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darkness, dream life, experience, eyes of the heart, faith, God's love, heart, light, spiritual power, thought life
My companion on a prayer walk yesterday…
(Photo by Susanne Schuberth)
You might think I am crazy and, perhaps, you are right. 😊 Just now as I was randomly browsing my older blog posts on here, rereading what I could see up to the ‘read-more-tag’ (aka “Continue reading…”), I was hit by a Scripture I had copied and pasted beneath one of my pictures. What struck me was the following (highlighted) part of 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 which reads,
“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Cor 4:17-18 ESV)
We might know that God’s truth is often so simple that it can easily be ignored. Our God who at times is be humorous, too, can turn into ridicule what people say when they think they got Him all figured out. Paul wrote,
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” (1 Cor 3:18-20 ESV)
What I realized just now was that I am most often happier and closer to God when I close my eyes and shut out everything I normally see with my physical eyes. However, do I stop ‘seeing’ when I pray that way? Do you? If we observe our thought life for a certain time, we might also perceive a great number of pictures passing by on our personal ‘mind-movie-screen’. Memories of the past, childhood pictures, school situations and professional life, various experiences as an adult, as spouses, lovers, (grand)parents, on vacations, or religious experiences etc. I guess you know what I am talking about. And now let us even go one step further. Let’s say, you awake from a vivid dream that keeps haunting you for some time after you got up. Here we might even perceive that the pictures of the dream are still present when we have our eyes opened.
Or in other words, we can see what we can NOT see with our physical eyes! Nonetheless, this is part of the invisible reality we share with all human beings since we were created in the image of God. We can see without ‘seeing’. The difference between seeing heaven and seeing our habitual thought and dream life can simply be found in the difference between light and darkness. Our mind and heart must be illuminated so that we more and more see what God wants us to see (and hear). His divine light opens the eyes of our heart so that we are also enabled to discern heavenly things in what we meet in our everyday life. For instance, where an adult sees a ‘dead’, withered leaf on the ground, a child (of God) perceives its heart shaped form and ‘hears’ God telling him, “I love you!” ❤
Photo by Susanne Schuberth
Even if the child tells others about what God was saying to him, they see the leaf in its heart shaped form and hear NOTHING. Shaking their heads, they continue to focus on their habitual, normal (and boring) lives. Do you know what I mean here? Just think about how this-worldly Jesus’ disciples thought about the kingdom of God. Doesn’t the following Scripture remind us of how our old nature works?
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Mt 18:1-6 ESV)
Photo by Susanne Schuberth
Do we receive Him and those little ones who belong to Him?
Entering the Promised Land 
Oh, to be like that child once again! One of my greatest fears is to cause one of His “little ones” (which includes those with child like faith as yourself) to stumble.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful reminder of what real faith is, seeing His love for us even in the most common things in His creation that those without childlike faith miss every day. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Michael
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I was reminded of this passage just now,
He[ the man that was born blind and was healed] said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains. (John 9:38-41, ESV2011)
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Wow!! God reminded you of this Scripture, for sure, Michael. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Indeed, our old Pharisaical nature can only see with its physical eyes which are rarely surprised by anything ‘new’ they perceive. This is what Jesus calls BLINDNESS.
Spiritual SIGHT, instead, is somehow ‘seeing between the lines of everything’ if I may say so. 😉
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Yes, dear heart, I love watching babies as they discover the world around them. They are so wide-eyed and in love with creation. The simplest things fascinate them. You hold them up in front of your face and they want to touch and feel all your facial features whether you are beautiful or ugly in the eyes of the world. I think this is part of what Jesus meant when He said, “You must become as a child to enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
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Amen, Michael. I love watching babies, too. 🤗 And I also hear God often speak through kids, more often than through adults. 😊
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Oh, Michael, your comment was very touching for me to read! Thanks a bunch, my brother! May God open the eyes of our hearts so that we can be like these “little ones” every day. 🙂
You are very welcome as to the sharing, Michael.
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Like Jesus, I am wary of those who proudly say they “see” when it comes to spiritual things.Humility says, “Father, that I may KNOW Him,” after walking by the Spirit for decades, knowing that we are so spiritually blind compared to Father’s spiritual “measuring stick” as to what REAL spirituality is, Jesus Christ. There is “seeing” and then there is SEEING!
Jesus heard that they had cast him [the healed blind man] out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. (John 9:35-38, ESV2011)
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Excellent, Michael! ⛤⛤⛤ And very DEEP! 🙈👀❤🌟🌄
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Seeing that heart and hearing I love you is something I did a lot but then when my mind got filled with all these teachings it has been hard to think that way again.
I need a lot of help to get back to that. Interestingly enough a friend mentioned that concept this past Saturday. I do think that is a good sign that I should go back to that.
Pray for me.
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Praying for you, Fred. Take care. 💜
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Thank you for the blog. I have never considered myself a seer, but a hearer ” at least I hope that I am”.
I read the post yesterday, and have just reread it today. My mind went back to a story that I read years ago. It was a story about the late Fanny Crosby – an American who wrote many beautiful Christian hymns. From about 6 weeks old or so, she was totally blind. One of her Grandmothers on learning the situation said that she would go and be Fanny’s eyes. Grandmother did such a good job, that Fanny could describe things better than some sighted people. Perhaps when we close our eyes, we are seeing, although in a different screen.
I am not offended, if this speaks nothing to you. I share it because it gives me a greater appreciation of seeing, and a desire to see in areas where I am blind.
Lord, open my eyes that I may see.
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Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful example! You even showed us how the Body of Christ should work, dear Pat! ❤❤❤ We are members one of another and we should be complementary as we listen to our Head which is Christ. GREAT JOB, MY DEAR SISTER!!! 😊💋❤💋🤗👌
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Great example, Pat. Thanks for sharing this. ⭐
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