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Seeking the perspective of Jesus

When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6: 15-17 NIV

I (Paul) pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe... Ephesians 1: 18-19 NIV

There is a consistent theme in the two passages above. It is the truth of what is invisibly working behind the scenes, and for the man of God to have his eyes opened to see it. In the case of Elisha’s servant, it was to have a new set of spiritual “x-ray” lenses so his physical eyes could see. The passage in Ephesians states the need to have the “eyes of our heart” opened. Let’s concentrate on the eyes of the heart, for Paul said that it will give believers great hope if we are able to use this other set of lenses. So, what is the eye of the heart? In order to go down that path and answer this question, we must look at another passage that deals with “seeing the unseen.” Follow me:

NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. Hebrews 11:1 Amplified Bible.

How does this passage speak to you? This is what it says to me: “My faith sees that which I hope for as becoming a reality, even though my other physical senses would tell me otherwise.” That pretty well sums it up for me in understanding Hebrews 11:1. Would you rewrite the passage above and it say it differently? Take some time and meditate on it. Write it in your journals. Ask God to get you firmly fixed on the truth of this passage, for if you do so, you will begin to have the “eyes of your heart opened.”

If you agree with how this passage speaks to me, then let’s take the next step, which would conclude: “As the eyes in our physical bodies perceive our physical world, our faith is the eye of our heart and allows us to look into what is invisibly occurring in the spiritual world. We “see” what we hope for as becoming a reality with the eyes of faith.” We are assured, as surely as it were a title deed for property purchased, that the thing which we hope for is done.

OK, I can hear the naysayer rattling his keyboard in response to these bold assertions before I release this devotional. The arguments will be full of the many times certain people’s hopes have not been acted on by God and the many false hopes that have been dashed because of the disappointments of unanswered prayers. They will say that faith like this is not as cut and dry as I am making it out to be. They will say that I am oversimplifying faith and giving too much hope that will eventually disappoint people. I will be told that giving people a false sense of hope could be damaging, and it would be better to let them live in the reality of their situation than disappoint them more. Does that sum it up? If not, talk to God about it, not me, for I truly believe that faith is just that simple, and learning to live above “the reality of the situation” is our call as a Man of God. I’m sold on the idea.

I would ask those “realists” who talk about the real stuff, “What was the reality of the situation with Elisha and his servant in 2 Kings?” Was the reality that the enemy surrounded Elisha and his servant or the

reality that Elisha’s protectors surrounded the enemy? It depends on the point of view, doesn’t it? The servant had an initial point of view, typical of looking through his human eyes and assessing the situation. At this point, he was a “realist,” for he had a limited view. As a result, his point of view was dismal and hopeless. Then God gave him new eyes to see the true reality of their situation. When that occurred, he was able to see that those that were with them were greater than those that were opposed to them. His perspective then changed to hope.

I believe God is teaching His men to look beyond the obvious and into a different reality of our situations. There is so much hope to be grasped, and I mean real hope, not just a state of mind kind of hope that the “realist” decries as false hope. But, our grasping of this real hope must start with looking at our circumstances with a new perspective. We must start looking at the “reality of our circumstances”, no matter how dismal they may seem, through the eyes of our heart, which is faith. We must not allow our pragmatic, limited “man view” of what must be done to limit how we trust God to come to our rescue. You see, true faith that opens the eyes of our hearts must have, at its core, true trust in God’s sovereignty. We cannot dictate to the Sovereign, Almighty God our terms for trusting Him. We must stand firm that whatever God’s choice for dealing with our hopeless condition, we will trust Him and stand firm in His plan. We filter our hope in His plan for us through what we know of His heart, His love for us, and His pleasure when we trust Him. God loves us to trust Him, especially when it seems so impossible to do so. He loves us to take Him up on His promises and to stand firm on them. He loves it when we release our grip on our illusion of controlling our life and circumstances and instead grasp the reality of His outstretched hands and His help with both hands. He loves it when we look at Him and His help through the eyes of our hearts.

I’m reminded of E Company of the 101st Airborne when they were given a message from General McAuliffe that the Germans surrounded them and the Germans asked them to surrender. E Company’s response (translated in readable language for a devotional), “So what? We’re paratroopers. We are always surrounded by the enemy. Yeah, they got us surrounded? But they surrounded the wrong outfit!!!”

Isn’t that perspective akin to how God’s Men should be viewing their lives in this day and time? Shouldn’t our perspective be, “Yeah, I’m surrounded by doubts, fear, dismal times, and a lot of threats? But, I’m putting my trust in my King Jesus. I see His help on the way, and they have the wrong outfit surrounded!!!” Men, isn’t it time that we took the offensive by using our trust and faith in Christ to open our eyes to the true reality of our situation? Here’s the truth of it as I see it. Never has there been a greater time in my lifetime to give real hope than right now. Never have I seen so many men truly disappointed in their life because they have invested it in the world’s realities rather than the reality of what Christ could do for them. These men are looking for answers. They are looking for hope. They are looking for Jesus, even though they may not realize it, and this is your finest hour as a Man of God to deliver this hope. Now is our time to take this hope to the world around us, and God is on our side as we deliver it. We are empowered for this campaign with the hope Christ has given to us, and it is this hope shared that will lead the world around us to our King. But, before this can happen through our lives, it must happen in our lives. We’ve got to get a new set of eyes first. We’ve got to have the eyes of our hearts opened, and to do this requires that we abandon our fears to our King and trust Him absolutely. Join me as we all agree to ask our Savior His help to do this:

“Lord, I believe, but help me with my unbelief so that I may truly see the reality of Your help that surrounds me”