Yes! There is Good News! January 6, 2018

Pundits near and far have been labeling the year 2017, a year of bad news. And what are we, who are seekers of “good news,” to make of that? Wild fires, floods, hurricanes, nuclear threats, riots, fake news … the list could go on and on; one may not be faulted for agreeing with this assessment.

However, before we find ourselves going down that hole, let’s, you and me, take the high ground and consider one of the scriptures that our loving Father has provided for us.

I am always intrigued with the prayers that Paul offers up for his readers. Let’s take a look at one: in his letter to the Ephesians 1:16-19 we read, “I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 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.”

Paul’s prayer goes on from there, but let this much suffice for now. To begin with, Paul gives thanks for his readers. Then he asks that his readers would be given “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.” Let’s ponder that. Can we, by our own understanding and intellectual prowess, come to know Him better? On the one hand, we can read the bible and come to know a lot about God, but can we really come to know Him? My answer is a solid no! Knowing a lot about someone and truly coming to know them are two different things. We will always need the help of the other person if we are to come to know them. And so Paul prays for a Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that they may know Him better. Paul then asks that the eyes of their heart may be enlightened.

In the scriptures we are told that we should “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18) To see the unseen, we need to look with the eyes of our hearts; we need to have the eyes of our heart enlightened! To understand this and to have it happen, we need God’s help. Paul then lists three end results of this God given spiritual eyesight: 1) that you may know the hope to which He has called you; 2) to know the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints; 3) to know His incomparably great power for us who believe.

Each one of these three things deserves to be expounded upon in future articles and God willing we shall do this. But for now let me share with you my readers, why I chose this particular prayer of Paul. Some of you readers have come up to me on the streets around town and expressed your enjoyment in reading the articles. But for the most part I do not know who my readers are. So, before I begin to type an article, I ask a very similar prayer for all of you and for myself. “May God open the eyes of my heart to the needs of my readership and may He open the eyes of your hearts to the things that He has given me to write.”