EXTRA EYES - CEAI

EXTRA EYES
September 22, 2017

Prayer: Dear Lord, We really want the eyes of our understanding opened to Your will and Your wonderful ways. We posture our hearts to listen to You today. Thank You, Lord, for wanting us to understand. Amen.

Scripture: 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. 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, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength. Ephesians 1:17-19 17 NIV

My son, Chandler, came down for breakfast one morning laughing over the dream he had the night before. He dreamt that he walked into his eye doctor’s office for an appointment and she was fitting his sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Dalyrumple, with contact lenses. Now that wouldn’t seem so funny, except the contact lenses were being fitted for the eyes in the BACK of her head. Chandler stood startled in the doorway as the doctor waved him to come in quickly and close the door. She explained that they had to use special contacts that could see through her hair and then she made him promise that he would not tell anyone what he had seen.

We had a good laugh over his dream and analyzed what he had eaten the night before in relation to the bizarre dream. Chandler had been going to the eye doctor for his contacts and had been helping his past teacher with a computer project so I guess throw in some late night pizza and you get dreams of teachers with eyes in the back of their heads. How would you like that extra set of eyes?

Today’s Scripture points out that we do have an extra set of eyes: the eyes of our heart. Other translations call them, “the eyes of understanding.” Have you ever learned something new or had something reveled to you and you said something like, “My eyes were opened by this?” Having your eyes opened means you have just learned of something and it usually leads to a desire to understand it, to learn more about it, to grasp it.

It is never enough for us to just introduce a concept to our students. Merely seeing the concept does not mean that they know it, understand it and use it. In the same way, it is not enough just to have an initial introduction to Christ. We should yearn to learn, to know more, learn more, just as we hope our students will engage in learning the subjects we are teaching.

We read and study God’s Word, put His ways into practice in our lives, go to church, converse with other Christians, pray and more so that we are growing in our knowledge and understanding, not just for the sake of head knowledge, but for heart knowledge, for life’s path and progress. Opening the eyes of our heart means seeing God and His plan in places and people that other’s might miss. It means perseverance where others might give up; it brings faith when others are in despair; it brings peace in chaos, patience instead of frustration, solutions for problems, and, most importantly, a closer relationship with God as He teaches us, gives us opportunities to learn and trust Him, and fills us with His Spirit to strengthen and work in and through us.

As in our Scripture today, our prayers for you reflect the prayers Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus. My prayer for you is 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, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.