A friend agonizes over his dearly loved wife, she is deep into the oblivion of Alzheimers. We share in a weekly conversation and he often, usually, shares his distress that she may be distant from the God she has loved and served for over seven decades. She is a happy presence in the care facility, where she manifests a joy that brightens everyone who has contact with her. He begs God to remember her in her isolation. I have attempted to reassure him, but it is an horrendous dilemma for us both.
Last week we discussed Ephesians 1:15-23. It is an astonishing insight into the experience of a follower of Jesus! As we explored it together, a sense of wonder and awe seized us – I mean the same power that raised Christ from the dead is operating in us!
As we explored the thought that this experience is so vast that it is beyond human ability or capability, but it is enjoyed as a gift from the Holy Spirit, a shaft of light illuminated a thought.
But first, here is the passage: “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, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who trust, who have faith.
To know Him better! The word “know” comes from the Greek” gnosis” and simply means knowledge. But Paul here adds the preposition “epi” to the word know. Epi intensifies the knowledge, making it epic. It refers not to intellectual comprehension, but to vivid experience. So we are dependent on the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our understanding and promote the experience of resurrection power.
As we marveled at this, and it struck me with the force of a blow to the solar plexus, breath taking – if this experience is supra-human, that is, not something we activate and energize, then it is quite certain that his wife may actually be enjoying a more vital enjoyment of God than we are! We both got goose bumps with wonder and awe
Notice that this is something “given” to us, and that Paul “keeps asking.” It parallels what Jesus said, “How Blessed!.. Are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness! For they shall be filled”
The hymn says, “I hunger and I thirst, Jesus my manna be.”
Even so, Lord, I am hungry, I will keep asking with my beggars bowl, and keep receiving with a simple “Thank You.”
progressingpeople 
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