Hearts Ablaze Corner

I've come to realize that our gaze determines whether we walk in victory or not. The word "gaze" means staring, looking intently and steadily. When we think of our looking upon Jehovah, we can define " gaze" as, the habitual long, lingering look of awestruck wonder.

David was a God-gazer, so was Elisha, great examples in the Old Testament. David saw the big giant, and his strong army, but he also saw something even bigger. He saw the bigness of God: bigger than any giant, stronger than any enemy, greater than any army. David saw the armies Jehovah Sabaoth command, and he was emboldened. There was no comparison between his God and the uncircumcised heathen, Goliath. Elisha, when surrounded by the enemy, knew that there were more for him than against him. We see their fruitful lives and the authority they wielded because their gaze was right. What about us, today?

I believe there is one primary reason why we are not fervent and consistent in prayer. Our gaze is really not upon God! For example, we have not gazed upon God long enough to even see him as the Omnipotent One with limitless resources, made available to us. Does PS 18 make us leap with joy?

If our eyes are not fixed on God, if we have a penchant, a tendency, of moving our sight from God to circumstances, wavering between healthy life giving feelings and thoughts to deceptive ones, struggling between embracing God's counsel and the voice of stranger(s) with their unwise, deadly chatter, we'll find ourselves traveling along crooked paths of defeat. In this four part series, we'll talk about keeping our eyes riveted upon God, which will determine the outcome of our lives.

Many claim that they are walking by faith but they are doing so with closed eyes. Their spiritual eyes are closed. This is an outright disconnect. It is not in line with God's intent, because walking by faith means our spiritual eyes must be wide open.

Spiritual blindness means no revelation or limited revelation. It means satanic accessibility. Such blindness or poor sight diminishes or steals from a person's well being. Lack, discouragement, poor health are all linked to spiritual blindness. We need our eyes opened. We need to know truth. We need the Word of God to come alive in us. We need to see.

Many claim that they are walking by faith but they are doing so with closed eyes. Their spiritual eyes are closed. This is an outright disconnect. It is not in line with God's intent, because walking by faith means our spiritual eyes must be wide open.

Spiritual blindness means no revelation or limited revelation. It means satanic accessibility. Such blindness or poor sight diminishes or steals from a person's well being. Lack, discouragement, poor health are all linked to spiritual blindness. We need our eyes opened. We need to know truth. We need the Word of God to come alive in us. We need to see.

Many claim that they are walking by faith but they are doing so with closed eyes. Their spiritual eyes are closed. This is an outright disconnect. It is not in line with God's intent, because walking by faith means our spiritual eyes must be wide open.

Spiritual blindness means no revelation or limited revelation. It means satanic accessibility. Such blindness or poor sight diminishes or steals from a person's well being. Lack, discouragement, poor health are all linked to spiritual blindness. We need our eyes opened. We need to know truth. We need the Word of God to come alive in us. We need to see.

Prov 18:14“A man's spirit sustains him in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear.”

A crushed spirit refers to one who is dispirited, one living on an empty tank, one who may feel so beaten up, that he is on the verge of giving up. That person may simply want to throw in the towel.

The human spirit is the engine of a person's life. It is who a person really is. The body enables the spirit to express itself on earth. The body, under the influence of the spirit, interacts with the physical realm. Our spirit was designed to rule our body. Therefore, spiritual health is the most important thing in our lives. It is more important than our physical health and looks. It is more important than our financial condition, more important than our social health, more important than genetics, race... It deserves care. It determines our outcome in this life, and throughout eternity.

A crushed spirit throws all of our life out of balance. We have to actively maintain the health of our spirit. Listen to this episode to hear some of what we can do to maintain the health of our spirit, ensuring that it is never crushed.

We are told that Abraham was a man of great faith, but he did not begin as a pillar or giant of faith. At first, his faith was trembling, a bit shaky... Consider the Hagar and Ishmael issue or his going to foreign parts (Egypt and Gerar), when there was a famine. He even jeopardized the godly line, the chosen line, when fear caused him to put his wife in the hands of the enemy. However, through it all, Abraham continued to believe God. He remembered God's promise to him. He was sometimes unsteady as he waited, but his believing God prevailed.

Abraham had faith. He did not start as a spiritual giant, but he kept believing God, even when fear caused him to deviate. He came back on course and kept believing. God requires the same from us. We have to keep believing. God needs our faith, that's the currency in His economy.

Like Abraham, we should each desire to be a pillar of faith. This may well have been easy if there was not an arch enemy trying to throw us off the path of faith, the path of obedience and living God’s will.. That enemy is fear. Fear crouches, lunges, deceives, entraps, paralyzes and tries to hinder God’s plan for our lives. Fear and faith have something in common. They both ask you to believe that something you cannot see will happen. Which will you believe, faith or fear?

Here is the trap which has succeeded, through the ages:Prosperity without, but proud, idolatrous and selfish, within. In the ninth century, God's people were being undermined from within. This is such a killer! The situations without can turn our eyes away from our inner state, yet what's happening within tells us the true state of our heart and points to the course of our life. The inner state is more important than the externals, the barren materialism, which entraps many. Appeasing the flesh means looking away from God. Anything apart from God, is flesh. It may look or feel so good, it may even be defined as the lap of luxury, but in the process of “enjoyment” one dies, spiritually. One dies, spiritually, even as the outward gleams, even as one grows fatter or richer, it’s a mere disguise for death! God brings this ongoing deception to man's attention and provides him with an option in Amos 5:4:“Seek me (search diligently for me and regard me as more essential than food) so that you may live” AMP

Why is God giving man an option, that is, to seek Him? God wants us to be spiritually live, to truly live, and He knows seeking Him is the only way to that life, which never ends!

Here is the trap which has succeeded, through the ages:Prosperity without, but proud, idolatrous and selfish, within. In the ninth century, God's people were being undermined from within. This is such a killer! The situations without can turn our eyes away from our inner state, yet what's happening within tells us the true state of our heart and points to the course of our life. The inner state is more important than the externals, the barren materialism, which entraps many. Appeasing the flesh means looking away from God. Anything apart from God, is flesh. It may look or feel so good, it may even be defined as the lap of luxury, but in the process of “enjoyment” one dies, spiritually. One dies, spiritually, even as the outward gleams, even as one grows fatter or richer, it’s a mere disguise for death! God brings this ongoing deception to man's attention and provides him with an option in Amos 5:4:“Seek me (search diligently for me and regard me as more essential than food) so that you may live” AMP

Why is God giving man an option, that is, to seek Him? God wants us to be spiritually live, to truly live, and He knows seeking Him is the only way to that life, which never ends!

It's time to bridge the huge divide between our perspective of prayer and that of God.

Jesus prevailed in prayer. Prayer was His very life. Everything began and ended in prayer. He prayed before He did things. He prayed while He did them and after He had done them, He prayed! We see the fruit borne, the results of His prayer, and the manifestation of our Father's will. We are here today, because Jesus prayed, and He is still prevailing in prayer as He intercedes for us, at the right hand of the Father.. What an example we have in Jesus! Yet, it points to the huge divide, this great gap between what we call prayer and God’s definition, lived by His Son, Jesus.

Generally, we do not pray like Jesus nor do we truly seek to communicate with our Heavenly Father, on an ongoing basis. Prayer, far too often, is sporadic and governed by our emotions. It becomes a matter of: “Do I feel like praying, today?” This is, primarily, responsible for prayerlessness in the lives of so many. Add much chatter about prayer and reliance on flesh to this mix and we succeed in forging an even wider gap.

It's time to bridge this divide. It's time to close the gap. It’s time for prayerlessness to end. It's to our detriment that we allow this HUGE DIVIDE to persist!

There is such a great gap between God's perspective and ours. When we insist on using a mind filled with our little, finite, humanistic thoughts(unrenewed), to follow God, we will be led away from His will. It will keep us outside of the fullness and abundance God intends us to know and to live. The gap between God’s will and the clamoring of our heart widens, when we hold fast to such things as, erroneous assumptions, misguided expectations, walking by sight rather than faith and, a very popular one, being victims of circumstances, which shape our desires, our prayers, and our choices.

We pray for many things and have not yet seen the answer because of two varying perspectives: God’s and ours! In other words we are not embracing God's will. Truth be told, too many times we don't want to bridge the divide and get to God's will. We want to advance our shriveled up, finite will. We choose not to bridge the gap, which would allow us to operate from God’s vantage point! There is no comparison. Why settle for momentary “pleasures”, maintaining a huge divide, which causes us to forfeit so much?