Wide-Eyed Wonder (21 Days of Fasting and Prayer)Sample

EYES OPENED

Overview

By faith, we can ask God to open our spiritual eyes, to see as He sees.

Observations

We experience our physical world through our senses – what our eyes can see, what our noses smell, what our hands can touch. We often make decisions based on what our physical senses tell us. But as believers in Christ, we can know and understand God's world and see as He does. We experience it through our spiritual senses, through eyes of faith, just as Elisha did in the verses we read.

Elisha's country, Israel, was at war. The enemy king of Aram surrounded the city with a multitude of chariots and horses. When Elisha's servant saw the enemy forces, he was overcome with fear. But Elisha had a supernatural perspective and saw that God's angelic army far outnumbered their enemy. He asked God to open his servant's eyes so he could see that the Lord was with them in numbers.

From these verses we can glean these truths:

• There is a physical and spiritual reality, and the two can be quite different!
• We can perceive God's workings when He opens our spiritual eyes.
• God will open our spiritual eyes when we ask Him to.

Last year, I was unsuccessful in many job interviews and felt confused and lost as God had promised that He would prosper me in my career. At that moment, all I could see was failure and lost hope. But as I prayed, God opened my eyes to see that He would never fail to deliver on His promises. Months later, God opened doors to a position in a company I had prayed for. Through this, God taught me that He wants to open my spiritual eyes to see way beyond what my natural eyes can see so that I can overcome any situation in my life. I do not need to feel overwhelmed because I can see that I am surrounded by heaven's armies that are much larger than any natural crisis I face.

Response

Are you guided today by your natural perspective? Perhaps you have a particular outlook on your situation at work or home, or perhaps your best efforts are met with seeming failure. Our perspective may seem logical, but what we see may not be the true state of affairs! Let's ask God to open our eyes to see as He does and exchange our perspective for His.

Prayer

God, I surrender to You my every desire to direct my life by my physical senses. I choose not to lean on my own understanding. Open my spiritual eyes so I can see and know what You are doing in my life, in the community, and in Your church. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen.