DO YOU SEE CLEARLY?

Ephesians 1:16-18 “I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you wisdom to see clearly and really understand who Christ is and all that he has done for you. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can see something of the future he has called you to share.”

Paul gave us many guidelines as to the real needs we should address in prayer. We usually address God with the basic essentials, “God bless Mommy & Daddy, these are my needs for today, please take care of them and also please make Grandmommy better too.” Maybe your prayers aren’t quite that simple, but the ideas and concepts behind them usually are.

We need to begin to pray for “wisdom to see clearly and really understand who Christ is and all that he has done for you.” 2 Peter 1:2 states the same principle. “Grace (The Divine Ability) and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord…”
Here’s the way it boils down…

The more you know God the more you will love Him!
The more you love God the more you’ll trust Him!
The more you trust God the more you’ll obey Him!
The more you obey Him, the more He can be Who He is in our lives!

This all begins with knowing who God is; What makes His Heart release His Love; What angers or hurts Him; What stirs up His power and releases it; What does it take to access Eternal life, etc.. It’s the same as any relationship. It’s impossible to fall in love with someone until you get to know them. Knowing them takes dedication, time and effort. It’s a process of gradual revelation of the true nature of the person you are getting to know.

“How can I know God?” you may ask. You can listen to what someone else has to say about Him. You can read books, or formulate your own thoughts about what you think He is like. You can investigate various religions and attend different spiritual forums. Or, you can go directly to the Manufacturer’s Handbook and read His Autobiography, inspired by His own Holy Spirit, filled with infallible truths that are proven and time tested Spiritual Laws.

When I first came into a personal relationship with Jesus, I decided to blow the dust off the family Bible and check it out. My wife and I decided to put pressure on the Principles, Truths and Promises contained within, and if they did not stand up, we were not going to waste any more time playing Church. Here we are some thirty plus years later, and the Principles, Truths and Promises still have never faded or faltered.
Given a chance, the Bible will prove itself to be the Living Word of God!

Read the Gospels looking at the Life of Jesus. He said “if you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father…” John 14:9 Colossians 1:15 states that Jesus “…is the visible image of the invisible God.” Pray and read the New Testament looking for the Promises, Principles and truths about the Nature and Character of God. Now feast on this nugget…

Paul continues his prayer in Ephesians 1:18-23 “that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for Christians, 19oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength! All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.”

The Good news is....YOU BELONG TO HIM!

You need to read this over and over until He makes it real to you!