
I am always thinking, thinking about life, the Author of life, and how His Word applies to the circumstances we encounter. Over the past two months in particular, I have been thinking about and meditating on things that I cannot see with my physical eyes, the unseen realm of the spirit. The Bible tells us that “It is by faith we understand that the whole world was made by God’s command so what we see was made by something that cannot be seen. (Hebrews 11:3) Everything we see was created from a substance we cannot see.
This means that the things created by God in this natural realm are less substantial than the supernatural substance from which they were created. Jesus, who has a resurrected body, was able to pass through natural walls when He appeared to His disciples. His resurrection body is made of that substance we cannot see with our physical eyes, and has power over the natural realm. In short, the realm of the spirit is more real and more powerful than the realm of the natural.
Grasping this principle is of great importance when we consider what things we are able to see. Success in the Kingdom of God requires that we be able to see beyond the natural, and look upon the supernatural. As 2 Corinthians 4:18 reveals “We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.”
VISUAL EVIDENCE
Thomas, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus could not grasp this principle. Not in the room at the first appearance of the Resurrected Jesus, he refused to believe the report of the other apostles. He told them in paraphrase ” I cannot believe what I cannot see.” Expressed in modern vernacular “seeing is believing” This mindset requires natural visual evidence in order to believe that something is real. I have always understood the reasoning behind that statement in the natural realm. If I can see it, it must be real.
I have since discovered that the opposite is true. Believing IS seeing! What people see with their natural eyes and accept as real is dependent upon what they believe. “The eleven followers went to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. On the mountain they saw Jesus and worshiped him, but some of them did not believe it was really Jesus. (Matthew 28:16-17) The disciples who did not believe knew Jesus had been crucified and died, but did not yet accept that he rose from the dead. They believed in death, not the resurrection, and what they saw did not agree with what they believed, causing them to doubt it was Jesus they were seeing. What they believed robbed them of the ability to see the truth. Believing is seeing.
ONLY WHAT THEY WANT TO SEE
Many who say they see cannot see. What they believe in this natural world so controls their thinking that they ignore the obvious before their eyes. If it does not agree with what they believe it cannot be so. This is particularly true when God does miraculous things beyond their frame of reference and education. They don’t believe, so they cannot see. What they believe requires them to close their eyes to the truth that is set before them. What we believe controls what we see. Believing Is seeing.
I have watched medical professionals deny the truth of divine healing and miracles before their very eyes because they believe in death, not life. Because of this belief, they ignore the evidence of life before them and pronounce doom upon their patients. Some have even exchanged a belief in life for a belief in death. Their fixation upon sickness and death hás become a religion requiring adherence to hopelessness and denial of the power of God to heal. They see only what they want to see. Believing is seeing.
BELIEVERS understand believing is seeing. Faith enables us to look beyond the natural and see what is unseen. We see healing, salvation, and deliverance because we see circumstances through the lens of the Bible. Looking through the lens of the Bible to our circumstances enables us to see the unseen power of healing and prosperity available to us. Believing empowers us to see the truth in the Word of God and apply it to our lives. The supernatural is more powerful than the natural, and when we focus our eyes on what is unseen, poverty is turned to prosperity, sickness to health and healing and death to life. “We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.” (2 Corinthians 4:18) Believing is Seeing: think about it!