Listen:
“I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe” (Ephesians 1:18-19).
Reflect:
When light reaches the retina in an eye, it converts that light into an electrical signal that travels along the optic nerve to the brain, which then creates the images we behold. If we close our eyes, the light doesn’t hit our retinas and our brains don’t convert that energy into the appropriate images before us; by design, we can’t see through our eyelids. The same is true for the eyes of our hearts– the eyes of our understanding. Perception of things in the spirit always, always begins with obedient surrender; the conscious choice to close our physical eyelids and open our spiritual ones. We cannot allow light to flood our hearts and bring vision if we stubbornly shut out the Holy Spirit in order to champion our own will.
When we allow the eyes of our hearts to be willing to see past our present physical situation and into how the Holy Spirit is moving, we will know hope, stand firm in our identity, and live partnered with Him in power.
We lost my father-in-law to a devastating battle with pancreatic cancer in December. Before our eyes was set unthinkable suffering and six months later we are still wading through the waters of grief, but as we stayed soft before the Lord and allowed light in, the Holy Spirit reminded us of the hope we have in Jesus, our identity as His children, and the power we have to step out of despair and into the pain of surrendered trust. I don’t have space enough here to testify to the beautiful, faithful provision of the Lord in those three awful months.
We all get to choose daily if we will put our disappointment and pain upon the altar and open the eyes of our hearts to let His light stream in so we can receive what he has promised: to always be near.
Prayer of Response:
Father, we submit to you. The fact that you want a close relationship with us is themiracle; we thank you. Teach us to set our eyes on things above, not on things below. Open the eyes of our understanding that we may rightly behold you. We love you. Amen.
Questions to Ponder:
- Where have I allowed pain or disappointment to shut out the Holy Spirit and how He may want to move in and through me?
- What brief, daily practice can I enter into that puts my heart in a posture of submission that allows me to hear from the Holy Spirit?
—Submitted by Traci Bartak
Traci and her outdoorsman husband are joyfully raising up 3 their wild boys in rural Washington state. She is a follower of Jesus, a homeschooling mom and the author of The Fight for Family; Cultivating a Spirit-Led Home. You can find it HERE.