Opening the Eyes of My Heart

Ephesians 1:15-19

Jim Davis

Ephesians 1:15-19
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 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. 18 I pray also 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 the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. NIV

One of the most potent prayers Paul prayed is found in Ephesians. He prayed for hearts to be enlightened. Paul prayed for God to enlighten the eyes of the Ephesians’ heart—in essence, he was praying for God to open their hearts to understanding. Sometimes I forget how many times the scriptures speak of God opening the hearts of men and women to respond to him. 

Luke 24:45-49
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." NIV

God opened Lydia’s heart. 

Acts 16:13-15
13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. NIV

We should not only look for God to come on judgment day, but we should expect him to reveal himself in our lives as he opens the eyes of our hearts. Have you ever known certain facts and rested confident in what you knew, but then, one day, it is as if a light is turned on in your mind, and the knowledge you possess takes on a wholly different meaning, which makes the knowledge you thought you had take you in a very different direction. God opens our heart to understand the hidden things—even the hidden things of our own hearts that we are incapable of seeing otherwise.

Only God’s wisdom can open the eyes of my hearts to see my faults and his willingness to salvage my life for his glory. It is comforting to know that God is willing to open the eyes of our heart and give us wisdom without holding our faults against us. “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5 NIV). Imagine, these words were spoken to those needing God’s wisdom in the worst way.

James 4:1-3
4:1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you 
ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. NIV

Open Heart Surgery Is Painful

The psalmist speaks of God opening his heart. 

Psalms 119:18-19
18 Open my eyes that I may see 
wonderful things in your law. 
19 I am a stranger on earth;
do not hide your commands from me. NIV

It is a very intimate request and we might be led to believe it was uttered by one who is at peace with himself and God—but read on.

Psalms 119:18-19
18 Open my eyes that I may see 
wonderful things in your law. 
19 I am a stranger on earth;
do not hide your commands from me. NIV

Psalms 119:81-82
My soul faints with longing for your salvation,
but I have put my hope in your word. 
82 My eyes fail, looking for your promise;
I say, "When will you comfort me?" NIV

When God seeks to open our hearts it is often painful. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians about their problems it was painstaking for them as well as for Paul. But Paul knew he had to bring the Corinthians to face their problems before their hearts could be opened. 

2 Corinthians 2:1-4
2:1 So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? 3 I wrote as I did so that when I came I should not be distressed by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. 4 For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you. NIV

2 Corinthians 12:20-21
20 For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. 21 I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged. NIV

In a seemingly strange way God opened Paul’s eyes to the hope and power only God could provide.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10
7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. NIV

Just as Paul reached the end of himself, as he wrestled with his personal problems, God steps in and opens his heart to HIS presence. In a seemingly strange way God opened Paul’s eyes to the hope and power only God could provide. I think this was the reason Paul could write passages such as this one:

Philippians 2:12-13
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed — not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence — continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. NIV

God was working in Paul’s heart to bring him to will and act according to his good purposes. Paul became totally dependent upon God as he realized God’s power was perfected through his weaknesses. He discovered the true measure of God’s grace. 

Having the eyes of our heart opened may sound soothing and refreshing, but it is usually shocking. God has a way of forcing us to see what we do not wish to see. God opened the eyes of David’s heart to his adulterous murdering ways.  

David became totally dependent upon God to renew a right spirit within his heart. 

Psalms 51:10-12
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 
11 Do not cast me from your presence 
or take your Holy Spirit from me. 
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation 
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. NIV

There were times in David’s life when he saw the Lord as his shepherd leading him through the dark valleys. Yet, in those times when God’s hand of judgment was upon him his strength was sapped. He feared God would cast him away from his presence. 

Psalms 32:3-4
3 When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away 
through my groaning all day long. 
4 For day and night 
your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was sapped 
as in the heat of summer. NIV

David cries out to God “ . . . Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice” (Psalms 51:8).  God’s blessings are realized as God brings us to the end of ourselves. It’s when we realize we are as good dead. 

How God Opens Hearts

God is the master of opening our hearts. There is no circumstance in which he lacks the power to open our hearts. He waited until Abraham and Sarah were too old to have children to open their hearts. They realized nothing was too hard for God. He further opened Abraham’s heart when he led Abraham to sacrifice the son he had waited for so long. Abraham came off Mount Moriah understanding God as never before. He called God Jehovah-jireh—meaning God will provide. His heart was open—from that point on Abraham eyes were open to God’s presence as never before.

God opened Joseph’s heart to his presence as he was unjustly treated. He was sold into slavery and eventually thrown into prison for seeking to do the right thing. God had a seemingly strange way of preparing Joseph to wear the Pharoah’s ring as he took charge of Egypt. In the end, Joseph said, “God meant it for good to save many alive.”

God moved Moses to Pharaoh’s palace for forty years, then his murderous ways led him to flee to Midian and herd sheep for another forty years. But it wasn’t over. God led him through the wilderness experience with a bunch of rebels. In his final hours God led him to the top of a mountain and opened his eyes to the vast land the Israelites would inherit without him. Moses entire life experience was about God opening the eyes of his heart to the presence of God’s power. 

God opened Manasseh’s heart in a prison cell as he allowed Manasseh’s evil to come back upon him. 

2 Kings 21:9-15
9 But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites. 

10 The LORD said through his servants the prophets: 11 "Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols. 12 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their foes, 15 because they have done evil in my eyes and have provoked me to anger from the day their forefathers came out of Egypt until this day." NIV

2 Chronicles 33:10-13
10 The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. 11 So the LORD brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. 12 In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God. NIV

2 Chronicles 33:14-17
14 Afterward he rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David, west of the Gihon spring in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate and encircling the hill of Ophel; he also made it much higher. He stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities in Judah. 

15 He got rid of the foreign gods and removed the image from the temple of the LORD, as well as all the altars he had built on the temple hill and in Jerusalem; and he threw them out of the city. 16 Then he restored the altar of the LORD and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it, and told Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. 17 The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the LORD their God. NIV

Conclusion:

God is the master of opening hearts. Too often we spend our time practicing religious things to open God’s heart. Religion often leads us to practice biblical principles religiously to gain mastery of our own lives. Too often religion feeds our narcissistic propensities. A young man came to me wanting me to pray that God would allow him to win the lottery. Honestly!! He indicated that, if he won the lottery, he would give ten percent back to God. He thought it to be a perfect investment. It would be, if that were the way it worked. Personally, I will give every person ten dollars that is willing to give me a hundred dollars in return. In fact, I will give ninety dollars for every one hundred dollar bill. It is certainly a much better return than my 401k for 2008. Is this any different from saying I will give ten percent of my income to God, if he will enrich me. 

It was the first time and the last time that I saw this young man at church. It seemed as though he was traveling from church to church asking ministers to pray for him to win the lottery. 

Apparently he picked up the idea from somewhere that Christianity was about seeking blessings for self. He has the same problem that of many first century seekers.

James 4:1-3
4:1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. NIV

Sometimes God just allows the economic bubble to bust as he allows the consequences of our greed to come back upon our heads. As we sit in the midst of an economic crisis we have created, it forces us to do a lot of contemplating. Hopefully, the experience will open our hearts to God’s presence and the power of Christ resurrection.