The Eyes of Your Heart

Dr Barry Chant
17 July 2016

Ephesians 1:15-23
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you,remembering you in my prayers.17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 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, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 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. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

v17
We need a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation.

v18
Spiritual eyes. Enlighten the eyes of our heart.
2 Kings 6:17

We wrestle against principalities and powers of darkness. But we wrestle from a point of victory.

Fanny Crosby (1820-1915):
She became blind at the age of six weeks. A hymn writer and poetess, she wrote over 9000 hymns during her life. She lived a long and fruitful life. She saw with the eyes of her heart.

Blessed Assurance
1. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Chorus:
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.

2. Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels, descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

3. Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

v18
The hope of his calling:
When we know we are called we have a hope for the future -- in both this life and the next.

When troubled times come we keep going because we know there is a purpose to everything.
Romans 8:28

We may go through disappointments and failures in life but we know the riches of God's glorious inheritance. We are His inheritance. Through the death of His Son, He inherits us. We are God's glory seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

We constitute the riches of God's glory in the saints.

The immesurable greatness of His power:
God's power is limitless.

Hyperballistic, megathomic, dynamic, energistic, Christocentric power.

This power is like the power that raised Christ from the dead.

This power is for
-Divine healing
-Gifts of the Spirit
-Fruit of the Spirit
-Christian service
-Freedom from sin
-Self-mastery
-Perseverance
(Colossians 1:10)

v19
Faith is the key to realising the greatness of this power.

We need an image of faith of God in ourselves just as God sees us.
(2 Corinthians 3:18)