I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.

                                                                                                            Ephesians 1:18-19a

If you have been praying for spiritual strength this week, I wouldn’t be surprised if you have had some distractions. Anytime God’s people get serious about prayer and His Word, there will be obstacles. Don’t let what is going on around you distract you from what God desires to do within you. Be persistent, pray, and expectantly wait for the Lord. Our last passage for the week deals with the hope, the riches, and the power available to the born again believer. Hope is a wonderful word and, although I shouldn’t, I tend to stay away from it primarily because of how it is misused in our culture. So often we hear, “I hope it doesn’t rain today”…“I hope my team wins the game”…”I hope I get the job.” In each instance the word hope comes with a sense of uncertainty. It might rain…your team might lose the game…you might not get the job. Hope is then relegated to mean something that the biblical term doesn’t imply. Christian hope is certainty. It’s knowing; even before seeing (Hebrews 11:1). It’s not wishful thinking or pie in the sky theology, it’s real and it comes in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Likewise, the word riches usually bring to mind material possessions; bank accounts, assets, investments, and so on. Yet the riches for the believer are not of the destructible nature rather the indestructible. Material possessions are only for the seven, eight, or nine decades (on average) that we live on this earth. God’s riches follow you in this life and into eternity as well (Matthew 6:33). So what about power? This passage is a prayer that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened to see this power from God toward you, to experience this power from God toward you, and to enjoy this power from God toward you. “Eyes of the heart” is an expression referring to having spiritual eyes. This differs from how the world views things. Just like a blind man whose physical eyes do not work properly, there is also the reality of spiritual blindness. When we pray this prayer, we are asking God to give us spiritual eyes to see the reality of who He is and to appreciate the hope, the riches, and the greatness of the power that God has towards believers. I hope you will spend the rest of your day expressing this prayer to God and enjoying favor with Him. As we conclude this week of praying for spiritual strength, I want to encourage you to keep on keeping on in your prayer life. Continue to pray this week’s passages as we turn the page and move on to our next topic…faith! See you then!