Seeing With Good Eyes
Greetings in the Lord!
I wanted to share with you an urgent word that the Lord has been repeating to me over the past few days; a word about Herod, bad fruit, and spiritual blindness.
First, in Matthew 2 we read that Herod found out about the baby Jesus and set out to destroy him....but was tricked by the Magi and Joseph fled with his family, so Jesus was safe. Next, we hear John the Baptist calling out to the people, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance....The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matthew 3:8,10). Finally, in John 9 we read a story about Jesus healing a man born blind and the Pharisees question, then denounce the healing and Jesus. Jesus responds to the situation this way:
V 39-41) Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?" Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."
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In these passages we can see how spiritual blindness had allowed for people to conduct themselves in ways that maybe they would not have acted had they had "good eyes," but alas, they could not see the wrong in their ways. No, they ultimately just did what they thought was best for them--much to the pleasure of the enemy.
As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah." (Luke 11:29) Jesus was often asked for a miraculous sign but would not do it because they had wrong motives. I recall a time when the Lord had sent me to Los Angeles on a mission but would not let me share about it much on my blog because He said people were reading the blog with wrong intentions/heart conditions. How destructively we can allow ourselves to be used by the enemy (like Herod) because we cannot see clearly a situation, an anointing, a calling and denounce something the Lord has chosen or spoken. This is a season of reaching out and helping others to walk in the calling on their lives, but for jealousy or religion/manmade rules too many in the Body of Christ are busy being like Herod or the Pharisees. Please be careful of what you pray for and about one another! It is what comes out of our mouths that make us unclean, not what we eat or drink (ie, following or not religious/manmade rules).
I would recommend to you these days to repent if you have been speaking or praying against a servant of the Lord, even one you think is way off the mark! Check your eyes--are your spiritual eyes good? Have spoken presumptiously about someone or something but in fact your own words have made you "unclean"?
"But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be struck down. He will turn their own tongues against them and bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake their heads in scorn. All mankind will fear; they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what He has done. Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in Him; let all the upright in heart praise Him!" (Psalm 64 7-10).
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
I wanted to share with you an urgent word that the Lord has been repeating to me over the past few days; a word about Herod, bad fruit, and spiritual blindness.
First, in Matthew 2 we read that Herod found out about the baby Jesus and set out to destroy him....but was tricked by the Magi and Joseph fled with his family, so Jesus was safe. Next, we hear John the Baptist calling out to the people, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance....The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matthew 3:8,10). Finally, in John 9 we read a story about Jesus healing a man born blind and the Pharisees question, then denounce the healing and Jesus. Jesus responds to the situation this way:
V 39-41) Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?" Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."
~~~~
In these passages we can see how spiritual blindness had allowed for people to conduct themselves in ways that maybe they would not have acted had they had "good eyes," but alas, they could not see the wrong in their ways. No, they ultimately just did what they thought was best for them--much to the pleasure of the enemy.
As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah." (Luke 11:29) Jesus was often asked for a miraculous sign but would not do it because they had wrong motives. I recall a time when the Lord had sent me to Los Angeles on a mission but would not let me share about it much on my blog because He said people were reading the blog with wrong intentions/heart conditions. How destructively we can allow ourselves to be used by the enemy (like Herod) because we cannot see clearly a situation, an anointing, a calling and denounce something the Lord has chosen or spoken. This is a season of reaching out and helping others to walk in the calling on their lives, but for jealousy or religion/manmade rules too many in the Body of Christ are busy being like Herod or the Pharisees. Please be careful of what you pray for and about one another! It is what comes out of our mouths that make us unclean, not what we eat or drink (ie, following or not religious/manmade rules).
I would recommend to you these days to repent if you have been speaking or praying against a servant of the Lord, even one you think is way off the mark! Check your eyes--are your spiritual eyes good? Have spoken presumptiously about someone or something but in fact your own words have made you "unclean"?
"But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be struck down. He will turn their own tongues against them and bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake their heads in scorn. All mankind will fear; they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what He has done. Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in Him; let all the upright in heart praise Him!" (Psalm 64 7-10).
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
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