What "Open the Eyes of My Heart" means
"Open the Eyes of My Heart" by Paul Baloche is a prayer set to music, asking God to grant the singer the inner sight to see his glory and holiness as Isaiah saw it in the temple, a contemporary worship classic that has functioned for two decades as one of the most-sung pre-sermon and call-to-worship songs in the English-speaking church. Baloche wrote it in 1997 and released it on the "Open the Eyes of My Heart" album, and Michael W. Smith's 2001 worship recording carried it into nearly every evangelical congregation in North America. In E (G for female lead) at 104 bpm in 4/4, the song sits at a mid-tempo that has forward motion without urgency, the right pace for a prayer that is asking but not begging. The scriptural anchor is Ephesians 1:17-18, Paul's prayer that God would give his readers "the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened." The rest of this page is about how that prayer plays in a congregation.
What this song does in a room
A congregation knows this song. That is the first thing to reckon with. For most rooms in the English-speaking church, the song is familiar enough that people will sing it from memory, which is both a gift and a risk. The gift is access, the entire room is participating from the first chord. The risk is that familiarity can blunt the prayer, so the song can roll past as muscle memory without ever becoming the actual request the lyric is making. When the song lands well, the room moves from background-radio comfort into present-tense petition, especially on the "to see you high and lifted up" line, which echoes Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4 simultaneously. A room that means this song tends to lean forward and hush slightly on the verses, then open out on the chorus declaration.
What this song is saying about God
The God of this song is a God whose holiness can be seen by humans only when he grants the seeing. The eyes of the heart are not native equipment, they are enlightened, and the enlightening is a gift. There is a high doctrine of revelation here. The believer does not climb up to God by intellectual effort or emotional intensity, the believer asks, and God gives. The song also assumes that God's glory is the thing worth seeing, that the proper object of the heart's vision is not God's blessings but God himself, his power, his love, his holiness. The seraphim's cry in Isaiah 6, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts," is the model the lyric is reaching for. This is contemplative theology in pop form, a prayer for the kind of seeing that produces awe.
Scriptural backbone
Ephesians 1:17-18 is the explicit source: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 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." Isaiah 6:1-3 is the imagery the chorus draws from: "In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple." Revelation 4:8 supplies the seraphim's cry the song echoes: "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" The song is the contemporary church's appropriation of these texts.
How to use it in a service
This song functions in three slots especially well: as a call to worship at the very top of a service, as a transition song into the sermon when the pastoral move is to ask God to speak, and as a response after a sermon on God's holiness or glory. The chorus also makes it a natural fit for confession and assurance services, because the request to see God's holiness will surface in the congregation's awareness of their need for grace. Be cautious about defaulting to this song just because it is easy. The song is overused in many rooms, and that overuse can deaden it. If you have not sung it in your congregation for six months, it will land freshly. If you have sung it last month, consider whether the actual prayer of the lyric is the right pastoral move for this Sunday.
Things to watch for as the worship leader
The first watch-out is autopilot. Your congregation knows this song and so do you, which means both the stage and the room can sing it without meaning it. Slow down the introduction. Pause before the chorus. Let the prayer be a prayer, not a singalong. The second is the tempo. At 104 bpm, the song wants to drive, and a band that pushes the tempo even slightly will turn the prayer into a celebration before it has been answered. Hold the pocket. Third, watch the bridge if your arrangement includes the "holy, holy, holy" repeat. That is the song's actual climax, and the temptation is to crescendo into it musically before the congregation has earned it spiritually. Let the room build the dynamic, not the band. Fourth, the song will absorb a key change for the final chorus, but it does not need one, and a key change can substitute musical excitement for spiritual sight.
A note for the team behind you (techs, vocalists, band)
FOH engineer, the song mixes cleanly with a contemporary worship template, kick and snare forward, electric guitar present but not dominant, vocals on top with light reverb. The chorus wants to feel open, so pull back any compression on the vocal bus when the song lifts. Vocalists, lead, the prayer is the assignment, sing the verses with restraint so the chorus has somewhere to go. BGVs, the "holy" section is a stack opportunity, three-part is enough, four is excessive. Band, drummer, sit on the click. Do not push. The half-time feel on the verses gives the chorus its lift, and a rushed verse will eat the chorus. Bass, root and fifth motion in the verses, octave drives are fine in the chorus. Acoustic guitar, this is a foundation instrument, capo where you need to but keep the strumming pattern clean and unvaried. Electric guitar, the song has a recognizable lead figure under the chorus that most congregations expect, learn it and play it cleanly, that single line is the sonic signature. Keys, pad in the verses, piano accent in the chorus.