Ephesians 1:18-20 "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (19) And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, (20) Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places"
We are looking at Paul's prayer for the Ephesian Church - and for each of us today. He was praying for "the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling..." Do you ever find yourself reading the Bible while at the same time your mind is wandering somewhere else? I guess I'm asking this because I don't want to be the only one that is guilty of doing this. We saw in our study of the Psalms that the Word of God "is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." I have found on many occasions that if I am prayerfully reading the Word of God, I can find great understanding (enlightenment) concerning issues of life in which I am dealing at the moment. It is amazing to me how God knows exactly what to say at just the right time to say it. But of course, we can read that in the book of Isaiah 50:4, "The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary." It seems to me that the Apostle Paul is saying that we should be more than just a casual reader of the Bible. I know there are times when it is good just to sit and read, but there are other times when I need to stop and let my heart and mind soak in those things I am reading. It is those times that as I am meditating upon the words that are read that I find the Holy Spirit speaking directly to me.
Today's verses speak solidly to me concerning the working of the Holy Spirit in
my life. Paul said, "I want you to understand what God has in store for
you. I want you to know "the hope (calm assurance) of His calling is
ultimately that we will be in heaven's glory with Him for all eternity."
He has ordained the perfect plan and He carried out that plan by sending His
Son to the cross to pay for our sins. Then He says, "I want you to go
deeper into the knowledge and wisdom of God to know that the very same power
that raised Jesus from the dead is at work within you." Yes, the same
power that raised Jesus from the dead also raised us from being dead in
trespasses and sins. (We will see this in chapter 2.) But the part that goes
even deeper for me (if that is possible) is that this same power is at work in
our lives to enable us to overcome all struggles and issues of life that we
face every single day. We read in the Book of Romans 8:37, "... we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us." The power that allows us
to be "more than conquerors" is the same power that brought Jesus out
of the tomb. He conquered death, hell, and the grave and we are overcomers
through Him. Praise His Holy Name! It is through this power that we are
able to walk close to our Lord every single day.
Each step I take my Savior goes before me,
And with His loving hand He leads the way;
And with each breath I whisper, "I adore Thee!"
O what joy to walk with Him each day.
Chorus
Each step I take I know that He will guide me--
To higher ground He ever leads me on;
Until some day the last step will be taken,
Each step I take just leads me closer home.
I trust in God, no matter come what may,
For life eternal is in His hand;
He holds the key that opens up the way
That will lead me to the promised land.