Flooding Your Spiritual Eyes
“do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding[a] being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,” Ephesians 1:16-18 NKJV
Paul understood the importance of praying for the saints that all might have and operate in wisdom, revelation, and knowledge of Jesus that came from the Holy Spirit. He enjoyed this kind of understanding and revelation and it meant so much to Paul that he wanted each of us to understand the freedom and power of walking in the same wisdom that comes only from the Holy Spirit. What he experienced was too great to enjoy by himself. Paul wants all who follow Jesus to reap the same benefits. Remember Paul had a greater insight into the things of the new covenant than anybody else. Paul wanted all of us to benefit from what he knew.
Paul prayed for others that they would have this same spiritual revelation and this is the example we should follow. We will find that as we pray for others to have this spirit of wisdom, that we, in turn, will develop a deeper knowledge of Him.
For Paul, it was important to know the Word, but that was not enough. There had to also be understanding of the Word and a continual and ever increasing enlightenment concerning the truth of the Word. For Paul revelation was an ongoing experience that drew Him closer to the Lord and that is what He wanted for every other believer as well. We settle for knowing about the Word and believe that understanding is not for us. We seem to think that it is not for the normal follower of Jesus but that it is only for the select few, the super saints. Many people have come to accept this as fact. They stop striving for revelation believing it will not come to them directly from the Lord. Nothing could be further from the truth. We cheat ourselves of what the Jesus has for us through the Holy Spirit if we come to a similar acceptance. We cheat ourselves of intimacy with Jesus that Paul experienced and wanted for every other believer. He understood that this kind of knowledge was not just for him, but everyone that calls Jesus Lord of their lives.
Paul wanted you to not just have a flicker of insight to the deeper things of the Bible, Paul wanted for your spiritual eyes to be wide open and looking in the direction of Jesus so that you could experience what He experienced when His natural eyes lost their ability to see. Paul had his spiritual eyes flooded with the presence of Jesus and not only was His vision restored but with his spiritual eyes opened He gained the ability to see the deeper things of Jesus and His Word.
Change your expectations or expand your expectations. Open your spiritual eyes to the possibility of understanding that comes only through Him then experience the enlightenment that comes when your spiritual eyes are flooded with the light, revelation, and insight of the Holy Spirit.
J Todd Hostetler