“I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called.” Eph. 1:18
Lord Jesus, we begin today offering a rousing “Amen!” to this prayer Paul prayed for his friends in Ephesus. He was in prison, and they were in varying degrees of peril; and we are in our own anxiety-fueling mess(es).
We don’t want a mere eye-squinting, 3-candle-light peak at hope. Bowl us over with the grace-grandeur, bodacious beauty, and everything-perfect future you secured for us. For to the degree we live with hope, we will love as you love.
So, help us tangibly connect with our glorious future—so much so, it transcends and transforms everything we don’t like about life in this world today. We’re not waiting for “pie in the sky in the sweet by and by.” We’re eagerly waiting for you to descend from heaven to earth, to finish making all things new, Lord Jesus.
It’s hard to imagine, but true. We are destined for an eternity in which every expression of sin and death will be gone forever, and all of our relationships will be perfect, healed, and loving.
Lord Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, make this hope more real to us than the fears, anger, and uncertainty that surround us—and create havoc inside us. We remain grace-neophytes and Gospel-amnesiacs, so free us from our chronic unbelief, little trust, and much worry. So very Amen we pray, in your merciful and mighty name.