SEEING WITH THE EYES OF FAITH

One of the items I pray for during my daily prayer time is that those committing crimes in Austin and the vicinity be caught and cease their activities.  Prayer warriors who have mentored us have emphasized the importance of being specific in our prayers.  Because of this I make sure to call out the crimes by name such as murder, rape, human trafficking, or illegal drug manufacturing.  Our son-in-law, Jeremy, was recently promoted to become a detective for the Travis County Sheriff’s Department.  During his two weeks of initial training for the position, he found one thing particularly interesting.  His class was told that time and again, many of the murder cases are solved by an unusual “small thing” happening at the right place at the right time.  Things like an overheard phone conversation in a restaurant, an eyewitness who just happened to get a key license plate number in a picture, or a tail light suddenly burning out, causing a traffic stop and leading to an arrest.   I am not taking credit for every murderer who is caught and convicted, but I am encouraged that something supernatural seems to be happening that is causing more and more of these criminals to be taken off the streets.

God wants us to see with the eyes of faith.  We need to honestly ask ourselves whether or not we seem to have had a little more faith in miracles and answered prayer in times past than we do today.  Have we come to a place where we have settled for less instead of more in the realm of the spirit?  Have we lowered our expectations?  Seeing with the eyes of faith will help us to…

1)     BELIEVE IN WHAT GOD MAY PRODUCE THROUGH A SINGLE SEED PLANTED IN FAITH

Genesis 15 gives us the story of Abraham, who had gone through a season in life of disappointment.  Three chapters before this, God had told him that he would be the father of many nations.  Years have passed, and now we find that Abraham’s faith is beginning to waver…

Genesis 15:1-2- After these things (sometime later) the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram.  I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”  But Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 

Notice that in verse 1 it says, “sometime later”.  How long was this?  Theologians tell us that at least ten years had passed from the time God gave Abraham the promise of a son to the fulfillment of it.  One of the challenges of personal prophecies and promises from God is that they are usually followed by a conflict that can cause us to think the thing will never come to pass.  We see this with David, who was promised by Samuel to be the next king of Israel, only to see promotion come, followed by Saul becoming jealous and trying to kill him.  Gideon is promised to be victorious over the Midianites, but God whittles down his army to only 300 men.  Mary is promised that the child she bore was Jesus, the Son of God, Messiah; yet Herod decrees that all Jewish boys ages two or younger be killed.  This would have included Jesus.  Satan will always attack a boy, a baby, a seed.  He sees it as being easier than attacking a man.  As you read the Bible, you’ll notice how the words “suddenly, immediately, unexpectedly, are used to describe the attacks from the devil. 

Jesus compares faith to a seed that is planted in Matthew 13.  Verse 8 says, “But others fell on good ground and yielded a crip:  Some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”  In nature, when you plant a seed, you don’t see any results for many days.  However, the eyes of faith tell us that when we see nothing, God is doing something.  Just because you don’t see it, does not mean it is not happening.  When you face conflict after receiving a spiritual promise, you need to see it as a grain of sand that has found its way into obscurity inside an oyster.  It is here that the grain is being transformed into a pearl, the material that the gates of heaven are made of.   Some of us are standing in front of some pearly gates that need to be opened, representing your breakthrough.  I submit to you that thanksgiving with faith is the key that will open the gates wide.  Doesn’t it say, “I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart, I will enter His courts with praise”?   (Psalm 100:4)  The main thing that kept the majority of the Israelites out of their Promised Land was griping, murmuring, and complaining.  We find that Joshua and Caleb had a “different spirit”.  When they saw the giants of Canaan, they said, “They will be our bread!  We are well able to take this land with the help of our God!”

Seeing with the eyes of faith will cause God to…..

2)     NOT ONLY MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS, BUT ALSO EXCEED THEM

Genesis 15:5-  Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you can number them.”  And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

God wants to take us outside of our natural perspective and expectations and help us recognize that our thoughts are not His thoughts, nor are our ways His ways.  God took Abrahm out of his little tent and had him stand beneath the vast and starry heavens.  He was saying to him, “You were only thinking, ‘I want a son’ while I was thinking, ‘I want a nation’.   To demonstrate how great a seed can become when it is planted in faith, look at Galatians 3:29- And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.   You are a seed of Abraha,m who is the father of many nations, not just a single son. 

Seeing with the eyes of faith will help you to realize that…..

3)     JUST BECAUSE I DO NOT SEE IT DOES NOT MEAN GOD IS NOT DOING IT.

We have no idea what God can do with a single prayer prayed in faith.  This translates into us not knowing what a batch of cookies given to a new neighbor or a financial blessing to a fellow believer, or a spiritual book to a friend can do to bring a blessing to their life.  We are urged in Galatians 6:9 not to grow weary in sowing good seed because in due season it will bring forth a harvest.  Cheryl and I have experienced this principle again and again.  One of the most notable times was when we gave two cars away to two needy Zulu pastors while living in South Africa.   Several years later, we found ourselves living in Austin, Texas, and in great need ourselves.  We saw God orchestrate two amazing miracles that resulted in us receiving a used car and a used minivan, both in good shape, at the exact right time in our lives.  Do not grow weary in well doing because in “due season” you will reap if you do not faint. 

We serve a God who does exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think. May God open our spiritual eyes to this truth and give us the eyes of faith!