Experiencing God's Presence #41

Experiencing God's Presence #41

I pray 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 his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Ephesians 1:18-19, NIV

Your heart has eyes. In fact, you have a whole range of spiritual senses that correspond to your physical senses. According to God’s Word, you can “hear” His voice (John 10:3, NKJV), you can “taste and see” that He is good (Psalm 34:8), you can experience His “touch” (Luke 4:40), and you can carry the “aroma” of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:15, NIV). Scripture and history are full of examples of people who have encountered Him with these spiritual senses. Such perceptions are much more than figurative encounters; they are real—as real as the seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling we do with our natural senses. God has always invited us not into a system of beliefs but into a range of experiences.

But our spiritual senses have become dulled. Perhaps it’s because we’ve been well trained by materialist philosophies and believed the lie that we can trust only empirical data—as if any relationship could be measured by empirical data. Or maybe it’s because we just haven’t cultivated our capacity to perceive. Either way, we’re missing out on our primary means of communing with God. Our senses need to be awakened.

How do we do that? Ask God to awaken them. Use them often. Reject any fear of making mistakes—all growing children make mistakes in how they perceive things. Over time, we learn. Like Paul, we can pray for ourselves and others that the “eyes” of the heart—as well as the ears, hands, and other means of spiritual perception—would be enlightened so we can know Him and receive whatever He has prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10). Eventually, we experience Him in ways that are more real than anything our physical world can give us.

Breathe into my senses, Spirit. Let me commune with You with spiritual sights, sounds, touch, tastes, and smells. Drive me into a deeper reality than my physical nature has ever known.