Do You Desire to See – What You Can’t See?

If you read the scriptures long enough you start to realize a few things that seem to run contrary to how you think and process life. One thing in particular is the challenge to “BELIEVE” what you can’t seem to see. 

We are so conditioned and taught in life to only believe what our eyes perceive that we fail to recognize what might well be going on behind, or within, the natural things around our life. Take for instance the study of biology. If the microscope was never invented we would miss so much about how life is built and how to fix it. A microscope helps us see what is right in front of us but that we can’t see or believe in without help. Somehow we can’t imagine not having this “TOOL” to see what we can’t see, yet when it comes to spiritual things we can’t, or maybe rather won’t, believe what we can’t see or understand.

Jesus regularly taught about spiritual dimensions in our lives that surround us and affect us. For example, Jesus taught us to recognize and deal with destructive things in our natural world like being judgmental. Yet people constantly embrace the practice of being judgmental, even though it is destructive to their lives. When we refuse to deal with the root of judging people, which is resentment and un-forgiveness, it keeps us locked in a world that is unseen but very much real.

When Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples Thomas, one of his close disciples, was missing from the group. Was he walking the streets of Jerusalem trying to figure out what he spent 3 years doing now that Jesus was dead and gone, or was he regretting not being at the cross? All we know is he was not hanging out with the others and that cost him the evidence he needed to believe once again in Jesus.

When Jesus shows up in another supernatural encounter with the disciples he challenges Thomas to stop doubting and believe. He then shows Thomas his hand and side. Then Jesus makes a profound statement about believing what we might not see but we should embrace. Can we believe that Jesus is who he said he is in spite of never seeing him until we die? This lack of trust is what keeps many from experiencing God’s goodness and provision even today.

John 20:29

Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you see me.

Those who believe without seeing me will be truly blessed.”

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was asked to believe what her mind could not comprehend: namely that she could become pregnant without a man and that her baby would be called the Son of God. What compels a person to do that? Surely it is more than mere evidence in the natural. It must be a combination of fact and faith for spiritual life to germinate. It must be a “SUPERNATURAL” event that combines perception and insight beyond reason and logic. It must be when heaven and earth come together in a human heart to stretch us beyond ourselves into the unknown realm of God’s presence, something many of us don’t experience because we fall back to into demanding the concrete or natural before we trust and believe.

Luke 1:45

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”

The apostle Paul spoke about having a faith that is more about relationship than about genetics. Paul went so far as to say that those who are real descendants of Abraham were not those who are biological Jews, or children of God, but those who are children of God by faith, meaning they have stretched their souls beyond the natural into the supernatural. Christianity is more a supernatural birthing than a natural one. To drift from this truth is to drift from God himself.

Galatians 3:6 & 9

Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

Faith is a funny thing in that it is both tangible and it is not. Faith is taking substance and stepping beyond into the unknown, or into a reality that can not be physically touched. We are called to step into that place of uncertainty where God resides but we can not fully know or see by our natural means. It is that place were we don’t pretend, but actually experience the tangible presence of God and the supernatural realm that was waiting for us all along to experience.

I remember when I was still walking without God and lost in darkness, and I finally realized I was mad at the God that I did not know but who knew me. It was so hard to believe in what I could not see, even though I saw and experienced so much of his creative power and presence. It took years of experiencing the power of God in various ways and times, while still not believing in him, to finally convince me that until I let go of my demand to see and touch God I would always be blind and alone. It took a leap of faith into the unknown presence of God for me to be healed of all my sorrow and bitterness. It was at that moment I experienced the love I had always longed for but never fully realized.

Since that time I still struggle from time to time with wanting to see and feel before I believe, as so many of you do. But each time I release my demand on God to do things my way I experience the supernatural power of God and his love. It is returning to a child-like state of trusting our Heavenly Father more than we trust ourselves or our perception.

I encourage you to take what you know about God and his kingdom and step out into the unknown world of the supernatural, to experience the richness of who God is and what he wants to do in your daily life.

Questions:

1) Do you find yourself drifting back to trusting the natural more than your Heavenly Father? Confessing is always the first step of redemption even if it is about our thoughts or actions. (Rom 14:23)

2) Do you resist stepping into the unknown realm of faith? Only by practice will you grow more comfortable in the unknown.

Loving God’s word and trying to apply it daily,

Pastor Dale