What do you see:
ISAWABUNDANCEONTHETABLE
Do you see:
I SAW ABUNDANCE ON THE TABLE
Or do you see:
I SAW A BUN DANCE ON THE TABLE
God wants you and me to see, understand, actually live the things he does. We can experience the abundant life Jesus offers by seeing and applying his intentions for us. Paul shared with the Christians in Ephesus how he was praying for them to see.
Ephesians 1:15-19 For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.
Let’s start with Paul’s objective – “that you will know.” Careful with this. It isn’t just intellectual knowing; head knowledge. Not just having ideas, concepts, doctrines, and facts somewhere in our brains. Those are important to being a follower of Jesus, but there’s more to it. Knowing some concepts and doctrines is pretty much what Islam is built on – believe the Koran. Following Christ is more than knowing and believing the Bible.
Knowing is experiencing. The Greek word is actually “see.” Paul was praying people will see what God has for us. See it for yourself. See as an eyewitness. See it and get it. See and understand. See and live it.
That’s what was happening for the first Christians. When Paul, John, Peter, Mark and the others wrote the various books of Bible, I don’t believe they were putting down just ideas and thoughts that came into their heads or even words dictated by God. They wrote what they were actually experiencing in their relationship with Jesus. Once, Peter and John were detained by authorities and told to stop talking about Jesus being the resurrected Messiah. The two answered: “We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). What they saw and heard. The new way of living – Spiritized – was coming from what was happening around and in them.
That’s what God wants your faith in Christ to be like. Based on the Spirit’s wisdom and revelation, you realizing, encountering, and living the Truth.
Paul prayed for three things people would see and get.
First prayer request: “The hope of his calling.” 
God has called you to be with him and belong to him. Whatever mess you’re in, he has something better. Whatever battles you are fighting, he has victory. You can have hope. This is more than the idea of hope. It’s feeling hope deep in your bones. Thinking hope in your mind. Trusting hope in your heart. Living hope in your outlook, intentions, and decisions. Actually having hope because God called you to be his.
Second prayer request: “The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” Notice he doesn’t say our inheritance, but his – God’s. What belongs to God. His inheritance is “the saints” – his people, the ones who have faith in and follow Jesus, who answered that call to be his. Paul prays we will see the greatness of God’s involvement in his people. He has made us his own and is pouring love, mercy, and grace into us. He is giving “every spiritual blessing” (v3), sending his favor and goodness to all his people. God made us his own in order to express himself and his ways in the world he created. He is investing himself in us and making us like him. He made us his own for carrying out his mission in the world. He is equipping and assigning and empowering us to love all people and be part of bringing people into his Kingdom and helping each other have abundant life in Christ. These are more than idealistic concepts that are unreachable. God wants you to experience his involvement in his people, including you.
Third prayer request: “What is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe.” Paul prays that we will know what God can do in our lives – in our minds, souls, and bodies. What God can do with our failures, regrets, and guilt. What God can do with our pains and scars. What God can do with our weakness and limitations, our strengths and resources. What God can do with our potential, dreams, and future. This is prayer that you will experience the power of God making things – his things – happen in you.
Paul prays, and God wants you have his hope, his involvement, and his power.
How do you see and get all that? The apostle prays how – “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.” We have to see these from the inside. We have to get it with our heart. We have to experience it in the deep part of our soul.
There’s an analogy here with physical eyes. Eyes see things by light shining. They don’t make their own light. Unless you’re Superman with x-ray vision, there must be light shining on things for you to see them. The “eyes of the heart” are the same. To see from inside, to actually get what God has, your heart has to be enlightened. There must be some illumination. A light has to come on. God has turned on the light.
2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
God created light that makes it possible for us to live on Earth, in fact for the whole universe. 
Likewise, he has given what we need to see what he has for us. That light is actually Christ himself. Like Truth is a person, Light is a person. He, Jesus, enlightens our hearts. He illuminates the things of God for us. He makes it possible for us to actually experience God’s hope, involvement, power.
The Light has been turned on. But you have to let the light into your heart. Lift the shades. Take the blinders off the eyes of your heart and open those eyes. Let the light in by focusing your attention on Christ. By centering your life on him. Listen and look through prayer, Scripture, worship, staying aware of his presence in people and circumstances. When you hear and see, respond with faith and following – believe and obey and serve. As you develop that kind of a lifestyle, the eyes of your heart get adjusted, and you become able to see and get what God has for you.
When I was pastor of a church, one Sunday a woman came to talk after the worship service. She had been on her town’s city council and had decided to not run for re-election. She told me that God showed his will for her to re-apply for election through Scripture (Rom 13:1) the night before the deadline to apply. Then she went on with something else. Our church was planning an Easter service as an outreach to the community; we mailed a couple thousand invitations. We were going to have a children’s service and this woman assumed she would help with that. But she started feeling the need to back off that, and when she was praying, the Lord told her, “No, you don’t need to be in the children’s service” because her husband, who didn’t go to church much, would attend the Easter service. This is an example: when you develop a pattern in life of looking, listening, paying attention to Christ, his light will show what God has for you.
When you let the light in, you will see and get what you need. There will be different experiences at different times. In my own life I have felt really different things when light shined. Sometimes it was horror – seeing my self-centered rebellion against Holy God. Then a feeling of sweet release when his mercy and forgiveness poured in. Wonderful joy when God’s unconditional love and acceptance wrapped around my spirit. Sometimes there have been fear and insecurity when I saw God’s expectations and assignments for serving him. Then excitement and courage when I see God had a real purpose and plan for me, and he was empowering me to do his work. The Light shows what we need when we need it so we can get it, understand it, so we can have God’s life for ourselves.
What are you seeing?
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