A PRAYER FOR THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE

“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 also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened…” (Eph.1:18 NIV)

“I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can see something of the future Christ has called you to share.” (Eph.1:18 TLB)

“I ask God to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for us Christians.” (The Message)

Vision is the ability to see clearly. When I was in elementary school I began to find it difficult to see the blackboard from my desk. I improvised by boring a hole in my eraser and focusing through it. Eventually I discovered that I was short-sighted and needed glasses. Since then I have had cataract surgery and lens implants so that when I had to have a vision test to renew my driver’s license I had a perfect score! It is one thing to be physically short-sighted and another thing to be spiritually short-sighted. Yet that is the condition of all human beings. All of us are sinners, and our sin blinds us from seeing God and his will for our lives.

People are described in the Bible as being in darkness and needing the light of revelation. When Christ came, his presence was described as the dawning of a new day, the breaking in of the light of God. “The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Matt.4:16)

Apart from Christ, or in rejection of him, the eyes of our hearts are closed or we are in the darkness of sin and ignorance and despair. “You will be every seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes… But blessed are your eyes because they see…” (Matt.13:15,16)

C.S. Lewis in The Last Battle describes a group of dwarves, who have gone through the door into the next world, but they cannot see the beautiful world of heaven all around them. Instead they think they are in a pitch-black, poky, smelly little hole of a stable. They are blind because they see only the pitch darkness. Beautiful flowers to them are filthy stable-litter and thistles. It is a black hole only in their imagination. Aslan, the Christ-figure, gives them a banquet to enjoy but they cannot taste it properly, and think that they are eating and drinking offal. Aslan says, “You see. They will not let us help them. They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their own minds, yet they are in that prison, and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out.” The world is filled with spiritual dwarves who cannot see the kingdom of heaven. They are imprisoned in their own darkness, the limits of their own minds. They are so afraid of being taken in by the promises of the gospel, that they cannot be taken out of their own unbelief.

After Jesus healed a blind man who was thrown out of the Temple by the religious leaders of his day, he said, “I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind.” Some Pharisees overheard him and said, “Does that mean you’re calling us blind?” Jesus said, “If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you’re accountable for every fault and failure.” (John 9:39-41, The Message)

In order for us sinners to see, we must receive the light of Christ. His coming is described in terms of enlightenment. “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it…The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.” (John 1:4,5,9)

Those who receive Christ into their lives find their eyes enlightened and made able to see the truth. St. Paul was commissioned by the Lord Jesus to be a servant and witness of what he has seen of him and what he will be shown. “I am sending you to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light…” (Acts 26:18) Those who became believers and followers of Christ were called “enlightened” who have “received the light.” (Heb.6:4; 10:32)  Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

Paul is praying in Ephesians 1:18 that the eyes of their hearts may be further enlightened, flooded with light, that their eyes may be focused and clear, i.e. that their hearts, the center of their personality, may have a clear vision of their future.

As I approach my eightieth birthday this prayer becomes a critical one. What is God calling me to be and to do at this stage in my life? Old age presents new challenges. No longer do we have heavy occupational responsibilities. We need more than ever the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that the eyes of our hearts might be opened to know what God wants us to know what to be and to do. I continue to write what I believe to encourage and challenge others through my blog and correspondence. I continue to strive to be a loving husband and father and friend. I take an active interest in public affairs and try to be a responsible citizen and advocate for freedom. I have the responsibility to take care of my personal needs and those of my wife, to handle our finances and the maintenance of our home and yard, to keep my affairs in order and to grow in my knowledge and relationship with Jesus Christ. Daily prayer, Bible meditation and the reading of devotional material is essential to overcome the physical and emotional challenges of aging. May this prayer be answered in each of our lives as we enter further into the inheritance of God’s eternal life in Christ.