What eyes do you see the world through?

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One of the strangest statements that you’ll ever read is found in the book of Two Corinthians. Paul says this, we look not at things which are seen but at things which are not seen. We look at things that are not seen. Is that not a contradiction in terms? How can you look at something that’s not seen? It all depends on what eyes you choose to look with. Paul continues the same verse by explaining, for the things which are seen are temporal, okay, so they’re passing away, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Okay. And so in the natural, of course Paul would be speaking gobbledygook, but spiritually, he was absolutely spot on. And with regard to prayer, the ability to exercise your inner vision, to open the eyes of your spirit and look together with God and see what he is saying is I think one of the key skills that we can develop where we look with our spiritual eyes. The scriptures teach that you are a spirit just like your father. God is a spirit and you are created in his image. The real you is the person who is housed inside this temporary shelter that we call a body.

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And so just as your natural man has senses and outward abilities, so does your spiritual man have senses and inward abilities? Yeah, you can see and taste, touch and sense the eternal. And this is why imagination is so powerful when it’s harnessed by the spiritual nature. It’s one of the most potent mechanisms and technologies that God uses to speak to and disclose things to us. Now we actually see the negative side and the raw potential of imagination first revealed in the book of Genesis in chapter 11:6. We’re looking here at the building of the tower of Babel. We’re looking like way back kind of prehistory days. And God came down and looked upon the people and he said because they were of one mind and one heart, he said nothing will be restrained to them which they have imagined to do. Imagination is very powerful and creative in nature. The temptation I think for us here we have a very negative picture of the power of imagination. And I think sometimes a temptation for us as believers is to throw the baby out with the bathwater and just run hard in the opposite direction from things that have often been misused or misapplied.

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My background was quite a colourful one. I was very involved in the new age in my early teenage years and new age practitioners exploit the spiritual possibilities of innovation and imagination in a multitude of ways. And this is often, I believe, led Christians to distrust, to look with distrust on some of the very technologies, the spiritual technologies that we’re talking about, that God has equipped us with in order that we might clearly communicate and converse with him. Maybe that’s you, maybe you’ve covered up in a sense your spiritual eyes, fearing that the same devil that swissing all of these sorcerers and shamans is somehow going to hijack your inner screen. But Satan can only counterfeit what God has created. And oftentimes the existence of a counterfeit experience points to the fact that the genuine article exists. Throughout the scriptures, we find prophetic people described as seers. And in the New Covenant, we have all been called to live with a heightened sense of prophetic insight that doesn’t make us all profits. Thank God for that. The body is diverse. The functions within the body and the callings and the offices within the body are very diverse for a reason.

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We can’t all be the eye, but nevertheless, we are all prayers. We are men and women of prayer. And every one of us is called to pray intelligently and with insight imagination could quite possibly be described in exactly that way, as in sight, inward site or inward vision. And I just want to encourage you today as we talk about upgrading our prayer life, taking ahold of the spiritual technologies that the Holy Spirit has made available to us, I encourage you to reclaim your vision. Practically, I’d like to kind of explain things in the simplest terms I possibly can to remove the mystique. We are naturally supernatural. Our very nature as children of God is to enjoy and to operate in the spirit. And so practically, one way to do this is just simply to close your eyes and let’s imagine a white canvas spanning the entire field of our vision. Fill your vision just with a white canvas. Okay, so you’re not trying to force anything up on here. You’re not painting your own picture up on there based on what you think you should see. And then just simply ask the Holy Spirit to project his images onto that in a canvas that you are imagining.

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You can even ask a specific question and ask him to show you a picture. I mean, there’s a beautiful verse that I’ll just highlight to you in Habakkuk chapter 2:1. Habakkuk says this. And again, it’s just one of these odd ways in which the Holy Ghost explains something. A bit like the verse that we started with Habakkuk says, I will watch to see what he will say. He was looking with his inner vision to see what God would say. Now, naturally we would say, I will listen to hear what someone will say. But here we find that God often will speak in images and pictures and visions. Now, I absolutely trust the Holy Ghost enough to take a simple exercise like this and then just lead you in to deepest visionary experiences. And I want to be very careful here not to over complicate or over inflate how exciting this practise can be. I’ve sometimes been in meetings or heard different very highly prophetic people speak of these like Technicolour 5D dreams and visions that they’ve seen and as much as they make me salivate spiritually and like, oh, God, I would love to experience something like that.

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We can often be left feeling, like, vastly inadequate in the simple way that we operate. I don’t want you to feel in that position at all. I want you to understand that this is just a very standard faculty of your spirit is to see in the spirit. Now, that doesn’t mean you’re going to be scooped up like Ezekiel and you, like, hauled up above the temple and showed all of these wild creatures or whatever else it may be. It can just be a very simple experience. I mean, who knows where God will lead you? So instead of backing you off with all sorts of wild and wonderful stories and visions and dreams, I’ll just allow the Holy Ghost himself to lead you where he would take you personally. He knows what’s going to be beneficial for you, and he’s not going to take you any place that will divert you from the truth as well. Just in closing, I would encourage you when you exercise and avail yourself of this particular technology that you apply Larna liberally. In a previous podcast, I spoke about the Manor principle. Okay, so when the Holy Spirit begins to highlight or shine a light or show you something, the manner that came down in the desert, this sustenance from heaven.

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They called it Manor, meaning literally. What is it? One thing I recommend that you do as you practise insight is that you vigorously apply this man principle. Yeah. So when God shows you something, however hazy it may seem at the outset, just stay with him and ask questions. What is it? What does that mean? Show me more. What’s next, Lord? Show me more. Open this up to me more fully. Give me clarity. What are you saying? What does this mean? Help me to interpret what you’re showing me. And like any skill and faculty of our spirit, man, as you exercise yourself in this privately, your confidence and your proficiency will build through use. Consider this wonderful verse from Hebrews, Hebrews, chapter five, verse 14. Strong meat belongs to those that are of full age, even those who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Now, today we’ve been talking about spiritual senses, and here we find that we can exercise those senses to discern spiritual realities. And we do so by reason of use. And as we do, as you begin to step out in these ways and utilise these technologies that the Lord has placed at your disposal, you will see and experience the eternal.

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Thanks for listening to today’s episode. Hopefully it was a blessing to you. If it was do, please consider leaving a rating and a review on whatever platform you are listening on.

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I also would love to encourage you.

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To check out my new book, Faithful Creative. We’ve got a package of resources designed specifically to encourage you in your Christian creative call. You can cheque that out at faithfulcreativebook.com and if you choose to pick it up use the promo code podcast for 50% off so you’ll get it for half price have a great rest of your day and God bless Jesus first everything else follows.