DAY 5: OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART
“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened.” Ephesians 1:17–18 NKJV
“God opens the eyes of our heart so we can discern the voice of the enemy and reject his evil imaginations, while recognizing the voice of God and embracing the God Imagination He places within us.” — Dr. Daniel LeBlanc
OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART
Yesterday we discovered that there are two very different directions our imagination can take. A God Imagination agrees with God’s Word, His character, His Kingdom, and His purposes. An evil imagination contradicts the knowledge of God and can lead us toward fear, deception, temptation, condemnation, sin, and destruction.
But this raises an important question. If there are different voices attempting to influence the pictures within us, how do we recognize which kingdom is speaking?
Paul prayed that the believers in Ephesus would receive “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” and that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened. Ephesians 1:17–18 NKJV. Paul understood that believers need more than natural sight and human reasoning. We need the Holy Spirit to illuminate truth so we can recognize what is happening in the spiritual realm and discern what is attempting to influence our inner world.
Notice that Paul prayed for “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” When an evil spirit comes against the wisdom and revelation we have received through knowing Him, that spirit is no match for the power and authority of God at work within us.
Years ago, Kenneth E. Hagin described how he began regularly praying Ephesians 1:17–18 over his own life. He testified that as he continued praying these verses, spiritual truths began opening to his understanding in ways he had never experienced before. Whether we use those exact words or simply make Paul’s prayer our own, there is something powerful about asking God to continually enlighten the eyes of our understanding.
Opened eyes produce discernment. The more clearly we know God, the easier it becomes to recognize what does not sound like Him. When you know His character, you begin recognizing condemnation because it does not sound like your Father. When you know His truth, you recognize deception because it contradicts His Word. When you know His peace, you become more sensitive when fear attempts to dominate your imagination.
Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” John 10:27 NKJV. Notice the progression. His sheep hear His voice, recognize the One speaking, and follow Him. Discernment is not merely recognizing that a voice is speaking. Discernment helps determine which voice you will follow.
There are voices competing for your agreement every day. God speaks through His Word and by His Spirit, while the enemy seeks to deceive, tempt, accuse, and distort. The world continually presents its own values, desires, fears, and definitions of truth. Our memories, emotions, experiences, wounds, and reasoning can speak loudly as well. This is why the eyes of our heart must be enlightened.
The enemy understands the power of a voice because a voice can introduce a thought, and a thought can begin painting a picture. If he can influence the voice you continually listen to, he can influence the picture you continually behold. If he can influence the picture, he can begin influencing your expectations, desires, decisions, and eventually your actions.
Consider how temptation often develops. A voice whispers, “There is nothing wrong with looking.” That whisper becomes a thought, and the thought begins producing a picture. The picture awakens desire, desire seeks agreement, and agreement can eventually become action. The outward behavior may be the last thing everyone else sees, but the battle began much earlier within the imagination.
This is why agreement matters. Jesus paid the price for our sins, but that does not mean sinful choices are without earthly consequences. Sin can still damage marriages, families, bodies, relationships, ministries, businesses, reputations, and the lives of other people. Grace is never permission to cooperate with darkness.
If the enemy has convinced you that it is acceptable to walk in a little darkness, you have believed a deception. A single drop of sewage in a clean glass of water contaminates the water. In the same way, the sons and daughters of God should never become comfortable making agreements with darkness.
Paul said, “Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God.” Romans 6:13 NKJV. When we continually agree with sin, we are yielding parts of our lives to something that no longer has the right to rule us. We can become instruments through which darkness accomplishes destructive purposes rather than instruments through which God expresses His righteousness. Without realizing it, the destructive patterns we tolerate in ourselves can also influence our children, our families, and even our churches.
This is why we must understand the power of agreement. The enemy cannot simply force you to make every choice he desires. He seeks your cooperation. He whispers, tempts, deceives, accuses, and paints pictures, but somewhere along the progression he is looking for your agreement.
The enemy seeks human agreement in order to express his destructive purposes in the earth. This is one reason he works so persistently to influence our thoughts, desires, imaginations, and choices. He wants people to yield themselves to darkness, but we have been called to yield ourselves to God.
Fear can work the same way. A thought whispers, “Something terrible is going to happen.” Suddenly your imagination begins painting tomorrow. You see the diagnosis getting worse, the marriage falling apart, the business failing, the child never changing, or the situation ending in disaster. Nothing may have actually happened, yet an evil imagination has already allowed you to emotionally experience a future that does not exist.
Continually agreeing with fear can also create an opening for the enemy to torment and influence areas of our lives that we have surrendered to fear. Job described his own experience by saying, “For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.” Job 3:25 NKJV. In this case we discover that fear opened a door to Satan. Any sin can leave an open door to the enemy.
This is why spiritual discernment matters. We must learn to recognize the voice behind the picture and then decide whether that voice deserves our agreement.
Ask yourself, “Where is this picture taking me?” Is it leading me toward faith or fear? Is it leading me toward righteousness or sin? Is it producing peace or torment? Is it drawing me toward Jesus or pulling me toward the desires of this world? Most importantly, does it agree with the Word and character of God?
Righteousness is a gift we have received from God through Jesus Christ. We should not contradict that gift by continually choosing to live in unrighteousness. Instead, we learn to see ourselves as righteous in Christ and allow that God given identity to influence the way we think, imagine, and live.
The Holy Spirit does not open the eyes of our heart so we can become fascinated with darkness. He opens our eyes so we can recognize darkness and refuse to participate with it. We do not need to become experts on every evil imagination in order to recognize what is false. The better we know Jesus, the easier it becomes to recognize something that does not look or sound like Him.
Think about recognizing the voice of someone you love. When you have spent years talking with that person, you do not need an introduction every time the person speaks. Relationship has made the voice familiar.
That is what God desires with us. The more time we spend in His Word, the more we fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and the more intimately we know Jesus, the more familiar His voice and character become. Our God Imagination becomes increasingly shaped by the One we know.
This gives us an important progression:
Voice → Thought → Picture → Agreement → Expectation → Action → Consequences
Notice the critical point in that progression: agreement. A voice can speak without becoming your master. A thought can enter your mind without becoming your belief. A picture can appear without becoming the picture you choose to continually behold.
God has given you authority over what receives your agreement. When the eyes of your heart are enlightened, a completely different progression becomes possible:
Discern the Voice → Test the Thought → Reject the Lie → Receive the Truth → See the God Imagination → Agree With God → Believe → Obey
This is spiritual maturity. We are learning to recognize which kingdom a thought agrees with before we give that thought permission to paint upon the canvas of our heart.
The disciples on the road to Emmaus experienced the power of opened spiritual understanding. They knew Jesus had been crucified. They had even heard reports that the tomb was empty, yet they remained discouraged because they were interpreting what had happened through an incomplete picture.
Then Jesus opened the Scriptures to them. Later they said, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:32 NKJV. Their circumstances had not changed during the conversation, but their understanding had. Once their eyes were opened, they began seeing the same events through a completely different picture.
Sometimes we are asking God to change something around us when He first wants to change the picture within us. You may know intellectually that God is your Father while still imagining Him as distant or disappointed. You may know you are righteous in Christ while continually seeing yourself as condemned. You may know sin no longer has dominion over you while imagining yourself powerless before temptation.
This is why revelation matters. Information tells you what God said, but the Holy Spirit illuminates that truth until the eyes of your heart begin seeing what God has revealed. Once you see it, however, you have a responsibility concerning what you will do with it.
Opened eyes require responsible choices. Once you recognize an evil imagination, do not continue entertaining it. Once you recognize the voice of temptation, stop negotiating with it. Once you recognize condemnation, do not give it another hour upon the canvas of your heart.
Take responsibility for your imagination and take dominion over what you continue to behold. God has not left you helpless before every picture, temptation, voice, or thought that presents itself.
A God Imagination can become a tremendous force for the Kingdom. God can place a picture within your heart of people being reached for Jesus, families restored, ministries birthed, churches strengthened, businesses used for Kingdom purposes, communities transformed, and nations touched with the Gospel. What God allows you to see within can move you toward faith and obedience until something that once existed only as a God given picture begins influencing the world around you.
An evil imagination can also become incredibly destructive. Lust entertained in the imagination can eventually destroy a marriage. Bitterness continually rehearsed can poison relationships. Fear continually pictured can imprison a person for years. Jealousy, hatred, offense, greed, revenge, and pride can begin within one person and eventually wound families, churches, businesses, and entire communities.
What happens within you does not always stay within you. The pictures you continually behold can eventually influence your choices, and your choices can affect the lives of people around you. This is why taking responsibility for your imagination is not optional for a mature believer.
God has given you authority and responsibility concerning the canvas of your heart. Do not allow the evil imaginations of this world to take over the God Imagination that His Word and Spirit are developing within you.
The goal is not merely to recognize the enemy’s voice. The goal is to become so familiar with God’s voice that you quickly recognize anything that contradicts Him. We are not becoming darkness conscious. We are becoming increasingly God conscious, Word conscious, and sensitive to the Holy Spirit.
Today, make Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:17–18 your own. Ask the Father to enlighten the eyes of your understanding and ask the Holy Spirit to sharpen your discernment. Learn to recognize which kingdom is speaking before its voice becomes a picture, the picture gains your agreement, and your agreement begins influencing your life.
Then take responsibility for what you see and what you continue to behold. Reject the evil imagination, receive the God Imagination, agree with God, and let His Word hold the brush.
Prayer
Father, enlighten the eyes of my understanding and give me wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You. Holy Spirit, teach me to recognize the voice of God and discern every voice that contradicts Your Word and character. I refuse to give evil imaginations permission to remain within me, and I refuse to yield myself as an instrument of unrighteousness. I take responsibility for what I continually behold and bring my imagination under Your reign. Make Your voice increasingly familiar to me as I know You through Your Word and fellowship with Your Spirit. Let my God Imagination produce faith, righteousness, obedience, and Kingdom purpose through my life. Amen.
Today’s God Imagination
My spiritual eyes are being enlightened, and I am learning to discern which kingdom is speaking. I do not have to agree with every voice, entertain every thought, or continue beholding every picture. I recognize the voice of God through His Word and by His Spirit, and I reject every evil imagination that contradicts Him. God has given me authority over what receives my agreement. I take responsibility for the canvas of my heart and choose the voice of God, the truth of God, and the God Imagination He is painting within me.
