A major theme in my prayer life this year has been the plea that God would empower me to see what He wants me to see and in the way that He wants me to see it. Within that prayer I have told Him that, more than anything He could give me, what I really want is Him. As with so many deep longings, there is a song that comes to mind. It goes, “Open the eyes of my heart Lord that I may see you.”

Like so many of our best songs, the words are rooted in scripture. Ephesians 1:15-21,

“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 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. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”

If the New Testament teaches us anything it is this: If you only see with your eyes then you are blind to spiritual reality. When Jesus came He gave sight to the blind, and He observed that those with eyes did not see Him for who He was. The blindest of all were the religious experts of the day. If you want to know God you must learn to see the unseen.

The Apostle Paul was certainly no stranger to blindness, having been struck with it on the road to Damascus… Struck, and confronted with the reality that what he thought he knew was all wrong. Paul’s whole reality was changed by the Holy Spirit’s power on that day and on every day going forward.

So what about us? Paul prays that God will give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we will see Him and experience His “great power”… and not just His great power… His “great power for us.” By that power Jesus opened the eyes of the blind. By that power Paul’s eyes were opened in Damascus. And by that power the eyes of our hearts are opened to all the Spirit has for us.

And so my prayer for you is that the Holy Spirit will open the eyes of your heart.