“Open the eyes of your heart”

Ephesians 1:18 I pray 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 his holy people.

Verse Reflections:  Yes, we need the eyes of our heart opened, enlightened.  If we see God with our heart, if we see His eternal plan that He has called us to, our lives will be changed.  We will know that the doughnut we crave, the chips and salsa that we desire does not even register on the Richter scale of eternity.  We are going to inherit heaven, a place of love, praise, worship and peace.  IF we look at the world through the eyes of our heart we will concentrate on the love, the peace, the heroes, the servants that show us God here on earth.  Why are we thinking about our next meal, our weight when we should be thinking about our glorious inheritance?  Any hopelessness is canceled out by the hope He has given us.  Do not let the worries of the hour cancel out the beautiful inheritance of His Holy people.  If we look at our own selves through the eyes of our heart we will see many pure qualities that we can love and embrace.  Now we can know the hope to which He has called us.  We must love ourselves and all others through our hearts.  That is how Christ looks at us.  We think God is criticizing us for our eating habits but He is actually loving our hearts.  His eyes are the eyes of the heart.  And with that knowledge we can move on to the riches of our glorious inheritance.  We can also know the hope that He has called us to.  The hope of treasuring this beautiful and amazing body He gave us.

Prayer:  Lord, so often I look at the world through my brain, I am judgmental.  I am unforgiving in what I see and I size up people in about 15 seconds,  I size myself up with cruel judgement every time I pass a mirror.  Lord, I have sung the song, “Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord” so many times with passion but I have not read the rest of the verse and installed the message in my heart.  When we look at people through the eyes of our heart we see their goodness, their beauty, we see the hope each person embodies.  We see the reflection of You in them, the eternal promises not the temporary reflections of physical beauty or money.  If we look at them and ourselves through the eyes of our heart we will look at the time they give to You and others, the work we do for You, we will look at how we serve You here on earth.  The beauty we observe will have nothing to do with our physical beauty and everything to do with our hearts and how we use our hearts for You.  God, You have promised us eternity, You have promised us an inheritance as Your child that has nothing to do with money.  We can be the poorest person on this earth and the richest person in heaven.  We can owe money and have a run down house with grass up to our knees but we spend our time serving You.  That makes us beautiful.  I have said before and I will say again, that when I look at myself through Your eyes, I have less anxiety and less judgement.  Ironically, I eat less and crave less food.  Hallelujah.  That is what Your power does for us.  Lord, open the eyes of my heart for myself.  Remind me that I am already beautiful and You love me just the way I am.  Lord, open the eyes of my heart for others.  Remind me that we are all beautiful in Your kingdom and given the glorious inheritance of eternity.  And no one cares what You look like or what You weigh when our physical bodies are gone.  I love You so much, enlighten me, give me the eyes of my heart so that I will crave Your foods, the food that make me healthy and prepare me for Your kingdom here on earth.