The Eyes of the Heart

The Eyes of the Heart.
by Jason Cruise

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also 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 the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. - Ephesians 1:17-19   

When Christ touches you, He touches all of you. He becomes Lord of the whole and not just the part. You cannot wrestle with the God-man and leave only partially affected. Jacob walked forever with a Jabbok limp, and he should have, for it was a life-long reminder of the reality of a tangible God. 

In the Hebrew mind, the "heart" was the center-piece of a man. It was the whole inward self. Both the mind and the emotions.

Historically, Christian leadership throughout time has been incredibly skeptical of experiential faith, and it's just simply naïve to live out faith that way. Christianity was based on experience, for we experienced a God in the flesh, and not just the idea of Him. Thus the problem that Pharisees had with Jesus. Approaching God face to face was sensory overload for them; too close to handle.

The problem is that people take experience further than it was intended to be, and they can abuse it by saying things like "God told me ..." No doubt many times in my life God has told me something specific to a situation in time, but I've got to have the maturity to know when it happens, and the willingness to check my motive to determine who is the one doing the speaking!    

The same is true with the stoic who believes that all that God never reveals to His followers anything new. That's just not the case. If it were, then why would we need a Holy Spirit who is the "counselor" to guide us in the journey with this God who wrestles with us in our own Jabbok River moments??

Counselors do not counsel retroactively. They must counsel in the moment, yet the counsel is based on wisdom gathered from the mileage gained over both time and the time-honored study of truth. The Spirit counsels us on how to handle the current situation based on the character of God revealed in the past, for He lives in the past, present, and the future. 

Wisdom and revelation are not enemies. No, in fact they are brothers, and cannot be separated from His family tree no matter how hard theologians may try.