is time for these eyes of your heart to be enlightened, filled with light instead of darkness, so that you can see what is already inside of you, and all the ways God is working here now.
Darkness tries to creep into your heart. Now, more than ever, that seems to be a real threat. Life is hard. Bad things are happening. Our future is uncertain. In this darkness of worry and anxiety, as we are divided into sides and argue over everything, our hearts are growing hardened and those inner eyes no longer see. We no longer see what we have within us, and we no longer see how God is working.
Oh my goodness gracious, the enemy is having a hayday with this! When the eyes of our heart become hardened and we are surrounded by darkness, he wins. When all we do is argue, he wins. When all we see is what is wrong, he wins. When we feel powerless to do anything of importance, he wins. Girls, we can’t let that happen!!!!!!
The answer to this darkness is the light. Jesus said in John 8:12 ““I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Oh Jesus, we need your light in our hearts. This darkness is too much. It’s causing us to lose sight of what God is doing. It’s causing us to miss all he has put within us.
The Message translation sums up the final sentence of Paul’s prayer beautifully. Ephesians 1:19 “so that you can see … the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!”
Has the darkness of this world caused your heart to be hardened? Have the eyes of your heart grown dim? Have you failed to see the utter extravagance of God’s work within you?
God’s work isn’t just good in you, it is extravagant! It is over the top! It is more than enough, it is overflowing. It is beyond what was necessary for winning this battle, it is sufficient for winning EVERY battle so that you’re more than a one time conqueror, you’re a champion! Romans 8:37 “we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus.” Overwhelming victory is ours because of the power of Jesus that now lives within us.
Open the eyes of your heart to that extravagant work. This is where endless energy and boundless strength comes from! It’s inside of you! This is where the impossible becomes possible. It’s what is inside of you, but maybe you haven’t been seeing it because the eyes of your heart have been darkened.
NOW THEY ARE BEING ENLIGHTENED. The light shines in the darkness to reveal what is inside of you. To reveal how God is working, even when we can’t see it.
What if you could look at all that is going on in the world today, and see how God’s hand is still working? What if your eyes could cut straight through the darkness and see his light at work? What if you could hover high above and see this world with a new perspective that flattens the mountains and smooths the edges, and you could see it’s all still perfectly suspended in the middle of the vast darkness? What if you could really see the hand that still holds it all? It’s all still sitting perfectly in the palm of his hand.
Lord, open the eyes of our heart. Shine your light Jesus, so we are not hardened by this darkness. Lord, we want to see you. We want to see what you are doing. We want to see how you are working in this. Make us aware of your extravagant work within us that knows no limits and is bound by nothing.
We need that energy. We need that strength. I thank you that we already have it … now open the eyes of our heart so we see it’s already inside of us.
We now understand what God is building within us through these hardships. He’s growing our patience and endurance. He’s teaching us this isn’t the end and we must keep going. We’re understanding James 1:4 “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
God, you are working in this to show us we are lacking nothing. We have energy and strength, we’re just learning to tap into it and use it so it grows even more. Thank you for revealing that to us.
Lord, show us the things we cannot see with our human eyes. Guide us in ways that do not make sense to our human mind. Reveal things we have never imagined before. Open the eyes of our heart, let your light overcome this darkness and help us to see all we have been missing. What you will find is his incomparably great power and his extravagant work, simply because you believe.
