God's heart for you is to see what are the things that He has planned and purposed for you and your future.
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
Ephesians 1:18 NKJV
What does it mean to have the eyes of your understanding enlightened? The word understanding in Ephesians 1:18 talks about your imagination, deep thought and your mind. We use our physical eyes to perceive natural/physical things but we use our understanding (imagination, deep thoughts and mind) to perceive spiritual things. To perceive spiritual things our understanding (our imagination and mind) needs to be opened up and Jesus is the one who opens our understanding (Luke 24:45). So, what is it that God wants us to perceive with our imaginations, deep thoughts and minds? Ephesians 1:18 show us what He wants us to perceive; the hope of His calling. God wants us to see and perceive with our imagination and mind what is the hope of what He called us to. What is hope? Hope can be defined as the following: a confident expectation of good. Therefore, God wants your imagination and mind to have a confident expectation of the good of what He has called you to. You can only be confident and expect good when you know what is coming and what someone (in this case, God) has in store for you.
Let's look at what God has in store for you.
In the rest of Ephesians 1:18 it says that you may know the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Firstly, it shows that this inheritance is within the saints, it's placed inside of the saints(believers in Jesus). If you are a believer IN Jesus, this includes you. Furthermore, showing that God wants you to know the riches of the glory in the saints. So, what does riches and glory mean? Riches means the fullness and abundance. Glory means good opinion resulting in praise and honour. Therefore, God wants you to perceive with your mind and imagination the fullness and abundance of His good opinion of you and that He has placed this opinion on the inside of you (in the saints) so that it forms part of your new identity. When you realize that this is His opinion of you it will result in praise and honour to God. Furthermore, God's opinion of you also relates to a person, Jesus! You are God's beloved son and daughter. God sees you the way He sees His Son, Jesus (Matthew 3:17 and 1 John 4:17). And God thought so much of you that He placed His beloved Son inside of you making His opinion of you the same as His opinion of Jesus. God wants you to increasingly come to the knowledge and understanding of who Jesus is inside of you(your new identity) and what future you have because of Him. When you see and perceive with your mind and imagination who Jesus is inside of you, you will have a good and confident expectation for your future.
How does this truth you learned today impact your view of God?
How does this change and impact my thoughts, decisions and actions?
Who can I share this truth with?
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