As I stood in front of some friends at House of Prayer Church this last Sunday evening, I shared this verse:
Ephesians 1:18 (nlt) ---- I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.
Not everyone sees the same. Why is that? It could be because some people have perfect vision while others are near sighted, some are far sighted or are just plain blind. But I think we may have to look a bit farther to understand what Paul was saying in the verse above.
He is talking about the eyes of our heart. He prays that people will 'see as God sees'. That God would flood them with light and truth. Or, that their hearts would be open to and from God. Maybe more simply put, that God would remove what keeps a person from seeing.
Here is another thought about seeing:
Proverbs 29:18 (Amplified) --- Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish...
When people cannot see what God sees, there is a problem. You could call this spiritual blindness that leads people to hell because they don't accept Jesus. You could understand this as you were able to see at one time but something like sin or sickness or the like made you where you could not see. Yet the church, the people of the church, have to get a good checkup to make sure we have good vision. We have to make sure we 'see as God see'. How can that happen?
Literally we need to get on our heart what God has on His heart. God's heart is turned toward people. So, is what are we doing turning our hearts and our churches and their ministry toward people who need God? Far too many churches are comfortable where they are, not reaching people for God. Does that make sense?
When we 'see as God sees', our lives will be radically different. We won't waste our time and energy on things that don't matter. We will chase after God with all we have.
I am confident that God has given me a vision much bigger than who I am and bigger than the church I lead. In fact, we are seeing even more parts of this as we explore the possibility of joining forces with another church, the House of Prayer. I see it even more as we gear up to be part of One Prayer in the month of June. So, what is God doing?
God is calling us and allowing us to 'see as God sees', and He is removing what keeps us from seeing. Hey, this is an invitation to spend time with God, to be on mission with God and to experience what God is doing. Many people have never been there before. It can be scary, but this is the most awesome invitation you will ever get. Better than an invite to the White House.
My prayer is that we will 'see as God sees' and use what we see to ignite our fire, our lives to burn brighter and longer for Him. Join me....
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