Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord!

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. . .” (Ephesians 1:17)

 

Paul prays that the eyes of our heart may be enlightened to know (by experience) the hope of His calling for us, the riches of His inheritance in us, and the surpassing greatness of His power toward us (literally, “into us”) (Eph 1:14-19). Understanding Throne Life, our elevated position seated in the heavenly places on the right hand of the throne of God with Christ (Eph. 2:6), can only come through divine enlightenment, not through human comprehension.

Consider this: Paul is writing about this amazing truth while he is in prison. He is not in a very heavenly-like place. He is chained; he is restricted. Yet his spirit was not restricted. Even in chains, he is transported in his mind and heart to a heavenly realm in which he can see a deeper, fuller revelation of truth.

T. Austin Sparks explains that, like Paul, we need “a Divine apprehension” of our position in Christ, because our minds and situations, like Paul’s in prison, produce “an atmosphere of doubt, suspicion, question.” Therefore, it was especially while Paul was in prison that God revealed to him this “fullness of testimony from identification with Christ in death and resurrection, on to throne-union with Him, power over ‘Principalities, Powers’ etc., and on to the ministry ‘in the ages to come.’” Like Paul, we too today need a fresh revelation from God of our identity in Christ and our life with Him at the throne of God.

Andrew Murray declared, “The more a man lives in heaven, the better fitted he is to live on earth.” Throne position is intended to become throne experience. It is not merely theological or academic. It is not abstract and ethereal; it is meant to be experienced. George Peck explains that throne-experience occurs “when the believer’s enlightened faith successfully claims his associated position and privileges with Christ.”The Holy Spirit imparts “to us a consciousness of union with Christ (John 14:20; 1 John 4:13), . . . whereby we realize that we are ‘complete in Him which is the Head of all principality and power’ (Col 2:10).”In other words, the Holy Spirit enlightens us.

Paul further prayed for the Ephesians to receive a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Christ (Eph. 1:16).  They had already received the indwelling and the empowering of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14; Acts 19:1-9), yet Paul prays that they receive more of the Holy Spirit.  No matter where we are in our walk with God, no matter how long we have been a believer, no matter how high we have gone spiritually, God has something more for us—something, as A.B. Simpson would say, “higher, deeper,  and fuller”:

—  A dimension of the Spirit beyond the indwelling of the Spirit at your conversion.

—  A dimension of the Spirit beyond the sealing, baptism, or filling of the Spirit.

—  Something more God wants you to see.

—  Something more God wants you to know.

—  Something more God wants you to experience.

—  Something more of God Himself.

I recommend that, every day, you begin by personalizing the prayer of the Apostle Paul:

“Father of Glory, I pray that you will impart to me

the Spirit of wisdom and revelation

to open the eyes of my heart—

that I may more fully, deeply, intimately, know Christ,

that I may more fully, deeply, intimately, know the hope of Your calling,

that I may more fully, deeply, intimately, know the riches of Your inheritance for me,

that I may more fully, deeply, intimately, know the exceeding greatness

of Your power and energy in my life.”