EPHESIANS 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened...

Here the Greek word rendered "understanding" is kardia which means "heart". It's the eyes of your heart. Also, "being" should be in the past tense rendering it "having been". Therefore, a more correct translation would be,

The eyes of your heart having been enlightened...

Paul's prayer here in Ephesians isn't asking that these Believers have the eyes of their hearts enlightened, rather he was acknowledging that they already were.

How, we may ask were their eyes enlightened? The answer is found in the preceding verses, which give the very cause for his prayer.

EPHESIANS 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

First they "heard the word of truth". That's always first! First to come if we are ever going to have our eyes enlightened and first to go if we are ever going to be blinded. That is why the enemy would have us do anything rather than know the truth. The deceiver would even have us preach the word, as long as it wasn't the word of truth.

That's what he must get rid of. That's how he deceived and defeated Eve in the Garden of Eden. He enticed her away from the truth by getting her to question the truth of the word of GOD, and having first done that, he then easily got her to believe his lie, "ye shall not surely die...your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods". It's the same lie being taught today. And they believe the lie because they know not the truth.

We must have the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation, and believing it, being sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Then we are sealed! We don't have to pray for it, we don't have to wait for it. When we believe that word of truth, at that instant, we are sealed.

EPHESIANS 1:15-16,18  Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers... The eyes of your understanding being enlightened...

We read that after Paul heard of their faith and love, he acknowledged that the eyes of their heart had been enlightened. A person's faith and love are pretty good indications of his understanding of GOD. You see, one can have tremendous head knowledge of the Bible and still be ignorant of GOD's ways. There is a definite balance between head and heart that must be maintained in understanding GOD and HIS ways. If a person has all head knowledge and no heart, the scale tips and he is thrown off course by his pride and arrogance. Similarly, if a Believer has all heart but sets aside his study of the Scriptures, the scale again tips and he is again thrown off course. Not by his pride or arrogance, but because without his anchor fastened securely to the Rock, he will slowly drift away before he even realizes it. We need both, faith and love, head and heart.

Let's look at this in two aspects: first, their "faith in the Lord Jesus [Yeshua]" and secondly, their "love unto all the saints".

Simply put, "faith in the Lord Jesus" meant that they put their trust in Him. He had taught that no one can serve two masters, so if He were truly their Lord, He must take precedence over their pursuits. We must have faith in Him, not in ourselves. Who is serving who might answer this question of Lordship. Do we consider Yeshua our errand boy, or are we willing to consider all our worldly treasures dung (manure), that we might gain Him? (PHILIPPIANS 3:8)

We can't claim to have faith in Him to supply our every need and then turn around and go our own way. In that situation He may be our Provider and our Rock, but He wouldn't be our Lord. No, it must be faith in the Lord Yeshua.

But by Me

The Apostle Luke writes of a very interesting experience of two disciples the day of Christ's resurrection. They were in grave despair having three days ago lost their hope that Yeshua would redeem Israel. They had walked with Him, saw His miracles, heard His teachings and then even before they realized what had happened, He was taken from them in the middle of the night, beaten ruthlessly, crucified on a tree, buried and sealed in a tomb.

Now three days later some women claim His tomb is empty and that two angels told them Yeshua was risen from among the dead. After hearing this, these two disciples decided to go to a nearby village called Emmaus, about seven miles away.

LUKE 24:13-16  And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

For now, for the moment, "their eyes were holden" and they could not recognize the man who walked with them as Yeshua.

LUKE 24:17  And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?

Of course they were sad. They knew not nor believed that their Lord was risen. When we believe in our heart that GOD has raised Him from among the dead and know that we too shall someday be likewise raised, what have we to be sad about? We are sealed, we are saved, and we have it all and more. Then we can rest from our inner turmoil, because our eternity is secure.

These two disciples also had it all, yet they were sad. Sad because they knew not what they had. The more the eyes of our hearts are enlightened and the more we know what GOD has prepared for us, the happier and more joyful we will be.

LUKE 24:18-24  And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he that should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.

"He was alive...but Him they saw not." Should they believe it? They wanted to, but it sounded too good to be true. Could GOD raise someone from among the dead? Of course, but why would GOD allow HIS Son to be beaten and buried? It just didn't make sense to them. But it was about to.

LUKE 24:25-26  Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

"Slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken."

Sure, they had believed that the Messiah would come, that Yeshua was that man and that He would redeem Israel. They even said as much. And they surely assumed that Yeshua would defeat the Roman captors as David did the Philistines. They even believed that Yeshua's kingdom would be without end, but they believed not all the word of GOD.

Yeshua told them Himself of His impending capture and death, yet they were slow of heart to believe all. It's either all GOD's word or none of it is GOD's word. Either one or the other, it can't be both.

Yeshua taught in JOHN 14, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me".

But what about the ancient followers of Buddha, or the natives of North America before Christopher Columbus brought the gospel? They had no chance to know Christ, surely they had a relationship with GOD?

"No man cometh unto the Father but by me."

Do we believe all that the prophets have spoken, or are we also, "fools, and slow of heart"?

LUKE 24:27  And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures. It's always the word of truth that we need. If you want your eyes enlightened, then you've got to know the word of GOD. If you want to be made free, you've got to know the word of GOD. If you want a relationship with GOD, you've got to know GOD, and GOD reveals HIM-self in the Scriptures.

LUKE 24:28-31  And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

"Their eyes were opened and they knew Him." When Yeshua rose from the dead, He didn't go to the political or financial leaders. He didn't even go to the religious leaders. He went to two simple disciples who were having a hard time coping with all that was happening around them. Don't ever think that GOD is too busy for little OLE you. Remember, the eyes of the LORD run to and fro looking for those with perfect hearts, in order to shew HIM-self strong in them.

Yeshua found these two disciples who were sad. First He asked them to share their hearts with Him. Then He reproved them for not believing all the word of GOD. Then He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. It's all to do with Him. He is the purpose of the ages. Finally, He fellowshipped with them, He broke bread with them. Yahsua brought these two sad and confused disciples through all that to the point where, "their eyes were opened, and they knew Him".

The only way to know Him, is to allow Him to walk with us, accept His reproof when and where needed, to know and believe all the Scripture concerning Him, and acknowledge the presence of His company.

LUKE 24:32  And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?

How long has it been since your heart burned within you? I guarantee that every time the Scriptures are opened up to you by the Lord, your heart will burn within you unlike any other experience. The Bible is not a boring book, full of tedious details, farfetched stories and unexplained contradictions. The Bible is the word of truth, the Bible is how we know our Lord, how we know our Creator and how we know ourselves.

The Mystery

The Ephesian Believers were basing their lives upon a "mystery" which GOD had revealed and Paul now preached, which was that Christ was "the head over all things to the church, which is His Body". Done away were the Jewish "fables and genealogies" and now revealed was the "dispensation of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in GOD". No longer were they a branch grafted into a "wild olive tree" but now they were "fellowheirs and of the same Body". No longer must the Gentiles wait to hear the gospel only after "it was necessary that the word of GOD should first have been spoken to" the Judeans. Rather, the Apostle Paul could now write that "this grace is given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ".

The eyes of their hearts were enlightened! Having first faith in the Lord Yeshua and secondly, love unto all the saint's life was taking on a new dimension.

Notice that they didn't have love unto the saints, but they had love unto all the saints! As was their Lord's, their love was without conditions. He loved even Judas who betrayed Him unto the death of the cross. And did not even GOD HIMSELF give HIS only begotten Son because HE loved the world?! How much less is asked of us to love "all the saints"? We shouldn't have imaginary lines of doctrine containing our love within. Our love should reach across those lines and embrace all the saints irrespective of their doctrinal position. Remember Yeshua's words,

LUKE 6:32  For if you love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.

Sure, its easy to love those that think like we do, to love those that are a blessing. But the true test is loving those that are not so pleasant. It's also easy to just say we love, but "let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth" (1 JOHN 3:18).

These saints in Ephesus whose hearts had been enlightened had been loving all the saints. So evident was this love that Paul not only "heard" of it, but it also moved him to pray this prayer for them. You see, it was not their heads that were enlightened, it was their hearts.

EPHESIANS 4:17-18  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness [hardness] of their heart:

What a verse! To be alienated from the life of GOD is to not have a relationship with HIM. GOD is alive and involved, not distant and removed from us. If HE is not a living reality, perhaps it's because with a hard heart one remains ignorant about HIM, HIM being unknown to them.

That's why to walk with GOD, to not be alienated from the life of GOD takes more then just head knowledge, but also heart. It's the knowledge of HIM that keeps our hearts on track. We must grow in both, knowledge and heart.

EPHESIANS 6:6  Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.