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Posts Tagged ‘2nd Corinthians 04’

[W]e look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. – 2nd Corinthians 4:18

How does God expect us to see something that can’t be seen? We do it all the time when we read a book, talk to friends, hear a lecture, even when daydreaming – how do you think we do that? We use our imagination!

Visualizing in the mind and heart what is desired (or feared) but not seen, is a gift of God. Though it has been abused and misused it can be brought back into captivity to Christ (2nd Corinthians 10:4-6) and used for its intended purpose – to enable us to anticipate, endure, and prepare for what time and space prevents us from seeing right now. Because it is imagined doesn’t mean it is false, it can be more true than what we think we see!

Begin using godly imagination to “see” what God says is all around us – his care, his kingdom, his promises. You could start here:

[Y]e are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. – Hebrews 12:21-24

Visualize the throne, see the city, see the church and the people and the angels, and Jesus. Imagine yourself there – what would you say, what would you do? Start using your imagination to see what God says is there – it will be more accurate than the façade this world is offering.

– fritz@langgang.com

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And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; – Genesis 21:19

Hagar, banished to the desert with only a bottle of water, thought she and her son were going to die.

Of interest is the Bible’s unique description of God’s response. It did NOT say God made a well for her or led her to it; God just opened her eyes, the well was already there. Without that eye opening she would have died of thirst with unlimited water right before her.

How many other essentials are, like Hagar’s well, awaiting our eyes to be opened?!

God’s kingdom is one! When Jesus preached, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 1, he wasn’t saying it was soon coming from afar off but that it was already here and experienced by “repenting”; a term literally meaning “turning around” and facing it.

Again, when Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”2, the emphases was on seeing (or not) something already there.

Not just for newbies, Paul tells us looking at the unseen is an ongoing experience for believers.

“we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. – 2nd Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)

Jesus, open my eyes to perceive what you have already provided that I, like Hagar, may be refreshed and grow.

-fritz.
Matthew 4:17
2 John 3:3

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