The eyes of your heart - ARTICLE

The eyes of your heart

Ephesians 1:17-23 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him,

By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones),

And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength,

Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places],

Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which is to come.

And He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal and supreme Head of the church [a headship exercised throughout the church],

Which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself].

Everything in God’s Kingdom revolves around revelation. Without revelation, we can have no part of God, nor can He be any part of our lives. The reason for this is simplified in the understanding that God is (a) Spirit, and that we are living in a natural world, that although controlled from the realm of the spirit, for the better part is clueless when it comes to the realm of the spirit.

The only way, in which we can ever hope to become a part of God and of His Kingdom, is therefore to become a part of His Spirit and to enter the ‘world’ He lives in, which is the realm of the spirit. In order to do this, we have to receive new senses, wherewith we may be able to communicate with Him, since our natural born ears, eyes, and tongue, was given for us to be able to communicate in the natural world we were born into, and are deaf, mute and dumb when it comes to the realm of the spirit.

This happens when God graciously shines His Light into our hearts and draws us by His Spirit to be born again into the Life of the Spirit. In this process that can only happen as a result of His grace and Love, we are not only saved to become vessels of His Spirit on earth, but we are also called to be filled (or baptized) with His Spirit. It is in this “baptism” or full emersion into Him, where we are given ears to hear His Spirit, eyes so His we can see with His Vision and perceive (or understand) His Dreams.

It is the Holy Spirit that comes to fully emerge us in Himself, and Who comes to dwell in us so that we become a part of God, and of the realm of His Spirit-Life. Without the Spirit of God inside of us, we will forever look without seeing, we will forever listen without hearing, and we will forever seek, without ever coming to the Knowledge (and the full revelation) of the Truth (Who He truly is!).

It is simply quite clear that we can never be a part of God’s world without the Light of the Holy Spirit guiding our way and without Him bringing us the insight into the Kingdom and into God Himself also (the revelation of coming to see God, and the Wisdom of being able to discern that what we see, in order for it to become a Living reality in us, affecting us and changing us to become as He is).

We need revelation in order to know God. Something must happen that can only happen from Heaven to earth. In His great grace, God has to reach us with His Light, and shine His Spirit upon our hearts! This wonderful act from the Father is something we could never hope to achieve. We could never earn it in any way. It can only come as a result of His grace!

When the Light of Heaven is shone into our, and we see God, for the first time looking beyond the limits of our known lives in this world, our whole being is flooded with His Light. Every area of our lives comes alive, even those areas we could never see before, that are full of darkness and stained with sin, are revealed in the purity of His Light!

From the foundation of this unique experience in the Spirit, we are changed, great repentance follows as a result and we make a willing and intended full surrender of ourselves to the Holy Spirit to come and fully possess us, and to come and lead us in the Ways of the Father, and to reveal His heart in ours.

As we are given to the Holy Spirit to fill us and to fully possess us, the promise God made through the prophet Joel becomes a living reality for us, as it did on the day of Pentecost in the early disciples.

And afterward I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.

Even upon the menservants and upon the maidservants in those days will I pour out My Spirit.

We receive eyes and ears in the Spirit and even a new tongue, controlled by the Spirit of God Himself, wherewith He can communicate His Word through our mouths among each other – we receive the ability to prophecy (or to speak forth the Inspired Words of God).

Suddenly we are able to hear, sense and even see the will of God in full revelation upon our hearts – The eyes of our hearts have been flooded with the Spirit of God and are open to hear, see and perceive His heart in ours.

The Bible records many examples of this experience. One of the most notable ones is that of Paul, or Saul of Tarsus, before God’s Spirit so came to flood His life with new understanding and Vision from the Father.

Saul was a God-fearing man. In fact, he was more than that, he calls himself a religious zealot! He so loved God that he would never allow anyone to harm His reputation or to bring disgrace to His Name. He traveled over land and sea to have those jailed and killed who dared to do so. For this reason, he was also persecuting those who called themselves followers of Jesus Christ.

It took a miracle that only God could make possible by His grace alone, to convince this man, that in all of his love, zeal, and passion for God, he was in actual fact working against God, rather than with God!

God did something amazing with Paul, and in a sense, it is what He does with every person that ever truly becomes a part of Him. God shined His Light upon all and blinded him! He struck Paul with blindness. All he ever knew, all he ever was, suddenly became dark before Paul’s eyes. Then Jesus spoke to Him, and new Vision came into his heart! Suddenly Paul saw what he could never see before – The eyes of his heart were flooded was opened, and was soon to be flooded (filled by God’s Spirit).

Acts 9:6-20 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

Trembling and astonished he asked, Lord, what do You desire me to do? The Lord said to him, But arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.

The men who were accompanying him were unable to speak [for terror], hearing the voice but seeing no one.

Then Saul got up from the ground, but though his eyes were opened, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

And he was unable to see for three days, and he neither ate nor drank [anything].

Now there was in Damascus a disciple named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he answered, Here am I, Lord.

And the Lord said to him, Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying [there].

And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias enter and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.

But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard many people tell about this man, especially how much evil and what great suffering he has brought on Your saints at Jerusalem;

Now he is here and has authority from the high priests to put in chains all who call upon Your name.

But the Lord said to him, Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of Mine to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the descendants of Israel;

For I will make clear to him how much he will be afflicted and must endure and suffer for My name’s sake.

So Ananias left and went into the house. And he laid his hands on Saul and said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, Who appeared to you along the way by which you came here, has sent me that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

And instantly something like scales fell from [Saul’s] eyes, and he recovered his sight. Then he arose and was baptized,

And after he took some food, he was strengthened. For several days [afterward] he remained with the disciples at Damascus.

And immediately in the synagogues, he proclaimed Jesus, saying, He is the Son of God!

The man who had previously persecuted Jesus and His followers, now suddenly had a clear revelation of Who Jesus was, and more than that, he could actually hear and see His Voice in the Spirit and in Vision!

What had happened with Saul of Tarsus? The Bible records that the scales of religious teachings, beliefs and the traditions of men fell from his eyes and that he was filled with the Light of God as he received the Holy Spirit!

The results were instantaneous! Immediately he went into the synagogues proclaiming Jesus to be the Son of God! He spoke with the conviction of personal revelation – He had seen Jesus! He had been filled with the Holy Spirit! He was speaking from Heaven to earth, and revealing the Father’s heart!

From that moment on Paul walked in Heaven’s Light, and he followed while being led by the Holy Spirit. He never stopped looking into the Light, nor being led by the Light. His entire ministry revolved around the Living experience he shared with Christ and the Living relationship he had with Him as a result. He never presented anything else than Christ (The Living Spirit of God and the Life that is to be enjoyed in Him).

His entire ministry revolved around presenting a Living Christ for people to come to know and to be flooded by His reality and Person.

The Holy Spirit was given to reveal Christ and to make Him real in our hearts, by changing us to be able to experience Him and to become a part of His Spirit-Life.

Today, sadly, many find a lot of other ‘reasons’ for being filled with the Holy Spirit. Ultimately He came to illuminate us with His Light, to give us revelation and to bring us into the reality of living our lives in Union with Christ. To be One with Him in every part of His Being, and to be able to be led by Him in what we see, hear and what He reveals within our hearts.

Yes, your heart does have ‘eyes’ to see!

Do they see?

Are you looking into His Glory? Are you beholding Him? Is He speaking to you? Can you see Him in Visions, do you hear His voice, and do you know the dreams of His heart?

There is no reason that you should not. Paul writes about his life and experience in Christ, after being filled and flooded with His Spirit,

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

But whenever a person turns [in repentance] to the Lord, the veil is stripped off and taken away.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).

And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.

He plainly tells us that he never stopped gazing! He never stopped looking into Christ. He never took His eyes away from Jesus. He never looked at God and the world from the realm of the natural world again.

This is the secret to a life filled and flooded with God’s revelation Light. We need to keep living and walking in the Light of His Spirit, as He reveals God in our lives every day. We need to continue to gaze at Him and as we do, we are being transfigured (placed into the realm of His reality to become just as He is, and to become a living part of His realm of reality), from one revelation of Glory into the next. In other words, we become a part of His Life on earth. The very Life of His Spirit within us, becomes the windows of our soul, guiding our lives in the Light of His Life and will for our lives. As a result, our entire lives are flooded with the Light of His Presence!

We are changed into what we gaze into! We become the Living expression of what we see!

Today it is not possible for you to know God in any other way. No matter how good your life may be, or what you may do for God, believing that you are doing it with God. Without the Living reality of His Life being expressed in you and through you, nothing you do really matters at all! It will all be as ‘dirty rags’ before His face.

He wants to live in you and through you. He wants to be a Living Part of your life, not in the way of being added to your life and dreams, but in becoming the Author of your life and dreams. He wants to fully possess you, and He wants to guide you into His perfect and predestined plan for your life.

Won’t you allow Him?

Won’t you today ask Him to make you blind to this world and to every part of you that still has an ambition in the world? To shine His Light and radiate His Being in you, that you may become all He dreams you to be, by being All He is, in you!

  

 - Johann van der Hoven