Shirley
“To achieve victory, we must as far as possibly make the enemy blind and deaf by sealing his eyes and ears, and drive his commanders to distraction by creating confusion in their minds.” (Mao Tse-Tung,
1893-1976 on Distracted War)
I could not have said it any better than Mao Tse-Tung, this is exactly how the enemy gets us, he causes confusion in our minds, and leads us to see life with the wrong perspective (a. k. a lens). Sight is everything. Once sight is manipulated this eventually affects what, who or how we listen, and once we are unable to see God moving in our situation or even hear His voice, then we have lost half the battle.
Before going in on perspective and what the word says, let us first look at how the dictionary defines perspective. The oxford dictionary defines perspective as: particular attitude towards or way of regarding something; a point of view. The Collins dictionary on the other hand defines perspective as a particular way of thinking about something, especially one that is influenced by your beliefs or experiences.
As a result, of the definitions above allow me to state that how we often see things is not necessarily how they are, it’s just the perspective we intentionally or subconsciously choose to see it through. Further, the perspective with which we choose to see life is often affected by third-party factors. These factors include upbringing; life experience with everything from joys to wounds we experience along the way; culture; public opinion; our upbringing; church opinions and just about anything we allow to invade our minds, and give prominence in our lives as the gospel truth. In fact, in my book, perspective is the lens through which we interpret what is happening in our lives. I choose to use the word lens to refer to perspective for this blog for emphasis and dramatic purposes, and importantly to try and create an image for those who are reading.
The lens with which we each choose to interpret life and the things that happen to us whether good or bad is one of the most powerful tools we have in our arsenal as Christians. I want you to imagine that when a photographer wants to alter the picture, he/ she is taking of a specific subject for artistic or for others purposes, he/ she changes the lens that they are using in order to get different pictures “of the same subject” (with emphasis). In the end the photographer will have different pictures of the one subject. Hence, it is possible that how we see things is not necessarily the true image because it all depends on the lens we choose to adopt in the moment.
Hence, it is justified to conclude that how we see our lives is not set in stone, that indeed, we actually have a choice in deciding how we will choose to look at life.
With the wrong lens, you can begin to imagine that God has deserted you, or that your life is not worth it, all because you chose to use the lens of hopelessness, a hopeless lens that focusses on what you do not have. The lens we choose to look at in life is the most powerful tool you will ever have in your hand; it will determine how you walk and how far you will go in this life. It all boils down to one’s lens.
Look at the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis for example. They were given everything in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2 and 3. They were living the ultimate life where they had everything they needed. God would literally come down to talk with them, it was the dream life. They did not have to toil or struggle, and knew nothing about death, lack, sickness, corruption or about any of the other troubles of this world, and on top of that they had dominion over everything. Yet even in this state of paradise all the Devil had to do was drop a lie, the kind of lie that influenced their lens and as a result changed the way they viewed God and the life that He had blessed them with. Using the lens based on the lie Adam and Eve who had everything began to believe that God was not trustworthy and that He had lied to them when He warned them that if they ate of the tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden that they would die, and that He was denying them a fruit that was good for them. Never mind that God had given them the authority to eat the fruit of every other tree. So, they gave up paradise for a fruit that God had warned them not to eat!
So yes, the enemy has been deceiving people through influencing their lens since the begin of time. Indeed, influencing one’s lens is the enemy’s most powerful tool of deception, if he can affect your lens- the way we see ourselves, God and our lives -he has won. This is because the enemy know that sight is everything as it affects everything we do, it effects our countenance, how we receive or even how we hear. It affects how we see God and whether we receive His word; it affects how you chose to see yourself, and even affects how you carry yourself in this world. It will determine whether you will go out into the world with a bounce in your step or whether you will go out in to the world with the heaviest weight on your shoulder. It affects whether you will be happy or absolutely miserable even if on the outside it may seem like you have everything. The enemy knows this and knows if he can have influence or manipulate how we see through our lens then he has won the battle. That is why the enemy often begins his work when we are young and most vulnerable and easily susceptible to dysfunctional truths as the gospel truth. When we are adults, we never really use a new lens, but often revert to the lenses that were ingrained in us when we were children that includes everything from the wounds we carry, to the miscommunication we witnessed, to dysfunctional family habits.
So, I want you to imagine yourself as a photographer who is constantly changing the lens through which you choose to look at your own life, and even the life of others. Then ask yourself whether the way you are seeing things now is really a true reflection of what is actually going on or just a way of seeing things based on the lens you have chosen to give prominence to today?
Often, we are so confident in the way we see things never bothering to question why we even see things the way that we do or even whether we may be wrong in the way that we see things. I urge you today to instead be on high alert and be watchful of what thoughts we tolerate and allow into our life that alter the way we see things. We must be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5: 8).
So do not be so quick to trust what you see with your physical eyes, take it to God and let him give you the correct lens with which to see with. Read His word and see how you should look at your life and the daily happenings. Often if we do not go to Him for sight, we may fail to see the blessings that sometimes are wrapped up in what looks like a tragedy, lack or even a loss. The bible is filled with stories of people who using physical eyes looked like they had lost, but spiritually God was in the process of a miracle. Look at the story in 2 Kings 6:15-17
15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.
16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
The chariots were there when he could not see them with his eyes, whether you see them or not, everything you need is already in the spiritual world
So, be vigilant and investigate you sight are you really seeing things in the right way? Delve deep and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to investigate why you see things the way you do, and is there need for healing?
Today ask God to give you sight and save you from sight that is motivated by fleshly things, and align your sight with God’s lens.
Readings
2 Corinthians 4:4-6
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
John 9:35-41
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.
2 Corinthians 3:14
But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.
Matthew 15:14
Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Isaiah 35:5
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
Luke 6:39
And He also spoke a parable to them: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?
Isaiah 42:7
To open blind eyes,
To bring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.
Isaiah 42:16
“I will lead the blind by a way they do not know,
In paths they do not know I will guide them.
I will make darkness into light before them
And rugged places into plains.
These are the things I will do,
And I will not leave them undone.”
Ephesians 4:18
being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
John 9:39
And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”
Psalm 146:8
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind;
The Lord raises up those who are bowed down;
The Lord loves the righteous;
Isaiah 59:10
We grope along the wall like blind men,
We grope like those who have no eyes;
We stumble at midday as in the twilight,
Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men.
Matthew 6:23
But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
Matthew 15:14
Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Matthew 12:22
Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw.
Matthew 20:30
And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”
Psalm 146:8
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind;
The Lord raises up those who are bowed down;
The Lord loves the righteous;
Luke 6:39
And He also spoke a parable to them: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?
Matthew 21:14
And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.
Matthew 9:27-30
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.” read more.
Matthew 11:5
The blind receives sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
Matthew 15:12-14
Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?” But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. “Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Luke 6:39
And He also spoke a parable to them: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit?