Tuesday, June 11th, 2024
My family and I unfortunately missed the incredible northern lights display that happened last month. We had no idea it was going on and were fast asleep through it all. As the weeks have passed, I have talked with a few people that were able to see the lights and take some incredible pictures. One thing I have heard on more than one occasion is that the lights couldn’t be seen with the naked eye, but once they took a picture with their phone then they could see all the beautiful colors. During the most recent conversation, this fact hit me deep in my spirit. Did the fact that some people couldn’t see them with the naked eye mean they were not there? No. When they took the time to look through a different lens, they could see all the beauty unfolding. Sounds a lot like looking through our natural eyes vs. looking through our spiritual eyes, doesn’t it?
The scripture that keeps coming to me is in 2 Kings 6:17:
17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
In this chapter, Elisha’s servant was afraid because he could only see the horses and chariots of the enemy that were surrounding them in the natural. Elisha however knew the spiritual army of God that was going to fight with them, and he prayed that the servant could see them. In that moment, the servant’s natural eyes were turned off and he was able to look through his eyes of faith. What a sight he beheld! Can you imagine if we could see all the spiritual battles, lifesaving angels and prayers from the cloud of witnesses that surround us?
One of the most effective steps in my spiritual walk came when I slowly but steadily worked on trying to live from a spiritual vision instead of a natural vision. What I saw through my natural eyes brought a lot of fear, anxiety, depression and hopelessness. But I had read enough of the Word and known enough of God to know this was not His best for me. When fear tried to cloud my vision, I declared scriptures from the Word of God that promised I was not created to fear. When depression came in like a black cloud, I traded that spirit of heaviness for a garment of praise. I am literally in the process of retraining my vision and my mind to stop living based on what I see, and instead live based on what I believe to be true about the Word, His promises and the character of God.
Final Thoughts…
Everything in all of creation is active and moving. Even the hardest substances on earth are made of moving atoms. Light particles exist all around us. There are many that we can see, but many more that we cannot see with an unaided eye. What if, in the instant that we exchange the vision of what we see with the vision of our faith some ray of light or some energized particle is released by God that changes something we may never even see? I don’t want to get too deep or too weird, but when we pray a prayer, speak the name of Jesus or activate our faith, there is a shift that happens. We may not see the army on a hill or the rainbow of colors in the sky, but it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. I keep finding myself in this place of really wanting to live in full faith. No matter my situation, no matter the darkness, no matter the natural appearance, I greatly desire to put my full faith in God. I want to believe whether I can see or not!