Faith is a Narrow Perspective

For many years I prayed, “God, help me see things, people, opportunities, and situations the way You see them.” I thought that sounded like a pretty good prayer until the Lord interrupted me one day and said, “Jack, I don’t want you to pray that way anymore. Instead, pray that you see things the way I want you to see them.”

At first, I thought, “Isn’t that the same thing?” But He quickly showed me that it wasn’t. Man is not capable of seeing the way He sees. God’s ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours that the difference is immeasurable.

1 Samuel 16:9 (NKJV) But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Isaiah 55:9 (NKJV) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

There is a way that God wants us to see everything and everyone. We cannot see how God sees because we view life from the filter of two opposing natures. The fallen nature we inherited from Adam and the nature of God that we received at the new birth. Living in this incredible paradox demands that we adapt to seeing things from a particular perspective called faith.

Faith is a perspective, not a tool to get our needs met. Faith is a narrow way of seeing, thinking, believing, and speaking. Faith is the perspective that fills our entire being with light and is formed in love and devotion to God. Faith is simple trust in God.

Matthew 6:22-24 (NKJV) The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good (single), your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eye is bad (evil), your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! ²⁴ No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

The word “good” in verse 22 is the Greek word “haplous.” It means single. It is used only one other time in Luke 11 in his account of this same passage. The word “bad” in verse 23 is the Greek word “poneros” and is always translated as “evil, wicked, or wicked one.” Why is this important? Because anything other than having a faith perspective is evil.

Paul said in Romans 14:23, “whatever is not from faith is sin.”

If we do not see from a faith perspective, we see things from an evil perspective. What we look at illuminates our entire being with what we see.       

Without this narrow perspective, it is impossible to please God.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Quoted from the book, The Spiritual Warfare Manifesto

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Your Flesh is Your Enemy

Romans 8:6-8 (NKJV) or to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. ⁸ So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

The word “enmity” in verse 7 means hostile opposition or hatred toward God. The carnal mind, our flesh, is God’s enemy; therefore, it should be our enemy. We must all come to the place where we see our carnal nature as our enemy. If we don’t see our carnal nature as the enemy, we will tend to treat it like a pet.

God has promised to deliver us from our enemies, not our pets!

Many don’t realize we are feeding our carnal, fleshly desires. We think that what we are doing is no big deal. It is a huge deal! Let me give you some examples:

If you have been delivered from drugs and you know that it has a strong pull on your flesh, anything that would stir up old memories and desires should be avoided. Movies with drug abuse, talking about your old lifestyle, or even driving through the part of town where you used to buy drugs can all be triggers that let “the cat” in the door.

If you struggle with overeating or binging junk food, it is much easier to win the battle if you stay out of the junk-food aisle in the grocery store. If it stimulates any of your five senses, it has the potential to pull on you. If the shortest route to your destination is through an area that stirs up memories of past sins, take another course! The long way is better than the wrong way.

What about being addicted to entertainment? Surfing the internet, social media, and video games? Wasting hours every day on mindless foolishness? Is that harmless? Or is it stealing the life right out of you, keeping you from things more important, and warring against your soul?

If you think it is no big deal, or if you think you are strong enough to handle it. You may wake up one day and realize that the little thing that is “no big deal” has now become your enormous pet and is demanding to be fed! If we feed our enemy, he gets stronger and has more power to harm us. If we feed our spirit, it will grow stronger and overcome the flesh.

What we feed grows. What we starve dies.

James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

This scripture verse may seem like a two-step program to victory over the devil, but it is not. It is a one-step program. Submitting to God IS resisting the devil. Remember that Jesus has already defeated the enemy. Submitting to God, by obedience to His word, embraces and enforces victory and makes dying to the flesh much easier.

“Sin takes us farther than we want to go, keeps us longer than we want to stay, and cost us more than we want to pay.”

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Overview: Revelation 12-22

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JC

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JC

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