“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 that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you,” Ephesians 1:17
Paul prays for the Church that they will know the hope of their calling. The Living bible says the future that He has called us to share with Him. The message says that we might see exactly what it is he is calling us to do, and grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life that he has for his followers. The Passion Bible says that we might experience the full revelation of the hope of his calling.
It's so important to know what God has called us to do here on earth for without it we just drift through life. The bible says in Proverbs 29:28 that without vision people perish. Without a clear vision of what we are called to do, it makes us weak and vulnerable to attacks of the Devil.
I meet many Christians that don't know what they are called to do in life and consequently they feel useless, especially when they compare themselves to those who are being used by God.
When you look at this prayer of Paul’s and the following verses you can see that it’s speaking about something greater than what we do here on earth. It’s talking about something that is invisible to the world and requires our spiritual eyes to be opened in order to know what it is. It’s not something you can see with the naked eye.
Paul says that our primary calling is to be Saints. “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints,” 1 Corinthians 1:2
“For you have been made pure, set apart in the Anointed One, Jesus. And God has invited you to be his devoted and holy people,” The Passion Bible
We are called to be a people who are made pure by His blood and set apart for God, a holy and devoted People. Knowing this calling far exceeds anything else we may do here on earth and is the foundation on which we are to stand, it’s the life source of our ministries. You may not be a Pastor or a singer or do anything great as far as the Church is concerned, but knowing who you are in Christ and that you are to be set apart as vessels of honour unto God, is far more important.
I meet some Christians who feel that they have a prophetic ministry yet they don't know who they are in Christ. They don't celebrate their primary calling to be Saints. They only celebrate when they are used in the prophetic gifts and when they aren’t they are miserable. Not knowing who we are in Christ makes us weak. When you rest on your gift for your importance then you can become a problem as you overkill in meetings trying to speak every week, for when you do it makes you feel better. We need to rest on the wonderful truth that we are accepted in the beloved whether we have a chance to speak or not. God will use us with more power, for we will only be doing what you see the Father doing. Before anything else we need to know that we are called to be holy and without blame before God in love.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:” Ephesians 1:3-4
This is something that has already happened for us even before the foundation of the world, so right now in your present situation you already have a calling. You are chosen without condemnation and wrapped in the Father’s love, for you are in Christ. We need to know this, for we are primarily ‘Human Beings’ and not ‘Human Doings’. It's not what we do that makes us important but who we are. In knowing who we are in Christ we then automatically begin to show forth the fruit of our ministry. Our calling, our ministry is to first know that we are in Him and then real fruit will flow out of that. There will be no more striving to be noticed anymore.
We need to know what our glorious inheritance is in Christ. We need to know that we are now Sons and Daughters of God. This fact should be more exciting to us than anything else that we can do for God.
Jesus said to the disciples when they returned from an amazing ministry trip after seeing people healed and demons flee, that they were not to rejoice in what they did, but in who they were.
“When the seventy missionaries returned to Jesus, they were ecstatic with joy, telling him, “Lord, even the demons obeyed us when we commanded them in your name!” And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:17-20 Passion Bible
What Jesus was saying was that these types of things didn’t always happen so it was better to rejoice in something that was eternal. Many of them were thrown into jail later, so if they rejoiced when they saw things like this happen then they would be a people most miserable. Things outwardly can change but heavenly realities are eternal. You may not always be able to minister the way you do, but you are still a Son or Daughter of God, loved by the Father. We really need to know this.
You are also a New Creature in Christ regardless of any outward calling, and having this mind set makes you less vulnerable to the enemies’ attack. You can rejoice no matter what situation you are in, whether things are happening or not for you know who you are in Christ. Paul prayed that we might know this.
I think that we should pray that we would get excited about the fact that we are New Creatures in Christ for this really is amazing. Jesus said in Matthew 11:11 that you and I are in the Kingdom and are greater than John the Baptist or any of the Prophets. This has been made possible because we have been made pure and holy by Christ’s blood. We now have Christ in us and we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ.
Jesus said in John 14:20 that there would be a day coming when we would know that Jesus is living in the Father and that He is also living in us and that we are one with Him. This should really be something that excites us, more than anything we are doing. Being made righteous allows us to come into the throne room of heaven and stand before the Father, bathing in His love. Not because of anything we have done, but because we trust in what Christ has already done for us at the cross.
This is why Paul was praying that we have our eyes opened so as to know the hope of our calling. We are called to be Saints above anything else we may do and this revelation makes us strong.