I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you (Ephesians 1:18).

To what has He called you? Do you know? Are you living it?

Paul's prayer is a plea to those he loved. He was jealous to see God's complete will and calling lived out in their lives. So he prayed for them. He earnestly pled with the Lord for Him to accomplish in His people what the Lord Himself was pleading for them.

The word "hope" by definition means "anxious expectation." God is anxiously expecting us to fulfill our callings: the callings He died for us to know and experience; the callings to which He applies the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead. Yet, He won't force anything on us. Thus, it is a hope.

Does this passage grab you like it did for me? When I am faced with something I think God is "calling" me to do, how do I respond? Do I shrink back thinking, "I can't do it" or "It's too big"? Paul's plea is that we would know the HOPE to which we are called and that hope is God's anxious expectation that we will do it! Romans 8:19 tells us that even the creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.

Proverbs 13:12 says, Hope deferred makes the heart sick.

Have you ever longed for something so much, even ached for it in expectation that it would come to pass...and then it doesn't? Don't you feel sick all over? Then you know how God feels. He has this ache inside of Him for you. He longs for you to be all He has in mind for you. We can respond to His longing in one of two ways:

1. We can delight the heart of God and bring Him pleasure. God spoke aloud at Jesus' baptism, "This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). We too, by fulfilling our callings, can bring Him pleasure OR
2. We can grieve His Spirit (Ephesians 4:30).

-Diane Drees

Lord, God, I long to be all You've created me to be. I want to delight your heart. How I praise You that You've made the power of Your mighty strength available to me so that I can accomplish Your purposes for me. Glorify Yourself by fulfilling in me all that You anxiously expect for my life.