Claire's Prayer

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 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, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” – Eph 1:18-19

The eyes of our heart?! Who knew that a heart has eyes! Eyes that can be enlightened or stay dim and unfocused. Eyes that can be flooded with inspired light or stumble around in the darkness trying to find their way! Eyes that are opened by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may know him better! So that we may know Him with our whole heart, deep down in the depths of our being! So that we might learn about His great power and the hope of our calling!

If a heart has eyes, then surely it must have ears. That we would hear Jesus with our heart, not just our mind, not just in knowledge but that our hearts would be open to hear what He is saying in the Spirit, not in the natural. In the supernatural! I completely believe there is another place to live, let’s not be ‘down to earth’ or ‘logical!’ Let’s be filled to the brim with the Spirit, let’s be full of the Spirit of wisdom and revelation! Let’s live in the place where we can see Jesus, where we can know him more, where the eyes of our heart are opened to the glorious light of our Saviour. Where we can walk with our Father and hear His Heart. Where our wants and needs diminish and His thoughts and desires become the focus of our being. In the Spirit. Heart to heart.

Surely, if our heart has eyes and ears it must have a voice? A mouth to speak the truth. A mouth to shout out the things that are not as though they were! A heart that rejoices in the Lord (1 Sam 2:1) that crys out for the living God (Ps 84:2). A heart that praises the Lord wholly and completely (Ps 111:1). A heart that has rivers of living water flowing from it just because we believed in the Son (Jn 7:38)!

But hearts can be hard, unyielding, stony, tough. Hearts where the voice of God cannot be heard, His light cannot be seen. Hearts that utter untruth, that scream in the face of beauty, that spit in the face of the One who can replace their stony hearts and give them a heart of flesh (Ez11:19). Hearts that spew deceit and lies and all kinds of deception, like vipers writhing in a heap waiting to strike. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matt 12:34). A heart turned away from the Lord, a fool whose heart says “there is no God” (Ps 14:1)

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me (Ps 51:10)! Give me a heart to know you, that you are the Lord (Jer 24:7)! Give me a heart with open eyes, flooded with the revelation of you, saturated with the spirit of wisdom, unplug my deaf ears that I may KNOW your voice, that I may hear your heart, the whispers of your love for me! Give me a heart that continually praises your name, that always gives thanks and tells of your wonderful deeds (Ps 9:1)! Let me be always beside you, always with you, constantly listening to you, yearning for you, pouring out my heart to you (Ps 62:8), for you are my treasure and where my treasure is  there my heart will be also (Mt 6:21).

I found myself within a room and began to look around me, everywhere I looked there were shiny gift boxes, tied with huge satin ribbons in every conceivable colour. For a moment I just marvelled at the absolute beauty of the boxes, the perfect way in which they were all wrapped. Then I noticed a card attached to each gift, they had my name on them – every single gift was for me! Oh the excitement! The anticipation! Who had gone to all this trouble to give me all these perfect presents, to wrap each one so thoughtfully, for me!?

But they were so beautifully put together… Perhaps I should just take them home and put them on my mantlepiece, they would look so lovely there on display. It would be such a pity to ruin them… Well, maybe just one…

I picked up the gift wrapped in iridescent pink, my favourite colour, the bow sparkled with gold and silver catching the light and sending out rainbows. Carefully, slowly, I began to unwrap it, almost a little fearful – what if I don’t like it? I reached into the box and drew out the gift… Chosen! Chosen! I am chosen! Before the foundation of the world! Me? Chosen? How can that be? Me? I felt the word well up within me, exploding in joyous colours – Chosen! I am chosen by God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Tears began to pour down my cheeks as I felt the love of the Father lavished upon me and the word Chosen echoed all around me, bouncing off the walls and into my heart!

Silence. All was quiet again as I hugged this precious gift to my chest tears drying on my face. I looked around and there were still so many gifts waiting, waiting for me, with my name on them! How could I possibly have ever thought of NOT opening them!

I ran over to the pale blue gift, ripped off the bow, exuberantly throwing it aside! Knowing that my Father would only give me good gifts! Adopted! I stopped and allowed it to sink right in, way down to the depths of my soul – Adopted according to His good pleasure! He was pleased to adopt me! To bring me to Himself. He said it was a pleasure! A delight! Adopted! I’m Adopted!

I literally danced over to the next gift, joy filling me to the brim – Chosen, Adopted by the Father! How did I ever get so blessed? Tearing off the wrapping and throwing it aside… Accepted! This one almost blew my mind, my knees grew weak and I sank to the floor. A deep groaning came from within me and I began to sob. Accepted, I had always wanted to be accepted. Accepted in the Beloved! Oh His grace! I was undone. How long I lay there for I’ll never know, laying in a deep blue pool of his acceptance, waves washing over me that whispered Accepted, accepted, accepted. A deep, deep pool of His unfathomable love and grace.

After what seemed like hours I staggered to my feet and looked around me. Gifts, more gifts, what seemed to be a never ending panorama of His gifts to me. Should I open another? I wasn’t sure how much more I could take! Chosen, Adopted, Accepted resonated inside me. “I’ll just open a small one,” I thought – reaching out for the little silver box. I lifted the lid and peered in – Redeemed! It felt as if I was breaking, my very soul began to shatter. Redeemed – it whispered so loud! In Him we have redemption. I sat on the floor and pulled my knees to my chest, questions whirling around in my head. How is that possible? I am redeemed! But you don’t know what I’ve done, who I am! “Redeemed” whispered the loudness. I bowed my head and listened “Redeemed.” “You are Chosen, Adopted, Accepted, Redeemed!” I felt a crystal shower of words flowing all over me, speaking redemption into my being. Redeemed.

“Open just one more” said the voice. I couldn’t move but there was a red box just within my reach with a liquid red bow. I pulled it onto my lap and opened it. The room went red… liquid red, shimmering red, red all over my knees, my hands, my heart, dripping, flowing. Forgiven! The word leapt out at me, unglueing me, my bones turned liquid. Forgiven! Red blood flowing all over me, the rich, red blood of my Saviour, my Redeemer, my Jesus! Forgiven, said the blood, Forgiven, sang the blood, Forgiven, shouted the blood. As I soaked in the wonder, the beauty of my latest gift, everything began to turn white… White as snow, so white it glistened, so white it hurt my eyes. I looked at my hand, my body, my heart, my soul – white, forgiven, washed in the blood of the Lamb.

I was exhausted, but so full, I felt so rich, amazed at the gifts the Father had poured out upon me in huge bucketfuls of love! Clean, so clean. New, so new. He has made me new! Tears of gratitude once again began to pour down my face. Chosen, Adopted, Accepted, Redeemed, Forgiven!

Flowers began to grow in front of me, millions of sunflowers, roses, lily of the valley and a fragrance so sweet and indescribable filled the air. I looked and saw a road before me and heard the Father speak, “Now go, go and tell the others to open their gifts, not to put them on the mantlepiece for decoration or to look pretty, tell them to tear off the wrapping and see the beauty and wonder of the gifts I have given them!”

Will you unwrap your gifts? Today!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the FORGIVENESS of sins, according to the riches of His grace. – Ephesians 1:3-7