Praying for Spiritual Eyes

Prospect Church, how are your eyes doing? Not your physical eyes, but the eyes of your heart.

Paul here is praying that the eyes of the believers’ hearts would be enlightened. This is one of the most powerful images in Scripture. While we all have physical eyes to see the world, we also have a second set, spiritual eyes, that help us see the deeper realities of God, His Word, and His presence in our lives.

But the truth is, we’re born spiritually blind. And even after we come to faith in Jesus and the Spirit opens our eyes, we still often struggle to see clearly. Like the blind man in Mark 8, after Jesus’ first touch, we see, but we see “men as trees walking.”

In other words, our sight is real but incomplete. This is why Paul doesn’t pray for external things for the church, he doesn’t pray for more money, more influence, or even protection. He prays for spiritual sight, because everything in the Christian life flows from seeing Christ clearly.

Intercessory Prayer: Paul’s Pastoral Heart

Paul begins this section by telling the Ephesian believers that he never ceases to give thanks for them and to remember them in his prayers (Eph. 1:15–16).

Notice that Paul’s prayer flows out of gratitude. He’s not praying for people who are in crisis, but for people who are walking in faith and love. This week I had a few people specifically tell me they were praying for me, that God had told them to pray for me. I may not know what is coming my way but I am grateful for those of you who pray for me.

Too often, we wait to pray for others until something is wrong. But Paul shows us that intercession is also for the growing, not just the struggling. This is the power of intercessory prayer: to stand in the gap for others and ask God to pour out more of Himself into their lives.

Intercessory prayer is love in action. It’s one of the most pastoral things we can do for one another.

Paul sees the grace already at work in these believers, and that compels him to keep praying for more—more clarity, more intimacy with Christ, more spiritual depth.

What if we prayed like that for each other? What if we, like Paul, prayed for our fellow believers not only in hardship but in seasons of growth?

My how we could grow together as a church.

The Spirit Gives Sight: Knowing Jesus More

In verses 17–18, Paul prays “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” This is not about gaining facts, but about seeing Jesus more clearly. The word "knowledge" here isn’t just head knowledge, it’s personal, relational knowing.

Paul is asking the Spirit to pull back the curtain so that the church might see Jesus, not just understand doctrines about Him.

The better we see Christ, the more clearly we live.

When the Spirit opens our eyes, we begin to recognize truth where before we saw only confusion, to love holiness where before we loved sin, to trust God where before we were bound by fear.

Paul Bayne, the 17th-century preacher, once wrote: “The more we know Him, the more fully He dwells in us... even as the bodily sun, the nearer it approaches to us, the more we have the light and heat of it.”

Spiritual growth is like a sunrise, the light grows gradually, and with it, warmth and clarity.

Why We Need Enlightenment

Friends even after we are spiritually healed, we still need deeper sight. Just as physical healing comes gradually, so does spiritual understanding.

Bayne outlines four things we must continually seek from God:

first, the removal of things that block our sight like ignorance, sinful desires, and spiritual hardness.

Second, an increase of inner spiritual light, the growth of understanding and insight.

Third, a greater openness to the Spirit’s revelation.

And fourth, the training of our inner gaze, learning to fix our spiritual eyes on eternal things. These four realities are reflected in Paul’s prayer.

He wants the church not only to have the Spirit, but to experience His influence more fully. This is not a second blessing, but a deeper realization of what’s already ours in Christ. And we desperately need it in our time, when false teaching, cultural confusion, and spiritual complacency cloud our vision.

What We Must See: Hope, Inheritance, and Power

Paul identifies three specific things the church needs the Spirit to help them see: hope, inheritance, and power.

First, Paul prays that we would know “what is the hope to which He has called you” (v.18). This hope is not wishful thinking, it’s the guaranteed future promised to all who are in Christ.

Romans 8:30 reminds us, “Those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.” But too often, we live as if our only future is what we can plan or control. We worry about money, security, and success, while ignoring the glorious hope of resurrection, redemption, and eternal life with Christ.

We need the Spirit to remind us of the certainty of our hope, especially in these uncertain times.

Second, Paul prays that we would know “the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints.” This is stunning: Paul is not talking about what we inherit, but about God’s inheritance, and that inheritance is us, the Church. God treasures His people. He delights in His saints.

Did you know that when you look around on a Sunday morning you are looking at the riches of God? This says something about how much God prizes the church. And it also tells us something about how much youshould prize the church as well.

We shouldn’t get legalistic and start demanding that everyone always come to everything and never have balance and all that. But I think that when this vision of what the church is starts to grip our hearts, we will be irresistibly drawn to it.

How easy comes the service of one who understand that the church is God’s wealth and inheritance! How quickly we are to lay down ourselves for God’s own inheritance!

And perhaps the reason why some do not commit to the church, join a church in membership, and get involved in the life of a church is precisely because they need to experience a spiritual eye-opening by the Holy Spirit. We stagnate in our service because we fail to see what the church really is—the very inheritance of God.

Do we see the Church the way God sees her? Often, we focus on the Church’s weaknesses and failings. But the Spirit wants to open our eyes to her beauty and value.

Psalm 16:6 says, “The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance!” When we see each other as part of God’s inheritance, we’ll serve one another with joy, not obligation.

Third, Paul prays that we would know “the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe” (v.19). This is resurrection power, the power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of God. And Paul says that same power is toward us. Not against us. Not beyond us. Toward us.

This is the power that overcomes sin, sustains our faith, and equips us for every good work. If we could truly see the power God has made available to us in Christ, we would stop living as victims and start walking in victory. We would stop praying timid prayers and begin asking for bold, kingdom-shaped things.

Seeing Clearly in a Confused World

We live in a time where clarity is rare and compromise is common. Truth is often twisted. Fear is normalized. Division is celebrated. And in such a moment, the Church must learn to see again.

We need eyes to see what is true, what is lasting, and what is of Christ. We need the eyes of our hearts enlightened so we don’t get swept away by fear or fooled by half-truths.

The Church doesn’t need more cultural influence; it needs more spiritual sight. The answer to the confusion of our time is not better strategies, but deeper seeing, seeing Jesus, seeing His Word, seeing His people and His power.

A Call to Prayer and Pursuit

So, Prospect Church, here are two challenges I leave you with.

First, let’s become a people of intercessory prayer. Paul didn’t just teach the church; he prayed for her. Pray Ephesians 1:15–23 over your family, your friends, your fellow believers. Pray that God would open our eyes as a church. Pray that we would not settle for spiritual apathy, but that we would hunger for more of Christ. Prayer is not a back-up plan; it is our first move, our greatest ministry, and our highest privilege.

Second, let’s pursue a deeper knowledge of Jesus. Not just theological facts, but personal encounter. Let’s seek Him daily in the Word. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to reveal more of Christ to our hearts. Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. There is always more of Him to know. There is always deeper love to experience, greater joy to walk in, and clearer vision to receive.