Message for February 19, 2022 from Pastor Shirley

“The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the HOPE of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” Eph. 1:18

     How well do you believe you understand what the word of God is telling us?  God opens the eyes of our understanding that we may see what He is telling us in His word.  In Mark 12:30 it gives the meaning of understanding as insight, meditation, reflection, and the faculty of thought.  When this faculty is renewed by the Holy Spirit, the whole mind-set changes from the fearful negativism of the carnal mind to the vibrant, positive thinking of the quickened spiritual mind.

     The eyes of your understanding being enlightened literally means that your heart may receive the brightness of HOPE resulting when the wealth of God’s investment in you is understood.  The world does not have the hope talked about here.  Worldly hope always reflects an uncertainty about the future as a hit or miss possibility but our HOPE is assured by the Word of God made alive by the Holy Spirit within us.  In His Word, God swears on Himself that what He has given us is true and never will change.  If He said it, we can trust it with a certain HOPE.

     Hope is said to be the anchor of our soul, the solid rock, certain about the final outcome of our lives, and our eternal reward.  If we can’t have the confidence to trust God with our daily life, how can we trust Him for eternal life to come.  We say we believe God gives us eternal life but we don’t trust Him in the everyday events of our lives today and tomorrow.

     Let us renew our understanding by believing all that God tells us in His Word through His Spirit that indwells within us if we let Him.  My opinion or yours doesn’t amount to much unless it is inspired by the Spirit and not by a carnal mind.  God can be trusted.  Believe it.  That is our only HOPE. NEVER LOSE IT!!!!