"When You're Hoping for a Miracle" in American Sign LanguageSample

For God’s Miracle, Open the Eyes of Your Heart
By Rick Warren

“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.” (Ephesians 1:18 NIV)

How quickly we forget!

God does something good in our lives — he answers a prayer, he bails us out, he helps us with a miracle — then the next time a problem comes along, we act as if God’s miracle never happened. We have short-term memory. And when we can’t remember past blessings, we start fearing the future. We stop thinking God will do it again, because we forgot he did it the first time.

When we have short-term memory, we start worrying unnecessarily about tomorrow.

Learning to have spiritual vision is absolutely essential to your success, your stress level, your stability, and your strength. The Bible says in Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision ... the people perish” (AMP).

Without clear vision, you lose hope. When you don’t have a vision for your family, you lose hope. When you don’t have a vision for your career, you lose hope. When you don’t have a vision for your health, you lose hope.

When you can’t see your way clearly, it means you’ve lost your vision, which means you’re going to lose your hope.

The key to making it through the struggle in your life, no matter how long it lasts, is hope. And you don’t just pull it out of the sky; you get it from God’s vision.

Ephesians 1:18 says, “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” (NIV). He’s talking about seeing with spiritual eyes and having spiritual vision.

You get hope from seeing your life from God’s eternal perspective.

If you’re looking for God to do a miracle in your life, ask him to open the eyes of your heart and give you his vision for your life.

Talk It Over

Make a list of the ways God has provided for you over the last year.

What is the vision God has given you for your family, career, and ministry?

How do you anticipate God moving in your life in the future? How does it give you hope?