Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you.

There is a praise song I loved to sing a few years ago that you might remember: Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. I want to see you.
That song lyric is taken from a prayer that the Apostle Paul prays for the Church in Ephesus. Paul prays: 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.
We don’t think of our hearts having eyes. In fact this is the only place in scripture where this phrase is used. Paul is talking about our spiritual eyes. Jesus often said, He who has ears let him hear. Of course, everyone Jesus was speaking to had ears – but were they really hearing the message? Jesus’ people are to be people with vision. Vision is seeing clearing what God is doing now in the midst of us. Seeing what God is doing does not come naturally. Our natural vision is focused on ourselves, others, circumstances, and things. Vision from God, seeing with the eyes of our heart, is focused on things from above. The eyes of our hearts see things that are unseen by natural eyes.
I pray that God would open the eyes of our hearts to see what God is doing in the midst of us at New Hope. Paul prayed that the eyes of the Ephesians’ hearts would be opened as to have a clear vision of 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. I pray that the eyes of our New Hope hearts would be opened to the same things. We have been blessed with gifts and riches and power in the Spirit- abundantly supplied by our God and Father. The eyes of my heart were opened to this at our church picnic. I saw caring, hospitality, love and community. I saw a rich welcoming spirit and a warm embracing faith. I saw youth who cared about including others and providing well-planned fun activities. But most of all I saw the presence of a God who has richly blessed us with more than enough to go around. We have much to share with others.
All to often we focus on what we don’t have and miss what we do have. When this happens we miss out on being a part of the very thing God is doing and blessing. We also fall into the trap of scarcity and survival living, when God would have us live bold, trusting lives. God would call us to take risks for furthering His Kingdom, knowing that he is a good God and will supply all our need. May God open the eyes of hearts that we might have a clear vision of the hope to which he has called us, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.