Eyes Wide Open

Eyes Wide Open

I have said for the last couple of weeks that I have felt a shift in the Spirit. That is a good thing. It usually means some prayers are being answered, and purpose is going to another level.

When we pray. When we hear and embrace His word. When we thirst for more, things will not stay the same.

Isaiah 55:1, “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost.” John 6:35, “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”

What an amazing opportunity that the church has today. As the church finds itself in repentance for it’s arrogance and neglect, God is changing things. As the church moves forward in His love and grace, God is changing things. What an awesome season of His power we are in. I hear this practically every day in prayer, “KEEP MOVING FORWARD.

Not long ago I came across an article that I found very interesting. It was referring to gates, and how we each have three. Gates are points of entrance or exit. The article pointed out our three gates. Eyes, Ears, and mouth. To me the eyes and ears are entrances. The mouth is an exit. This will be something of a series, but not necessarily consecutive. Over the course of the next few weeks I will be talking about eyes, ears, and the mouth. “And boy this is going to be fun!!!”

Let me begin with the eyes today and lay a foundation with a couple of scriptures.

Hebrews 12:2

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Ephesians 1:18 Amplified

And I pray that the eyes of your heart, the very center and core of your being may be enlightened, flooded with light by the Holy Spirit, so that you will know and cherish the hope, the divine guarantee, the confident expectation to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (God’s people),

In Hebrews the word for eyes is translated from a Greek word which means, “turn from other things and fix on something else.” Almost like repentance

In Ephesians the eyes of your heart is used metaphorically to mean, “eyes of the mind, the faculty of knowing”

There is a very important distinction of what we see and what we understand.

We must understand how important the gate we open with our eyes is. In fact the very first temptation of man,

and the subsequent failure thereof had to do with the eye.

Genesis 3:4-6

4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!

5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

It looked good, was a delight to see, had great results. Ring any bells? “Only problem, God said don’t do it”

Matthew 6:22-23

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.

23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Matthew 6:22-23 Message

22“Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light.

23 If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!

Remember Simeon?

Luke 2:29-32

29 “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word;
30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation,
31 Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 A Light of revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.”

From the Greek, “eyes means turn from to something else, seen means discover, and turn attention to, and light is used metaphorically to mean the revelation of God to the Gentiles.”

1 Peter 1:3-9

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,

7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:8-9 Message

8 You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing.

9 Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.

What about in between? Being born again, and the death in Christ that will eventually come to us all. These passages in 1^st Peter listed many of the promises of God as we continue in our faith in Jesus. What do you see when you read and hear all the wonderful love and promises of the Father?

In one of Isaiah’s Messianic prophecies he said this.

Isaiah 52:15

Thus He will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand.

Isaiah 64:4

For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.