I have always had a gift for seeing things clearly. I remember an incident that happened when I was an elementary age child. I was playing in the grass at my grandfather’s house with my brother and a friend. Our friend dropped a small toy in the thick grass. My brother and the boy were looking for the small object for a while, and became frustrated. I realized they had been unsuccessful and joined in the hunt. I was able to quickly see the small object in the grass and restored it back to the boy.
My husband was in the homebuilding industry most of his career. He would take me to see his newly built and decorated model homes. His company worked hard to produce a quality product, well designed and soundly constructed. He had a wonderful decorator who saw the potential in each model home and meticulously decorated them beautifully. They were attractively ornamented and welcoming as we walked through the door. My eyes would first see the overall appearance and feel of the room but quickly go past the beauty and symmetry of the design to find the things that seemed to be out of order. I saw the straight pins left in the draperies, which secured their pressed pleats while transporting them from the workroom to the model home. I could also see the spots on the wall that needed touch up paint, or the bedspreads unevenly placed on the beds. My eyes could easily see crooked pictures on the wall and anything with the slightest imbalance of position.
It is simple for me to locate one thing out of order in a picture of a hundred identical objects, or determine which color is not exact from multiple samples. I can read sentences written up-side-down or backwards. God has given me an eye for exactness, precision and recognition for that which is out of order. There are times that ability is of great blessing, but there are also times it makes me very uncomfortable. Still, it is a gift and I am grateful that I can see in some cases, what others do not. It is especially good and fulfilling to help others see things they could not see.
Faith is equated with “sight” in the Bible. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1, NKJV. Faith (sight) has substance! The Amplified Bible calls that substance assurance, the “title deed of things hoped for”. It also describes the conviction of things not seen as a “conviction of their reality”. “Faith (actually) comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses.” (Insert mine).
There was a blind man named Bartimaeus who came to Jesus asking for the miracle of sight in Mark 10:46-52. Bartimaeus was a beggar who sat beside a heavily traveled road to beg for his living. He had heard of Jesus and the miracles He had done. The crowd became excited when Jesus came down the road and Bartimaeus began to shout and cry out loudly to Jesus. Many in the crowd tried to quiet him by asking him to not make a spectacle of himself. Instead, Bartimaeus continued crying out and shouting even louder, “Son of David (Messiah), have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped immediately when He heard the beggar call Him the Son of David, the Messiah for whom the Jews were waiting. He knew who Jesus was, although Bartimaeus could not physically see Him. The blind man had the spiritual eyes not only to SEE but also to BELIEVE! Jesus called him to come to him and when Bartimaeus came close, Jesus asked him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” Blind Bartimaeus answered, “Master, let me receive my sight.” Bartimaeus again acknowledged that Jesus was Master, teacher, one in authority. Jesus’ reply to him was “Go; your faith [and confident trust in My power] has made you well.” Bartimaeus was immediately healed and he “accompanied Jesus on the road.”
Jesus went to Nazareth, where He had grown up, to preach and teach in the synagogue. The people who knew Him were amazed at His profound teaching. They recognized His great wisdom but were unable to distinguish His Divine authority as the Messiah and the Son of God. Their sight only led to His humanity, not His divinity. Therefore, they became offended, “repelled and hindered from acknowledging His authority.” Matthew 13:58 records, “And He did not do many works of power there, because of their unbelief (lack of faith in the divine mission of Jesus).” AMPV.
Throughout His ministry Jesus rebuked His disciples for their unbelief. Twice they were fearful and panicked when a storm arose while in a boat on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus calmed the storm on their behalf. Their fear exposed their lack of faith in Him. They also demonstrated unbelief when they were attempting to drive out demons on at least one occasion. Later, after Jesus had prepared His disciples for His death and resurrection, most of His disciples fled in fear when He was arrested. Mary Magdalene had been to the empty tomb after Jesus’ death on the cross and encountered her risen Lord. She quickly ran to tell the disciples He had risen, yet they did not believe her. (See John 20). Mark 16:14 explains, “Afterward He appeared to the Eleven [apostles themselves] as they reclined at table; and He reproved and reproached them for their unbelief (their lack of faith) and their hardness of heart, because they had refused to believe those who had seen Him and looked at Him attentively after He had risen [from death].” AMPV. Once the disciples saw their risen Lord and waited in the upper room for the Holy Spirit, their faith became undaunted. They were not only filled with faith, they were all willing to die for that revelation, and we know historically, they did.
Jesus healed a man who had been born blind (John Chapter 9). His eyes had not developed. Jesus spat on the ground and rubbed the moistened clay into the eye sockets of the blind man. He then told the blind man to go to the Pool of Siloam and wash his eyes. He returned to Jesus healed and miraculously able to see. This man received a creative miracle. People who knew him asked how he had been healed and he replied, Jesus had healed him. They took him to the Pharisees and they questioned him. The Pharisees began accusing Jesus of being a sinner, someone wicked, and asked the man again who healed him. His response was one of insight, “I do not know whether He is a sinner and wicked or not. But one thing I do know, that whereas I was blind before, now I see.” Finally, after more questions the man proclaimed, “Well, this is astonishing! Here a Man has opened my eyes, and yet you do now know where He comes from. [That is amazing!] We know that God does not listen to sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and a worshiper of Him and does His will, He listens to him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind (creative miracle). If this Man were not from God, He would not be able to do anything like this.” AMPV, Insert mine.
Every good Jewish believer of that day knew that God had formed man from the dust of the earth. (See Genesis 2:7) They also knew it was impossible to take the clay of the earth, spit on it and place it upon the man’s eye sockets to form eyes! Only God could do that! John 1:1-3 Confirms that Jesus was not only present at creation but verse 2 declares He, Himself was the Creator! “All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being.” It was His hands that formed Adam out of the dust of the earth, and His breath that breathed life into him. 1 John 1:1-3 also proclaims, “[We are writing] about the Word of Life, [in] Him Who existed from the beginning.” Only the Creator could have healed this man’s eyes! Although the Pharisees read and taught from Genesis 1 (the Torah) in their synagogues for generations, they could not see their Creator standing before them. Spiritual blindness is the result of a heart hardened by unbelief.
Jesus later returned to the blind man He had healed, and questioned him again. “Do you believe in and adhere to the Son of Man or the Son of God? He answered, Who is He, Sir? Tell me, that I may believe in and adhere to Him. Jesus said to him, You have seen Him; [in fact] He is talking to you right now. He called out, Lord, I believe! [I rely on, I trust, I cleave to You!] And he worshipped Him. Then Jesus said, I came into this world for judgment [as a Separator, in order that there may be separation between those who believe on Me and those who reject Me], to make the sightless see and to make those who see become blind.” John 9:35-39. AMPV.
Last Sunday during worship, we were singing the words to a song, “We lift Him up, we lift Him higher…” The Lord began to speak a prophetic word to me. Philippians 2:9-11 proclaims, “Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name. That in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, And every tongue [frankly and openly] confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
I began to see a picture of Abraham, who was counted as righteous because of his faith, and the Lord reminded me that He called Abraham to a land he did not know nor had ever seen. He told him that wherever the soles of his feet walked, that land was his, and whatever he could “see” would be his possession. Abraham believed God. When the Lord asked Abraham to sacrifice his promised son Isaac, Abraham willingly began to walk out in obedience what God had said, but he was believing (seeing) the promise of God and the God of the promise! Abraham saw beyond the instruction and through eyes of faith, he met Jehovah Jireh, the Lord his provider! God provided a ram for the sacrifice so that Isaac was spared.
The Apostle Paul prayed a mighty prayer for the Ephesian church. It has been my prayer for myself and the church for many years:
Ephesians 1:17-23 [I always pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation [that gives you a deep and personal and intimate insight] into the true knowledge of Him [for we know the Father through the Son]. And [I pray] that the eyes of your heart [the very center and core of your being] may be enlightened [flooded with light by the Holy Spirit], so that you will know and cherish the hope [the divine guarantee, the confident expectation] to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (God’s people), and [so that you will begin to know] what the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His [active, spiritual] power is in us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength which He produced in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion [whether angelic or human], and [far above] every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and world but also in the one to come. And He put all things [in every realm] in subjection under Christ’s feet, and appointed Him as [supreme and authoritative] head over all things in the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills and completes all things in all [believers].
True faith sees substance! It sees what has not yet become a reality; it is the conviction of its reality. True faith knows it has received the title deed to the promise of God. The Lord spoke to me, “Whatever the problem is, if you see Me above that problem, higher than that problem and more powerful that the problem, the victory is yours!” Our faith must be in Him, in His name, in His character, in His word! That is the faith that will move mountains. Today the Lord is asking us all, “What do you see?”
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