Faith is based on the recognition of the One in whom we believe. It is seeing Jesus as He is now, not just as He was or as He will be. Jesus said He is the manna that came down from heaven. He is the Bread of life. He said in Matthew 4:4, “It is written, ‘man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” “Every word that proceeds" is present tense, not past tense. Just as the Israelites had to gather fresh manna every day, we must have fresh encounters with Him every day.

         The more we look to Him and see Him, the better we will come to know and believe in Him. Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing. In other words, He looked to the Father continually for what He should do. As we look to Him continually to see what He is doing, we too can be used to do His works. The key to doing His works is to see what He is doing. 

         Let’s resolve to look to Him every day in everything. As we pursue Him this way, the eyes of our hearts—our spiritual eyes—will begin to open to see Him and everything else as they truly are. That is true faith—seeing Him. When we see Him, everything else takes its rightful place in relation to Him and His purposes.

         For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 

         He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Colossians 1:16-17). 

         Do we see Him as the One through whom and for whom all things were created? In Ephesians 1:10 we are told of “the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.” In all things, we can see the Son if we are looking for Him. In all things that were created, the Father sees His Son and looks for His Son in us. 

         The ultimate purpose for which we have been created and called is to be conformed to the image of Christ. Everything in our life, everything that happens to us, is for this purpose. We are changed into His nature by seeing His glory, and we can see His glory in everything. As Elizabeth Barrett Browning said, “Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God. But only he who sees takes off his shoes.” 

         As we are told in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

         We are changed into His image by beholding His glory, but we must do this with an “unveiled face.” If we have veils on our faces, they will distort His glory. So, what veils could distort Him? Prejudices and prideful opinions, the foremost of which is thinking the Lord thinks like us, or thinking our opinions are His opinions. This is a basic pride that causes us to distort and misrepresent Him. 

         As we are told in Isaiah 55:8-9, “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.’”

         His love is not like our love; it’s far higher. When He says, “I am a jealous God,” His jealousy is not like our human jealousy, which is mostly selfish. 

         So, how can we remove the veils that distort Him? We will cover this next week. 

© 2024 Rick Joyner. All Rights Reserved.