Simply Imagine....

(I) do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches if the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe... Ephesians 1:16-19 (NKJV)

Imagine if every brother and sister in Christ were praying for the entire body of Christ as a whole to be filled with wisdom and understanding regarding Father God and His will for our lives. If each morning we, every single one of us, woke with a smile and asked God with a sincere heart, “Father, Your children need You desperately in this world. We need Your strength, Your power, Your healing...but most of all Father, we need to know You better. Fill us, Your children, with wisdom and understanding for this day. Give us what we need to know and understand You just a little bit better today. Our feeble minds cannot take much more than a drop of Your wisdom at a time, but You know exactly what we can handle and what we will need to get through this day, acting on Your behalf to this fallen world. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit, making us more one with You than we have ever been before. Thank You for all my brothers and sisters in Christ. I may not agree with them all the time, I may even become angry with them at times, but I choose to love them. Open the eyes of our understanding. Shine Your light into the dark places of our minds and hearts, and help us to begin to know, to really know, the hope of heaven and how great Your power is toward those of us who truly believe.”

I wonder what would happen in the lives of believers. Last Sunday evening Brother Kenny preached on Ephesians 1:17-19 and the importance of praying for the Church body. He mentioned how statistics show that the majority of prayers are requests for ourselves. Very few Christians really intercede for others. Maybe this is why there is so little real joy. Perhaps we are greatly lacking in just how wonderful the hope of our calling really is. Perhaps we are missing in our spirits the joy of conversation with our heavenly Father. We live in such a fast paced world that it becomes easy to make excuses for not praying, not reading our Bible, not getting to know our heavenly Father.

Everything is so very connected. Jesus said, "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!"  Matthew 7:11 (ESV) Here is a cry for us to get to know Daddy God!! The better we know Him, the easier it is to believe He will answer our prayers, provide for our every need and that He is preparing the perfect place for us in heaven. This is not just a nice place to live in comfort. No, no, no. It is a place that will perfectly fit the desires of our hearts. 

God has placed in me a deep love for children. Every child I see burns a desire in my heart to love that child no matter what. When I reach heaven (and my heart cries out for that day), I wonder if perchance my place of dwelling will be filled with exploration, the kind that makes a child's eyes grow wide and their heart beat with excitement. Perhaps I will be blessed with children all around me, exploring with me and finding new things each day. I don't really know. My heart is not yet perfected, but right now that sounds really good. 

I believe God likes us to sit and imagine what heaven is like. I think it brings Him greater joy than we can realize. I believe this because I know from experience the joy of my children when they were little and now my grandchildren looking at gifts I have wrapped for them and desiring to open them, but having to wait. They ask me questions about them and I sometimes smile, sometimes laugh and sometimes give them a questioning look and say, “Hmmmm, I wonder....” If something so simple as a child trying to guess their gift brings me so much joy, how great must the Father's joy be when we sit and contemplate what His marvelous gift of heaven and eternity with Him will be like?!!

Oh Father, I want, with desperation, Your children to know the great love You have for us. I desire us all to be filled with Your wisdom and understanding, so that we can love deeper, pray more effectively, minister more willingly, and hunger for more of You each and every moment of every day. What a marvelous wonder it is to be Your child!! So many of Your children think that being saved is enough; that there is not enough time in the day to spend any of it with You except for throwing up a few thanks and requests now and then. Lord, we do not know what we are missing!! Father, let praying for my brothers and sisters in Christ daily begin in me. Do not allow it to become a mundane or robotic action, but rather keep me sincere in my love and desire to see growth in understanding, wisdom and a deep abiding hunger for more of You in all of us!! Fill us and help us each and every one recognize that the filling comes from You; not from our accomplishments or looks or other people, but from You – You alone!! In Jesus' most precious, loving and generous name I ask this. - AMEN and AMEN!!