What It Means to Have the Eyes of Our Hearts Opened<\/strong> \u201c\u2026that\u00a0the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,\u00a0may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of H<\/em>im,<\/em>\u00a0having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope<\/a> to which He has called you\u2026\u201d – <\/em> Ephesians 1:16-18<\/a> ESV<\/p>\n Not only was mankind created with physical eyes, to see the beauty of creation around them, they were formed with spiritual eyes, able to understand the deeper things of God. Unfortunately, it didn\u2019t take long for mankind to sink into a pit of spiritual blindness because of sin and rebellion.<\/p>\n When Adam and Eve had perfect union with the Lord, He had already opened the eyes of their hearts to know Him and fellowship with Him. The day the serpent came, he deceived Eve by claiming her \u201ceyes would be opened\u201d and she would be like God.<\/p>\n But the serpent said to the woman,\u201cYou will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(Genesis 1:4<\/a> ESV)<\/p>\n Of course, it was the lie of all lies, and the moment she ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, her physical eyes were opened to her own sin and shame. At the same time, her spiritual eyes were darkened.<\/p>\n So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. –\u00a0<\/em>(Genesis 3:5-7<\/a> ESV)<\/p>\n To have the eyes of our hearts opened means that we are given wisdom and revelation pertaining to the riches of the glorious inheritance we have in Christ. (Ephesians 1:18<\/a>) It means that we understand the hope and assurance of our salvation. And it means that we are able to partake in the greatness of God\u2019s immeasurable power, by the working of His Spirit in us. (Ephesians 1:19-20<\/a>)<\/p>\n Without the opening of our spiritual eyes, we walk in carnal blindness, unable to comprehend the good news of the Gospel<\/a> and what it means for our eternal salvation.<\/p>\n In their case\u00a0the god of this world\u00a0has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing\u00a0the light of\u00a0the gospel of the glory of Christ,\u00a0who is the image of God.\u00a0<\/em>(2 Corinthians 4:4<\/a>)<\/p>\n Spiritual blindness leaves us spiritually discerned, unaccepting of the holy things of God.<\/p>\n The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.\u00a0<\/em>(1 Corinthians 2:14<\/a>)<\/p>\n So, as we pray for God\u2019s guidance in our everyday lives, let\u2019s not forget to ask Him to keep our spiritual eyes open\u2014the eyes of our hearts towards Him. For in Him we live and move and have our being.<\/p>\n We want to experience God through the Bible\u2026 we really do!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n But our good intentions fall flat when reading the Bible just doesn\u2019t seem to help us experience God in a real way. What should feel alive often feels confusing and boring and irrelevant. But it doesn\u2019t have to.<\/span><\/p>\n In the<\/span>\u00a0How to Study the Bible<\/strong><\/a><\/span>\u00a0podcast, pastor and Bible teacher Nicole Unice brings life back to reading the Bible by walking listeners through her Alive Method of Bible study, helping us personally encounter God through his Word by giving us a practical, clear road map for understanding, interpreting and applying Scripture to our lives. Just click below to start listening now!<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Your](\"https:\/\/media.swncdn.com\/via\/22477-your-daily-bible-verse-800x200-1.png\")
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By Jennifer Waddle<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/media.swncdn.com\/cms\/CW\/BSMdevo\/65458-bsm361.jpg\")
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