For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards 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 a 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 has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards 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 at 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.
Ephesians 1.15-21
Having prayed that the Ephesian Christians might know from God, a spirit of wisdom and revelation, Paul prays that the eyes of their hearts might be enlightened and that they may know the hope to which God had called them..
This is a key prayer but not new! In Psalm 119 the writer prays ‘Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law’ and in so doing highlights the source of enlightenment. God’s law – the Bible.
What a great encouragement this is, for it means that the answer to the first part of Paul’s prayer is within the reach of all who pray it for themselves, and of those others for whom they pray, for the answer is in the pages of God’s Word. And the second part of the prayer is similarly answered for it is in the Word that we find the hope to which we have been called.
Enlightened hearts are at the centre of our understanding of truth and biblical hope is what keeps us going and focussed on our journey through life. I emphasise biblical hope, for any other hope is prone to be illusive. Huge ‘hopes’ have developed around Cop26 but they are totally dependant upon all countries doing their bit and at that level history tells us that the idea of all countries working together is illusory.
But in the Word of God we have a sure and certain hope, sealed as we have seen earlier in this chapter, by the Holy Spirt, and that is a hope to dwell on, to hold firm and to live in. Hopes may be high regarding Cop26 but whatever happens this fortnight in Glasgow, cannot change the hope of glory which is the inheritance of all believers to which we will return tomorrow.
In the meantime hold firm, for he who promises is faithful!