“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, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Ephesian 1:18-19)

We are taught by Paul to “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 ESV) A large part of our prayers for each other and for ourselves need to be for our enlightenment. Enlightenment is defined as the act of being informed. While enlightenment may carry with the word a lot of ideas which point people away from God, Paul uses it to inform us what God has for us through our relationship with Him. It starts in our hearts. If we are to love Him with all of our hearts, we will know His hope for us.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5)

This hope comes from the transformative power of God who changes us from sinners to those made new. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Our new life changes our perspective. We now view life with an eternal perspective and not a temporal view. “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)

This transformation begins at the moment we put our faith in Jesus Christ. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) God is transforming us from those steeped in sin to those filled with the righteousness of God. The heart of the gospel is this Good News. “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” (Romans 1:17)

With this Good News, we are brought back to our unceasing prayers, our prayers for each other’s enlightenment from God. “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11)

As we walk daily with the Living Word of God, let us pray for each other that we may be enlightened in order to show others the hope which we have in Jesus Christ.

In the Love of Jesus,

Michael Block