Bible Verses About

“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.” Ephesians 1:18

I often reflect on this Bible verse about hope wondering, are the eyes of my heart enlightened, or are they darkened?  Do I really know the hope to which I have been called, not in an intellectual way, but deep down in my heart?  I love how Paul phrased his prayer.  He prayed that those in the church of Ephesus might have their hearts enlightened to understand the hope that each of them had received.  He wasn’t praying for their minds to understand, but their hearts.  That’s a big distinction.  So often, we read the Bible’s account on Heaven and all its manifold and wonderful attributes, but the knowledge only sinks into the mind, and never really enters the heart.  But is hope something that lives in the mind?  It seems to me that hope is a matter of the heart and not of the mind.  In a very real way, I don’t think that my heart has yet been enlightened to the full extent of the hope to which I have been called, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.  For if it had, wouldn’t I have more of an attitude like Paul who said:

“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.” Philippians 3:8

It seems to me that the more our hearts become enlightened to the hope to which we have been called, the more the temporary things of Earth seem to fade into silence.  I’ve been praying a lot recently for God to enlighten my heart, to show me not only a vision of what kind of man I ought to be, and what things He’s created me to do here, but also to show me the full extent of the hope to which I have been called.  One final verse:

“‘No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him,’
but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-10