Devotional for March 1st.
Eyes That See, Ears That Hear
"But blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear." Matthew 13:16
When you became a Christian, God gave you spiritual sight and hearing so you could begin experiencing His presence and activity all around you. The Holy Spirit helps you to develop these spiritual senses as you walk with Him. Spiritual sensitivity to God is a gift that must be accepted and exercised. Scripture indicates that those who are spiritually dead cannot see or understand spiritual things (Matt. 13:14-15). Without spiritual eyes, you can be right in the midst of a mighty act of God and not recognize it.
There is a big difference between seeing your surroundings from a human perspective and seeing life through spiritual eyes. Non-Christians see world events around them and become confused. You will look at the same events, recognize the activity of God, and adjust your life to Him. When you meet a person who is seeking God, you will recognize the convicting work of the Holy Spirit and adjust your life to God's activity (Rom. 3:11). Someone without spiritual perception will encounter that same person and not grasp the eternal significance of what is happening in that person's life. Other will hear of new philosophies and trends in society and not know how to discern the truth. You will hear God's voice over the din of the world's voices, and you will keep your bearings in the midst of the confusing circumstances.
Sin dulls your senses, ultimately leaving you spiritually blind and deaf. Do not be content with merely seeing with physical eyes and hearing with natural ears but not sensing what God is doing. Ask God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to sensitize you to His activity around you.
***************************************************************
This devotional is a dead on description of my current life. There have been so many periods or spiritual blindness and deafness in my life and I'm just getting through my most recent one. The biggest challenge of being a Christian is sometimes sticking to it, especially through the hard times. I've been up and down enough now to know when I'm doing it all wrong or when I'm not doing enough. It feels like literally being blind and deaf, I just don't know what's going on and I feel disoriented and lost. That's when my worst depressions set in.
But I know lately I've had my spiritual eyes and ears opened again and it just gets more amazing! To see, hear, and feel what God is doing in my life is truly a breathtaking experience. And when I'm experiencing such intense periods of joy, happiness, and awareness, I always catch myself wondering how I ever let go of this in the first place. It's such a beautiful thing to know what God wants for you without doubts and without confusion or worry. And it's even more beautiful when He puts people in your life to share that with you. =]
I find that God usually puts people in my life for one or all of the following reasons: to help me grow, to help me learn, to humble me, and to show me what HE wants for me. It's very difficult sometimes to always listen to what God wants for us, to always trust that He is leading us the right way. And even when it's not about trust, sometimes we just think we know what He's saying and what He's telling us to do and we dive right in only to find down the road that it was what we were wanting al along, not what He wanted. And then of course we have to step back, throw our hands up and give the reigns back to Him because we know we can never fix it on our own.
And if we don't know that yet, we'll learn it from experience! ;) All in all I'm just glad for the chance to know, love, and understand God with my spiritually given senses. And even more glad to be able to learn from and sometimes help those that he puts into my life.
=]
<3
Eyes That See, Ears That Hear
"But blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear." Matthew 13:16
When you became a Christian, God gave you spiritual sight and hearing so you could begin experiencing His presence and activity all around you. The Holy Spirit helps you to develop these spiritual senses as you walk with Him. Spiritual sensitivity to God is a gift that must be accepted and exercised. Scripture indicates that those who are spiritually dead cannot see or understand spiritual things (Matt. 13:14-15). Without spiritual eyes, you can be right in the midst of a mighty act of God and not recognize it.
There is a big difference between seeing your surroundings from a human perspective and seeing life through spiritual eyes. Non-Christians see world events around them and become confused. You will look at the same events, recognize the activity of God, and adjust your life to Him. When you meet a person who is seeking God, you will recognize the convicting work of the Holy Spirit and adjust your life to God's activity (Rom. 3:11). Someone without spiritual perception will encounter that same person and not grasp the eternal significance of what is happening in that person's life. Other will hear of new philosophies and trends in society and not know how to discern the truth. You will hear God's voice over the din of the world's voices, and you will keep your bearings in the midst of the confusing circumstances.
Sin dulls your senses, ultimately leaving you spiritually blind and deaf. Do not be content with merely seeing with physical eyes and hearing with natural ears but not sensing what God is doing. Ask God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to sensitize you to His activity around you.
***************************************************************
This devotional is a dead on description of my current life. There have been so many periods or spiritual blindness and deafness in my life and I'm just getting through my most recent one. The biggest challenge of being a Christian is sometimes sticking to it, especially through the hard times. I've been up and down enough now to know when I'm doing it all wrong or when I'm not doing enough. It feels like literally being blind and deaf, I just don't know what's going on and I feel disoriented and lost. That's when my worst depressions set in.
But I know lately I've had my spiritual eyes and ears opened again and it just gets more amazing! To see, hear, and feel what God is doing in my life is truly a breathtaking experience. And when I'm experiencing such intense periods of joy, happiness, and awareness, I always catch myself wondering how I ever let go of this in the first place. It's such a beautiful thing to know what God wants for you without doubts and without confusion or worry. And it's even more beautiful when He puts people in your life to share that with you. =]
I find that God usually puts people in my life for one or all of the following reasons: to help me grow, to help me learn, to humble me, and to show me what HE wants for me. It's very difficult sometimes to always listen to what God wants for us, to always trust that He is leading us the right way. And even when it's not about trust, sometimes we just think we know what He's saying and what He's telling us to do and we dive right in only to find down the road that it was what we were wanting al along, not what He wanted. And then of course we have to step back, throw our hands up and give the reigns back to Him because we know we can never fix it on our own.
And if we don't know that yet, we'll learn it from experience! ;) All in all I'm just glad for the chance to know, love, and understand God with my spiritually given senses. And even more glad to be able to learn from and sometimes help those that he puts into my life.
=]
<3
No comments:
Post a Comment