Contemplative Bible Reading

Ephesians 1:18 (New Living Translation)

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

Paul is writing a letter to Christians in Ephesus. Paul describes his prayers for those Christians.

• Turn on the lights! (the really bright LED lights that are so bright you can’t look at them)
• Enlighten the hearts
• Bring understanding (not how Paul always seems to tie feeling of the heart with understanding of the brain)

God has given the believers a confident hope. Hoping is different from wishing. I wish for tasty banana splits that have zero calories. I won’t ever get those. I hope for warm weather in June. I have an expectation of that. Hope means a desire with an expectation.

God gives us a confident hope. We want to know God. We hope to know God. God tells us that, “Yes, you will know me.”

There are few “ifs,” “ands,” or “buts.” Seek God. We will know Him. What a great promise.