“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which God has called you.” Eph. 1:18
Merciful Father, being served with a subpoena isn’t an image we relish, with one exception. Today, like every day, the Gospel knocks on our heart’s door—not like a friend dropping by for a visit, or someone offering yard-care services, or a neighbor handing us our mail delivered to their home. Nope, when the Holy Spirit “rings our doorbell,” we are called… we are subpoenaed to hope. Thank you, and Hallelujah!
So on this March Monday, we gladly make ourselves a target of Paul’s petition in this one verse from your Word. Father, open and enlighten our heart-eyes to see, savor, and swim in the hope Jesus has won for us: The hope of an eternity beyond all we can ask or imagine. The hope of finally becoming as lovely and loving as Jesus—on the Day he returns (1 John 3:1-3). The hope of the eradication of all evil, sin, brokenness, and sickness… just to name a few of the many grace-riches you have given us and secured for us.
Father, remove the cataracts from our heart-eyes. Free us from our spiritual astigmatism and myopia. Throw the curtains wide open on Jesus—the Light of the World, where all the beauty comes from, the Sun/Son by whom we see all things as you intend. Truly, our hope is a Someone, not a something.
And if our main “seeing issue” isn’t heart-eye disease—rather, drifting eyes, high distractibility, or the lack of fixing our gaze on Jesus (Heb. 12:2), then forgive us, Father. In the coming hours, days, weeks… make Jesus compellingly, unavoidably beautiful to us. So Very Amen.