My house is full of little things… but it’s also got some larger more significant things too! One of those items is my camera which can generally be found near the sliding doors which look out into our backyard. I like having it handy there because you never know what’s going to wander in for viewing. This past week we had a bear visit the bird feeder! But I photograph more than animals. In fact, when we’ve had a lot of rain, we get some pretty interesting mushrooms popping up all over the yard and they’re fun to photograph too. In 2011 I joined an online photography group called the "365 Project". Photographers of all levels of ability search out pictures that capture their daily routines in a creative and unique way. The idea is to learn to look at the common, everyday things with a new perspective. You don't need fancy equipment or a top of the line camera to do this. All you need is eyes to see and my camera has certainly developed my ability to do that.
The Christian walk requires us to look for God in a similar fashion. Years ago (1984 to be exact) David and Karen Mains wrote a book called The God Hunt. In it they encouraged families to search for "God sightings". Seeing God in your everyday routine is much like developing the eyes to see a photograph each day. I read about one young mom who used the walk to the school bus with her children as a way to see God at work in the world around them. They looked at the birds and saw God's creativity. They said hello and smiled at people they knew and saw His love. What a wonderful way to inspire children to recognize that God is with His creation! This woman is instilling a wonderful habit in her children- spiritual eyesight.
Developing your spiritual eyes is a must on the walk of Christian maturity. The author of Hebrews proclaimed spiritual eyesight to be the tell-tale sign that one has faith (Heb. 11:1-6 and following). It's a challenge to see life through a spiritual lens, because as adults, we've been conditioned to be concrete and practical. But if we do not learn to see things from a spiritual perspective, we may end up like the servant of Elisha, who could only see the enemies encircled around his camp (2 Kings 6: 8-17). It took the prayer of Elisha to open his eyes to the spiritual realm.
The Scriptures are full of people like you and me who experienced God-sightings. Sometimes they we glorious (Ex. 33:18-23; Is. 6:1-4; Mt. 17:1-8; Acts 7:54-56). Sometimes “seeing” was the result of determined individuals who were seeking Truth (Lk. 19:1-10; Jn. 12:20-23) or healing (Mk. 10:46-52; 2:1-12). And on other occasions it was an invitation from someone who had “seen” (Jn. 1: 40-41, 44-46; 4:29). Some people saw but did not understand what they were seeing at first (Dan. 3:24-28) while others knew right away that what they were seeing was the Lord Himself (Rev. 1:9-18). While we may not physically see the Lord (Father or Son) as they did, we have the Indwelling Spirit who enables us to see Him at work in everything He has created (1 Cor. 2:10-13).
Hebrews 11 has often been called the “Heroes of the Faith” chapter. But I would contend it is not only a record of some amazing people in amazing circumstances who demonstrated and amazing faith. Many of them had quite a few not-so-amazing moments. Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and Moses all had major failures in their journey of faith. But in spite of these disasters, they still had the ability to see beyond their immediate circumstances and believed that ultimately God would be faithful to keep His promises (Heb. 11:13). Their faith was evidence of their spiritual eyesight. They could see ahead to what God was going to accomplish through them even though they could enjoy the end result in the present time. They were convinced God’s blessings were for more than just themselves (Heb. 11:39-40).
Cultivating your spiritual eyes is not difficult, but it does require that you look beyond the ordinary and the usual. One day, while I waited for my friend to check out her groceries, I was charged with the task of entertaining her 3 year old daughter. How do you keep an active toddler in a shopping cart in a busy supermarket? In a moment of inspiration I began a game of "I Spy". Cloe loved finding the different colors and objects and I was amazed at her powers of observation! The same is true in seeing God. You are more observant than you think! Seeing God at work does not always mean we will be looking at "supernatural" events in our lives or that we will even see immediate gratification at “seeing” Him in our circumstances. More often it is learning to see those everyday events from a new vantage point. It doesn't take fancy equipment or a top of the line camera to catch sight of God. All you need is eyes o see (Ps. 66:5).
thttps://www.annhlefevre.com; [email protected]; https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhlefevre; https://www.facebook.com/ann.h.lefevre
The Christian walk requires us to look for God in a similar fashion. Years ago (1984 to be exact) David and Karen Mains wrote a book called The God Hunt. In it they encouraged families to search for "God sightings". Seeing God in your everyday routine is much like developing the eyes to see a photograph each day. I read about one young mom who used the walk to the school bus with her children as a way to see God at work in the world around them. They looked at the birds and saw God's creativity. They said hello and smiled at people they knew and saw His love. What a wonderful way to inspire children to recognize that God is with His creation! This woman is instilling a wonderful habit in her children- spiritual eyesight.
Developing your spiritual eyes is a must on the walk of Christian maturity. The author of Hebrews proclaimed spiritual eyesight to be the tell-tale sign that one has faith (Heb. 11:1-6 and following). It's a challenge to see life through a spiritual lens, because as adults, we've been conditioned to be concrete and practical. But if we do not learn to see things from a spiritual perspective, we may end up like the servant of Elisha, who could only see the enemies encircled around his camp (2 Kings 6: 8-17). It took the prayer of Elisha to open his eyes to the spiritual realm.
The Scriptures are full of people like you and me who experienced God-sightings. Sometimes they we glorious (Ex. 33:18-23; Is. 6:1-4; Mt. 17:1-8; Acts 7:54-56). Sometimes “seeing” was the result of determined individuals who were seeking Truth (Lk. 19:1-10; Jn. 12:20-23) or healing (Mk. 10:46-52; 2:1-12). And on other occasions it was an invitation from someone who had “seen” (Jn. 1: 40-41, 44-46; 4:29). Some people saw but did not understand what they were seeing at first (Dan. 3:24-28) while others knew right away that what they were seeing was the Lord Himself (Rev. 1:9-18). While we may not physically see the Lord (Father or Son) as they did, we have the Indwelling Spirit who enables us to see Him at work in everything He has created (1 Cor. 2:10-13).
Hebrews 11 has often been called the “Heroes of the Faith” chapter. But I would contend it is not only a record of some amazing people in amazing circumstances who demonstrated and amazing faith. Many of them had quite a few not-so-amazing moments. Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and Moses all had major failures in their journey of faith. But in spite of these disasters, they still had the ability to see beyond their immediate circumstances and believed that ultimately God would be faithful to keep His promises (Heb. 11:13). Their faith was evidence of their spiritual eyesight. They could see ahead to what God was going to accomplish through them even though they could enjoy the end result in the present time. They were convinced God’s blessings were for more than just themselves (Heb. 11:39-40).
Cultivating your spiritual eyes is not difficult, but it does require that you look beyond the ordinary and the usual. One day, while I waited for my friend to check out her groceries, I was charged with the task of entertaining her 3 year old daughter. How do you keep an active toddler in a shopping cart in a busy supermarket? In a moment of inspiration I began a game of "I Spy". Cloe loved finding the different colors and objects and I was amazed at her powers of observation! The same is true in seeing God. You are more observant than you think! Seeing God at work does not always mean we will be looking at "supernatural" events in our lives or that we will even see immediate gratification at “seeing” Him in our circumstances. More often it is learning to see those everyday events from a new vantage point. It doesn't take fancy equipment or a top of the line camera to catch sight of God. All you need is eyes o see (Ps. 66:5).
thttps://www.annhlefevre.com; [email protected]; https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhlefevre; https://www.facebook.com/ann.h.lefevre
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