This past summer I started praying for God to reveal more of His heart to me and to give me wisdom. Often times when I pray for these two things, I end up reading Paul's prayers in Ephesians copied below.
"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 also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms."
Ephesians 1:17-20
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Ephesians 3:16-19
Recently, I've experienced God's faithfulness by His answers to these prayer requests. Through various sermons such as Piper's The Supremacy of God from Passion '97, books such as The End for Which God Created the World by Edwards, and passages of Scripture such as Isaiah 43:6, Psalm 106:7, Isaiah 48, and Romans 15:8, God has taught me about the love He has for His own glory. This truth is completely blowing my mind and revolutionizing my life! I'm coming to realize how God-centered God is and it's giving me peace, understanding, and hope I've never known before!
One might ask, "How can God be simultaneously God-centered and loving?" This is a great question and I think C.S. Lewis gives an insightful explanation. I won't describe his full explanation, but go here if you want to read it. Basically, Lewis argues that God is the highest good in the universe, God gives Himself to us, and to fully experience the pleasure of God's goodness we must express our satisfaction in Him through praise. Viewing God and reality in this way is turning my world upside down. And I love it.
Oh how I pray God would allow my heart to embrace a passion for His supremacy in all things and in doing so experience the greatest possible joy. In other words, "the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever." Piper describes this statement as the essence of Christian hedonism, which I consider my aim in life.
In Him,
Mark
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