Dear
Fellow Children of God,
I was struck by the words of the Epistle Lesson read in
worship at St. John Lutheran Church on Sunday, May 21. The readings we used in worship that day were
those assigned for Ascension Day, the previous Thursday. Ascension Day is an important, if somewhat
forgotten event in the life and faith of God’s church. I was struck by the prayer which God inspired
Paul to write about and to pray for the Christians in Ephesus. Please consider this prayer with me. “16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you,
remembering you in my prayers. 17 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. 18 I pray also 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 the saints, 19 and his incomparably
great power for us who believe.” (Ephesians
1:16-19 a)
As I have
grown in faith in my Lord, Jesus, and as I have seen His wise and loving answer
to my prayers, I pray regularly for many others. Many of my prayers are for fellow children of
God I know through St. John. I am
thankful for God’s presence in the life of His people as we walk through the
wilderness trials of this world. I pray God blesses those I pray for whom I
pray.
The phrase in
this reading that caught my attention, which caught my imagination, was verse
18. “I
pray also 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 the saints” We think
of our eyes allowing us to see physically and to examine the world around
us. I consider that the eyes in my head
help me to understand and to think. But,
“eyes of my heart?” What an unusual
description!
Perhaps you
remember that Jesus quotes Isaiah in teaching about people who see, but do not
perceive, who do not understand. (Matthew 13:13-17) Jesus faced such hard
hearts in His day, and it still happens today.
Sometimes, even when confronted with the truth of God’s creative power
and of our Lord’s saving love for us in Jesus, some choose not to believe. Perhaps God’s truth does not fit their world
view. Perhaps they do not want a “god”
telling them how to live their lives.
Perhaps life has hurt them so badly they cannot believe that God could
actually be good. We pray for ourselves that
our heart and soul and mind are open to our Lord, open to God’s wisdom, to
Jesus’ saving love. That is what Paul
prays for his friends and fellow family in the kingdom of God.
Every morning
I pray for my family. I pray for my wife
Kathy. I pray for my children, Josh,
Andy, Mary, and Tim and for those in their lives. I also pray for my grandchildren, for Jake
and Jackson, for Emma and Kendall, for Henry and Annie. I pray that they live with an active faith in
Jesus their savior. Perhaps I am praying
Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians, “I pray
also 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
the saints” When I pray for others
who are not blood family, but are members of the family of God, as I ask God’s
help and blessings, perhaps it is the same prayer.
Think what it means
that the eyes of our hearts are open to the hope to which God calls us. The answer to this prayer means seeing the
beauty and the order in the world around me, and knowing that God created this
world. To see the hope to which I am
called means knowing and believing that God made me to be the unique, special
person that I am. For the eyes of my
heart to be opened to God’s hope means knowing that I have selfishly rebelled
and sinned against my loving Lord and Creator, but that He loved me so much
that He sent Jesus, because I was lost in my sin. For the eyes of my heart to be open to the
hope to which God calls me means knowing that God is with me through the
wilderness trials of this life, and it means that God saves me from judgment
and death for eternal life in heaven. To
know this hope changes my whole perspective on life. When I pray that my
family may be active in their lives of faith, I am praying all these blessings,
and for a godly world-view and perspective on life.
When we see the hope to which God calls us, it changes
how we see our world, and our place in the world. As the angel told Mary, “For nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)
Is there something about which you would like me to
pray for you?
A Child of God, Praying That the Eyes of our Hearts May be Enlightened to Know
the Hope to Which God has Called Us,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S. We are still
getting settled in Alaska after 3+ months in Florida.
·
I know of no place where the mountains are as beautiful as they
are in Alaska. Here is a view from my
porch of mountains lit up by the late evening sun at 10:17 p.m. on May 18. https://photos.app.goo.gl/5JTJG5RBWQcRXZFCA
·
We must live in the country. On Saturday, May 20, as Kathy and I were
working on errands, these cows walked through our front yard. J https://photos.app.goo.gl/yHUafMpwU4NqWnsm7
·
We have been helping Mary with her new home. Here is a moose antler left in a tree. https://photos.app.goo.gl/XdfRcM3NbAZYo93r7
·
We are working on our yard. Here is our garden before tilling. https://photos.app.goo.gl/4HpbLKjaqJZ9eCCCA
·
I did roto-till my garden on Monday, May
22. Here is the garden before
planting. https://photos.app.goo.gl/Jv1hLvKFiaEcrLsb8
·
Some flowers are starting to bloom. Here are some tulips and daffodils, and
beginning buds on our rose tree of China.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ysXJwMbrkheFEeoC6
P.P.S. Maybe next
week I’ll get to go fishing. J
*****
ABOUT THIS DEVOTION - I retired at the end of August 2019
from serving as senior pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Palmer, AK. I was writing a weekly devotion previously
entitled, "Thoughts from the Pastor."
When I retired many asked me to continue writing these devotions. So I have continued writing. However, with life's changes I now call this
weekly devotion "Journeys Through Life as a Child of God." Since I am no longer senior pastor at St.
John, I felt it right to only send this message to those who asked to receive
it.
So, if you
stopped receiving these devotions and wondered why, now you understand. And, if you are now receiving these devotions
and do not wish to receive them, please let me know, and I’ll gladly remove
your name from my distribution list. My
e-mail address is jonrock53@mtaonline.net.
My prayer
is that these devotions help each of you in your daily walk with our Lord,
Jesus.
*******
Jonathan Rockey
Child of God
Husband, Father, Son, Grandfather
Pastor Emeritus, St. John Lutheran Church
E-Mail: jonrock53@mtaonline.net
“1 John 3:1 How great is the love the
Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that
is what we are!” (1 John 3:1 a)
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