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by guest contributor, Dr. Lewis Gregory<\/p>\n
THE WORD:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cThe eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe . . . .\u201d Ephesians 1:18-19<\/p>\n THE POINT:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cWhat you don\u2019t know can\u2019t hurt you.\u201d Or can it? Yes, it can, especially if you don\u2019t know who you are in Christ, and what your resources are in Him. If you don\u2019t know that, then you will miss out on what God has provided for you. You will be severely limited in your Christian life.<\/p>\n As long as you continue to rely solely upon your natural mind (your human intellect), you will never be able to understand the things of God. Spiritual understanding occurs in the heart\u2014the inner person of the spirit. Since God is Spirit, the only way to know God and experience His superior quality of life is by the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n Only by spiritual enlightenment can we know what we need to know, and see where we need to go. Paul prayed that we would get a revelation of Christ (be spiritually enlightened) in order that we might gain an experiential knowledge of Christ. There are 3 specific things Paul prayed that we would know experientially as a result of our being spiritually enlightened: God’s calling, God’s inheritance, and God’s power.<\/p>\n Everything belongs to God, and yet, by His grace, He\u2019s made it available to us \u201cin Christ.\u201d Thus, what\u2019s His has now become ours through our union with Christ. God wants us to experience first-hand the marvelous life that He has provided for us in Christ Jesus our Lord.<\/p>\n THE APPLICATION:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0So, what is this life to which God has called you? God has called you to Himself, and imparted His very own life to you. He is the Source of all life\u2014both physical life and spiritual life.<\/p>\n God\u2019s life is bound up in the person of Jesus Christ, and Christ in you becomes the Source of your life. Christ is your hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). Your hope of God\u2019s glorious life is fulfilled in you through your union with Christ. God\u2019s inheritance for you is now resident in you in the person of Christ.<\/p>\n Thus, all Christ is and all He has are now available to you. You have all the resources you need for living life. Moreover, God\u2019s great and mighty power will energize and enable you to live life\u2014His life.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve got the power, which means you can now do all things through Christ! It\u2019s all about \u201cwho\u201d you know. Therefore, if you want your life to count, you\u2019ve got to know Christ! The question is, \u201cDo you know Him, really know Him?\u201d<\/p>\n It is not enough to just know about Christ. You must know Him personally, intimately and experientially. God will make Christ known to you by the Holy Spirit. So, ask Him to turn on the light in your life. Once God illuminates your life, you will have the capacity to know Him\u2014who He is in you, and who you are in Him.<\/p>\n You will also be able to see and know with your spiritual eyes what God has made available to you in Christ. It is imperative that you see yourself as God sees you in Christ! Then, believe that to be the truth about your new self in union with Christ.<\/p>\n The outworking of this requires an attitude of continuous trust and dependency upon Christ to do the work in and through you. Therefore, you must remain in the believing mode. Jesus Himself said that if you believe, you will see the glory of God (John 11:40). So, as you believe you will be able to see for yourself the glory . . . of His calling, His inheritance, and His power at work in your life. So, keep on believing and the Lord will make it happen!<\/p>\n