“..Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you..” (Ephesians 1:17-18)
When one hears these words from a 7-year-old girl living in a Russian orphanage who doesn’t have other relatives nor human future: “My father died a week ago”, one can only pray to God: “Open the eyes of the heart of this girl to see the hope that is in you, my dear Jesus. There isn’t any other hope.” This kind of situation came to me when I was visiting Russia. I lost my relationship to my own father at the same age as that little girl. I assimilated with her pain. Tears from inside of me started to come to the surface, as well as my own pain.
How could I tell her about the loving God so that she would understand it and have hope for her life?
We told the girl about the loving Father, God, who sent His own Son to save the world. We told about the amazing love of God that cannot be seen with physical eyes, but with the eyes of the heart. We told her about God’s Holy Spirit that blows life into human’s heart. It’s like a wind that cannot be seen with physical eyes, but you can feel it. Even if you search where the wind is coming from, you can’t see it, but you see the impact and the movement of the wind and you can understand its existence.
Things are very real even though sometimes we only see them with our heart’s eyes, we told them. Suddenly, when we were singing about Jesus’ love, this little girl’s eyes lit up. She jumped up, took a Russian orphanage worker by hand, and started to dance with joy. The girl’s eyes were opened, she saw hope. It was almost unbelievable! In the middle of these happenings that were taking place in her life, she was dancing with joy in the orphanage, unbelievable!
Close to presence of death, inside of grey walls, this little girl was the only one who saw hope, the glory of God. As I was watching this small dancing girl whose eyes were sparkling from happiness, my own heart broke and I started to cry. I thought: “What did that little girl see more than the others who couldn’t see?” The answer rose to my heart, shaking me awake when I heard the Holy Spirit whispering to me: “THE GIRL SAW THE LIGHT OF THE GOSPEL!” Wow! The girl saw the light of the gospel!
You know what rose to my heart as a message to you and to me? You and me, we can truly see the same light that is the gospel message, that is the good news God gave to us to proclaim to every corner of the world!
My friend, also today the Holy Spirit is illuminating darkness of your mind, so you could see how big of an inheritance is waiting for us. You can see the brightness of the Gospel! You can see the hope and the future, it’s possible! Gospel will illuminate your darkness. Jesus came to the world so that you could be full of hope. Satan wants to steal your hope and bring you despair. The thief has come to steal and kill. But in the Spirit of wisdom and revelation we see through the enemy’s lies, as that small girl in that Russian orphanage did.
Remember, you have a future! It’s a promise from God. You have a hope and that is also a promise from God. Believe it, God wants to brighten your darkness. When you see in the Spirit what your part is, what your inheritance is, you will be filled with joy and you can start to dance and sing out of happiness, like the little orphan girl in the orphanage in Russia.
Arto Boa’s devotional book, Keys
