Seeing through the eye of faith! By James Lantz
People of faith see what others do not see. Abraham saw through the eye of faith that God would raise his son Isaac from the dead! Moses saw through the eye of faith that God’s reward was so much greater than all the treasures of Egypt! David saw through the eye of faith that God would give him victory over Goliath and the whole Philistine army! Jesus saw through the eye of faith that many would be redeemed from the curse and restored to His Father through His sacrificial death and glorious resurrection! Saul of Tarsus saw Jesus in an open vision on the road to Damascus but it was through the eye of faith that Saul realized that Jesus would reward him if he served him. Those who acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ and make Him the Lord of their life have revelation that Jesus is a rewarder of all who obey Him! On the negative side, everyone who will not listen to Jesus will be destroyed. Acts 3:23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. God reveals truth to us by His Spirit but the carnal man only accepts what he can see, hear, feel, smell, and taste in the physical realm, thus refusing to enter God’s realm. 1 Cor. 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. People become deceived when they refuse the truth. Our invisible God is revealed through His visible creation but when revelation comes that this great creation has a creator many choose not to believe. To acknowledge a creator is to accept that God requires something of us. Rom. 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Those who choose Satan’s lie, that says we will not be held accountable for rebelling against our maker, become blind and give themselves over to all sorts of evil, unaware of their pending judgement. 2 Cor. 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Those who reject the Almighty, the all sufficient One, the Creator, and the great God of Mercies are not looking at God’s generous offer to forgive and redeem them from destruction. They see God as the one who deprives and withholds good from them.
Those of us who have acknowledged the truth and have embraced God’s forgiveness and redemption in and through His Son Jesus the Anointed One are instructed to continue in the truth! The Word of God is truth! The truth is that God is good and everything that is good is given to us by God! James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. We are commanded to live and walk by faith and thus we must be able to see God’s provision through the eye of faith before we can receive it or even step towards it. God’s words are spirit and they are life! We are commanded to keep God’s words in front of our eyes continually because they are life to those who find them and healing to all our flesh. Pro. 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. This word vision speaks of sight, dreams, and revelation! Jesus said that if our eye were single then our whole body would be full of light. If we are not enlightened in our understanding then we are in the dark or separated from the ways of God. Eph. 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. . . . When we see phrases like, understanding darkened, blindness of heart, or double minded, these do not refer to those walking in the light and receiving God’s promises. God is light and we are children of light! There are three specific things that the Holy Spirit wants believers to see and understand in Paul’s first letter to the Ephesians. This tells us that believers do not automatically understand God’s overwhelming desire and commitment to work in and through them in establishing His kingdom in the earth. Pray this prayer for yourself!
Eph. 1:15-19 YLT Because of this I also, having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and the love to all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of the glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the recognition of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, for your knowing what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power to us who are believing, according to the working of the power of His might
Seeing through the eye of faith requires that we see ourselves in Christ Jesus and He in us! 2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. Our faith is not to be in human wisdom but in the power of God! It was God who sent Jesus to die for our sins and take our sicknesses and our poverty upon Himself. It was God who placed our iniquities on Jesus and it was God who put our punishment on Jesus. Father God accepted Jesus suffering in the regions of the damned for three days and three nights as sufficient to pay for man’s sin. Jesus resurrection completed man’s redemption for everyone who wants it! God has said that everyone who would receive Jesus would be raised up and seated together with Christ at His right hand! We who have received Jesus as our Savior see ourselves saved through the eye of faith! We who have received Jesus as our healer see ourselves healed! Those who know Jesus as their source and provider are not worried about running out of food and supplies but are rejoicing over His abundant supply! Rom. 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? How foolish to allow thoughts of God not giving us everything we need and more. Mt. 6:26 NLT Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?
Faith is recognizable and measurable! 2 Cor. 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? Real faith is both precious and powerful! Jesus is always looking for faith. Jesus marveled at hearing the centurion’s words, “you don’t have to come to my house, just speak the word only and my servant shall be healed.” Mt. 8:9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. Mt. 8:10 When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. The highest level of faith just accepts God’s word understanding that God is well able to bring it to pass! Faith calls those things which be not as though they were. This is what Abraham did when he believed the word of the Lord concerning he and Sarah having a son in their old age. When he changed his name from Abram to Abraham he was announcing that he was the father of many nations. God helped him to get the image on the inside by having him look at the multitude of stars in the sky. The Spirit of God had the apostle Paul write that we also are to speak what God says because we believe it and it shall come to pass. 2 Cor. 4:13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak It is easily understood that the Spirit of God is teaching us that we walk by faith in the same manner in which the patriarchs of old did. The way they walked by faith was to see things through the eye of faith. Another way to say the same thing is that they walked according to what God said or according to what they believed. Paul was looking at Jesus’ resurrection as being our resurrection and that since we have been seated together with Christ at the Father’s right hand everything has become ours! His eyes were fixed on the abundant grace of God which
Our eye is on the promise of God which brings victory and reward!
was manifested more and more as people received salvation with thanksgiving! Seeing through the eye of faith gives us an eternal perspective so that we can discern the difference between that which is temporary from that which is eternal allowing us to make righteous judgements. Paul calls being shipwrecked, beaten with rods, rejected by the Jews, being abandoned by Christian brothers, imprisoned, and being stoned a light and momentary affliction. 2 Cor. 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 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. Walking and living by faith is a wonderful life and is only possible through faith and trust in our great God and Lord Jesus Christ! With the Holy Spirit’s help we can live rejoicing every day knowing that Christ’s victory is our victory. 1 Pet. 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Believing the gospel causes us to rejoice because our future is bright and every good thing is ours through Jesus Christ! Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God!
