Seeing the invisible!  by James Lantz

      Seeing is necessary in order to move ahead and be successful in fulfilling God’s plan for your life! The person who is blind to the high calling of God only sees through his natural eyes and is not aware of all that is taking place in the realm of the spirit nor of the great reward awaiting those who overcome.  Phil. 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  Every one in the body of Christ has a high calling.  Eph. 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,  God has a great plan for each and every person, and making Jesus the Lord of our life is the first step toward that plan! There is no such thing as an unimportant part in the body of Christ and we will be rewarded for doing our part well. The word of God tells us that we must walk by faith and not by sight if we want to hear those words well done, thou good and faithful servant.  2 Cor. 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.  Paul was keeping his eye on the unseen Christ, on the angels, on the promises of God and the glorious future God has for him. That is the reason he could say, we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed, we are persecuted, but not forsaken; we are cast down but not destroyed. He resisted the devil and trusted in the all sufficient grace of God to bring him out of trouble into victory. You can tell if you are in faith or not by what you are emphasizing. Is your emphasis on the problem or the delivering power of God? Is there joy in your heart and confidence in your voice or is there doubt in your heart and complaining in your mouth?

I want to mention two aspects of seeing the invisible. The Lord has revealed to us that there is double kingdom operating in the earth since the fall of man. Satan has become the god of this world since Adam gave his authority over to him in the garden of Eden. Cain yielded to the seduction and perversion of the evil one, stealing the first fruits, and resisting God’s correction, and eventually killing his brother. As people multiplied on the face of the earth their thoughts and desires were continually toward evil, yielding to the seduction of evil spirits and the lust of their flesh. God had Noah preach righteousness and they still refused to believe and change their ways. Ezekiel prophesied to the prince of Tyrus that he would die by the sword of strangers, the death of a man, because he was lifted up in pride thinking he was a God.  Ezekiel 28:2  Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:  As you study this passage you will see that Satan was the one behind the prince of Tyrus, lying and tempting from the unseen realm. Remember that we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. When people yield to wickedness, they are yielding to Satan, the prince of darkness who is the god of this world.  Ezekiel 28:12&13  Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus (Satan), and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God . . .  The Lord revealed to Daniel how the hidden kingdom of darkness was endeavoring to keep his prayer from being answered.  Daniel 10:12  Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.  Vrs.13  But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.  Daniel refers to the evil spirit that was hindering the answer to his prayer as the prince of the kingdom of Persia. This was taking place in the unseen realm of the spirit, but Daniel was not deterred by the passing of time, his eyes were fixed on the God who answers prayer. In this new covenant the gift of seeing into the realm of the spirit is referred to as discerning of spirits. When this supernatural gift of discerning of spirits is in operation a person has the ability to see angels, demons, Jesus, or heavenly visions as the Lord chooses. Another aspect of seeing the invisible is seeing with the eye of faith.  Eph. 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: Eph. 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:   You can tell from these scriptures and others that God has already made provision for us in the realm of the spirit. When we believe we are seeing (not literally) it as factual. We are expecting it (what God said) to appear. Jehovah Jireh is the God who sees ( the God who sees ahead, God our provider). The first mention of Jehovah Jireh is when God accepted Abraham’s offering up of his son Isaac. The ram caught in the bush was just a type of Jesus, the sacrifical lamb who was to come. Think about it, God had that ram wonder up that mountain and nose around it the thickets and get caught by his horns at just the right place and just the right time. If Abraham had not obeyed God the last three days in getting to that mountain the ram would not have been there.  Gen. 22:14 Amp.  So Abraham called the name of that place, The Lord will provide; and it is said to this day, On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.  So many people are praying for provision but there will be no provision for them because they are demanding God to show them the provision first, then they will go do the word, act on what God said. The ten lepers did not wait till they were healed to go show themselves to the priests, they were healed as they went. We are saved by God’s grace through faith and every good thing God has for us is to be received by faith. Faith calls those things which be not as though they were. A person must see that they are lost and separated from God before they call out to him. They must believe that Christ is their redeemer and confess that they are saved. They are lost and separated from God but they call themselves saved and they become saved. At one time we were without Christ, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in this world. Thank the Lord, those of us who have received Christ, see ourselves in him.  Heb. 11:1  Now faith is the substance (foundation or confidence) of things hoped (expected) for, the evidence (proof) of things not seen.  What do you see? Do you see yourself as one who is blessed of the Lord? Do you see yourself prospering this year? Do you see yourself healed? Do you see yourself as being a supplying joint in the body of Christ by helping your pastor reach your community for Christ? Without vision people perish. God is a good God! God’s word is a mirror and his word will reflect what we are. Jesus said that it was given to us (disciples) to know the mystery of the kingdom of God but to those on the outside they just hear in parable’s.  Mk. 4:12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.  Mt. 13:15  .  .  .  lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.  Notice that Jesus said at any time we can repent (change) from going our own way and doing our own thing to putting the kingdom of God and his righteousness first. We have an awesome God who will turn things around for us when we open our eyes and choose him! Job 22:27 & 28  Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.  By faith decree that you are one of the redeemed and the blessing of the Lord is on you!