The Seeing Eye
(This Weekly Prayer Summary was written by Irene Sentosa, from the CBC English Prayer Ministry Core Team, and edited by Brigitta Tedja)
Watch full sermon here
As we enter the month of November, we embark on a new theme: “The Seeing Eye”. Pastor Dion opened this week’s sermon by sharing about the story of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. who was a U.S. Supreme Court Justice from 1902 to 1932. He was highly respected, very intelligent, but a little bit absent-minded man. He was on a train one day, when the railroad conductor began walking down the car, checking tickets, Justice Holmes was unable to find his ticket. Frustrated, he checked everywhere but still could not find his ticket. The conductor said, “Justice Holmes, I know who you are. Everyone knows who you are. There’s no need to show me your ticket.” Justice Holmes responded, “No, sir, that’s not the problem. The problem is that I can’t remember where I’m going.” Apparently, he forgot where his destination was!
The same thing may happen with us, we are on the train of life, but many times we are busy with our lives so the question is: “Do we know where are we going to and what we are doing with our lives?” Each one of us has a divine purpose that God specifically furnished just for us.
The Power of Vision
Psalm 119:37 MEV: “Where there is no vision, the people perish; but happy is he who keeps the teaching.”
Genesis 13:1-5 NIV: “So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together.”
Genesis 13:14-17 NIV: “The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
When the Lord gave this promise to Abraham, He asked Abraham to look around and “see” what He will give to his offspring. At that time, even though Abraham did not have any descendants yet, he chose to believe, and God counted that as righteousness.
Having vision is essential. Why did God ask Abraham to look around first? Because before you can possess it, you must first “see” it.
Vision is very important and what comes after you received the vision is that you have to wait and contend for it.
Vision is a means for God to bring you to the destiny that He has for you. Without vision, you will go, but you will never know where you will land. Do you have vision in your life? Do you know where God is taking you?
Jeremiah 29:4-7 NIV: “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.’ This is what the Lord says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.’”
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
This promise in Jeremiah 29:11 was given when the Israelites were taken captive in Babylon. Without the vision to go to the Promise Land, they might not have lasted or even survived.
Hebrews 12:1-2a NIV: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
Philippians 3:13-14 MEV: “Brothers, I do not count myself to have attained, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Just like when we are driving the car, the rear-view mirror is smaller and the view through the windshield is bigger because we need to focus on where we are going, not on where we have been. It is likewise with our lives. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!” Isaiah 43:18-19
The primary vision in life is TO KNOW JESUS CHRIST. If you replace it with anything else (money, family, self-contentment, philanthropy, etc.), you will never fulfill what God calls you for. God is an almighty God and He created you because He wants to have a relationship with you.
Many times, we get distracted with different things that come into our lives. Pastor Dion gave an illustration of horses and how they use “blinders” (also called blinkers or winkers), which are cups that are being attached to a horse’s bridle or hood to restrict its field of vision, to help it stay focused on their task, and that it does not get distracted during a race. Likewise with our lives, has life adjusted our vision to be elsewhere and Jesus only becomes an addition? God’s desire is for us to seek Him first.
Psalm 119:37 NIV: “Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.”
Matthew 6:31-34 NIV: “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Philippians 3:7-11 NIV: “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!”
Proverb 29:18
MEV: “Where there is no vision, the people perish; but happy is he who keeps the teaching.”
AMP: “Where there is no vision [no revelation of God and His word], the people are unrestrained; But happy and blessed is he who keeps the law [of God].”
NLT: “When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful.”
MSG: “If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.”
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. . .
Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.”
— A.W. Tozer
How do you see God? Do you actually know God? There are many Christians who have false views of God that their faith crumbles when their God does not meet their expectation.
False Views About God
1. “Bodyguard” God – we are expecting a God who will never let bad things happen with good people, to provide safety.
2. “On-Demand” God – we treat God with His primary role to respond to our every need.
3. “Don’t Question, Just Believe” God – we think that if we believe in God, we should not believe in anything else including in science.
4. “Buddy” God – we want a God who will never let us feel bad about ourselves, will always agree with us, will always want us to be happy, etc.
5. “Angry” God – we see God as an angry God and that everything we do seems wrong in front of His eyes.
6. Etc.
John 17:3 NIV: “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
Do not make your own God, but receive the wholeness of who Jesus is.
Submit your life to His loving care and be transformed.
Prayer Points:
Pray for the Church to be awakened to understand the importance of having a vision and to be able see with our spiritual eyes the vision and revelation God gives to us.
Pray that the Lord will teach us to “see” what we do not see. Pray that God will enlighten our eyes, that it will lead to transformation.
Pray for us to go back to our first love and repent if we have replaced Him with other things in our lives.
Pray that we will have a passion for the Lord again, to rebuild our relationship, to realign, to refocus our relationship with God, and to be reconnected to His heart again.
Pray for new and fresh revelations, visions, and for us to dream again with God.
Pray against any deception and distraction that can hinder us from seeing where God is taking us to and to fulfill what He call us for.
Pray against false views about God, but we will receive the wholeness of who Jesus is, submit our life to His loving care, and be transformed.