Friday, 3 May 2013

Upside-down Spiritual Vision


Did you know that the human eye, by itself, sees everything upside down? It's the work of the brain to take the images we see and turn them right way round. 

As I thought about our human physiology I realised that this is exactly how the Holy Spirit works in our spirits. In 2 Corinthians 4:4 we read that,

"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

And in Romans 1 we read of the results of this upside-down spiritual vision,

 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Though  they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles."

We are certainly living in times when people's vision is upside down; good is condemned as evil, evil is celebrated, even encouraged in so many ways. God is seen as the enemy, whilst the devil is welcomed into society and hell is seen as either not real, or a "cool" place where rebels will revel in their earthly life's deeds. We are seeing "multi-faith" prayer summits that acknowledge all gods as equal to The God, and the removal of the name of God from the public; tolerance is the new norm - for all religions and beliefs and
creeds . . . except Christianity.

We live in troubled times, friends. And as uncomfortable as it might be, we really do need to ensure that our spirit's eyes are 100% trained on our heavenly Father and seeing things the right way up, and are not being fooled into thinking that wrong is the new right.

As devoted as we are to our Lord Jesus, we can be tempted to question whether our inner eyes are seeing things correctly, or if we need to perhaps "tweak" our focus; we start to question what we know to be true and are tempted to refocus our vision. Perhaps we are being too dogmatic about certain issues; tithing, attitude, swearing, marriage, faith, sex, these and other areas of our lives suddenly become blurry, and we need to reset our sight. The question is, are we resetting our sight to God's defaults, or to the world's?

May the Lord continue to give us clarity of sight and wisdom in all things, and the strength and courage to stand true when times of testing come.

Blessings,

Helen.



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These thoughts were bought to you by Helen Carr at 08:08
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17 comments:

  1. Sincerity3 May 2013 at 09:29

    Amen! Christians must stand firm but always with love. That is the key. And it is only possible to do through the strength of Jesus Christ.

    Philippians 4:13

    Blessings to you.

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    1. Helen Carr3 May 2013 at 10:14

      Hi Sincerity,

      Ah yes, that is the key - love!

      Blessings, Helen

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  2. These thoughts lovingly crafted by me3 May 2013 at 10:54

    Great post, Helen.

    You're right when you say the world is upside down in its thinking. It's so easy to make decisions without going to the bible and seeking what God has to say on the subject.

    Could you imagine a world where every Christian did just that? Where every Christian only wanted what God wanted, and lived their lives in perfect harmony with Him? Wow.

    I'm grateful for a husband who keeps my feet firmly grounded. He leads by example, doesn't pout or throw temper tantrums to get his own way, has never had an affair, loves me for exactly who I am, and is a wonderful role model for our pre-teen son.

    He always encourages our family to have clarity of vision and view life right-side up.

    Thank you for reminding me of this. :)

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    1. Helen Carr3 May 2013 at 14:57

      Hi Lee,

      Wouldn't that be a wonderful place!

      I am so glad that your husband is a godly man; what an amazing blessing it is when men stand up and display love, not just sit back and let the wife do the nurturing of the kids, etc. I, too, have a wonderful, godly hubby who helps me to see things clearly and who actively shows his love to me and our 3 boys.

      Blessings to you and your family.

      Helen.

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  3. Margaret Lepke3 May 2013 at 13:40

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Margaret Lepke3 May 2013 at 13:46

    So true! Thank you, Helen, very timely!
    PS: I don't know what happened to my picture... must investigate :)

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    1. Helen Carr3 May 2013 at 14:59

      Hi Margaret,

      I am so blessed to know that this was a word for you.

      Blessings,

      Helen

      PS: I hope your face reappears soon! :-)

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  5. Rita Galieh3 May 2013 at 14:58

    Oh, so right, Helen. The new tolerance accepts everything, often misquoting "judge not that you be not judged." So they are quite happy to set aside God's absolutes by believing them intolerant and a far worse sin. When we proclaim God's truths it's not judging but simply believing what He says is true. But we must be careful "to speak the truth in love."

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    1. Helen Carr3 May 2013 at 15:04

      Hi Rita,

      It is quite scary when we hear of some of the activity in the world, particularly in the US, where Christians are being watched by the government and other faiths are being accepted as 'the norm.' Others closer to home are starting to preach that the Bible is not the infallible word of God, but merely man's interpretation of different visions/messages; therefore we do not have to take it as "Gospel" but can chose what we obey and don't. I believe the term used in one such Facebook group is "Unfundamentalists" - well, I for one make no apology for being 100% fundamental in my faith! Having said that, yes, it really is all about love and grace; I pray that we would be beautiful lights in a world of blindness.

      Blessings,

      Helen.

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  6. Anusha Atukorala3 May 2013 at 16:57

    Thanks for a great post Helen. You are very right in saying that these are difficult days. And also so right in stating how important it is for us to discover and fathom God's perspective and God's heart on life. It's easy to get off the track and go off on a wrong tangent.

    Yes, we shouldn't tweak our focus unless God says it needs tweaking isn't it? :)
    Blessings,
    Anusha

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    1. Helen Carr3 May 2013 at 21:48

      Hi Anusha,

      Thanks for the encouragement. It's great to know there are like minded Christians who 'get' this. And how blessed are we when we get off track, that God's grace is abundant and he can help us back on the 'right' path again.

      Blessings,

      Helen.

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  7. Anonymous4 May 2013 at 09:49

    Great to read the thoughts of other Aussie Christian writers, cheers Graeme

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    1. Helen Carr4 May 2013 at 10:51

      Hi Graeme,

      Thanks for reading my thoughts; I trust that you were blessed by them and encouraged in your Christian walk. I look forward to reading your thoughts one day, too :-)

      Blessings,

      Helen

      Delete
  8. Jennifer Ann6 May 2013 at 14:38

    yes, we must keep our eyes on Jesus

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  9. Adam David Collings7 May 2013 at 12:22

    Excellent post Helen. We definitely live in a world that sees good as evil, and evil as good.

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  10. Paul G8 May 2013 at 07:14

    Good post! And a big AMEN!

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  11. Anonymous9 May 2013 at 17:36

    Hi Helen,
    We certainly need to focus of twenty twenty vision when it comes to faith in these days of compromise. Thanks for drawing us to this.
    Wendy

    ReplyDelete

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