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
Ephesians 1:18 (NIV)
There are days when the world feels dim: when we struggle with life events; personal issues and anxieties divert our attention from God; when even prayer feels like a whisper in our heart that we can’t utter. In those moments, Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:18 becomes our lifeline. He doesn’t ask for circumstances to change. He asks for spiritual insight that pierces through the fog of life.
What does it mean for the eyes of our heart to be enlightened?
It means seeing beyond what is visible. It means knowing God’s presence in all we do, His promises in the waiting, His power in our weakness. It means knowing intimately that we have a living knowledge and hope that is founded on our knowledge that Christ has secured our future.
We have an inheritance that can only be found in Christ: belonging, redemption, eternal life, and the unshakable love of God. This inheritance isn’t reserved for the perfect or the powerful, it’s available for all who believe in Him, including you and me, regardless of where we are in our Christian journey.
I therefore encourage you to pray, not for clearer skies, but for clearer hearts. Hearts to believe we have hope when we put our trust fully in Him, and the knowledge that we are never alone.
This hymn is a gentle prayer for spiritual vision—just like Paul’s in Ephesians. Its opening lines are:
Open my eyes, that I may see Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me
Each verse invites God to open not just our physical senses, but our hearts—to see His truth, hear His voice, and respond in love and obedience. It’s a hymn of surrender and illumination, perfectly capturing the longing to perceive the “hope to which He has called us.”
The Distinct Dot 