Stranded family got blessed

Dear Folks.. August is here already.  Time to get ministry bills paid.

I want to thank each of you who prayed and/or donated for the needy pantry.  We were able to get the stranded family on their way to Colorado, with food, a running vehicle, and some cash in case they broke down again.  They were so very blessed.

We were also able to purchase much food for the pantry.  Still need a few things to round it out.

If you are able to help with ministry bills, please paypal and/or pray.

God greatly bless all of you!!!

Suzanne

Accessing His Grace by the Spirit by John Belt

Oklahoma City, OK

Since the beginnings of my walk with God, the Holy Spirit has always been central to living a life of love, grace and overcoming. I simply cannot imagine walking with the Lord any other way. Jesus told His disciples to wait, to be clothed with power from on high, and to wait for the Holy Spirit to indwell them so they may be effective witnesses.

Acts 1:4-5 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."(Photo via Wikipedia Commons)

The grace of God is a popular subject today. God's grace should be a core value to our life in God. Paul exhorts Timothy to be strong in God's grace.

2 Timothy 2:1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

This has been one of my favorite verses concerning grace. Grace is the ability that God gives us to overcome. We are not only saved by grace, but we are given ability to overcome by His grace. It is by the grace of God that we stand.

Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

When we cry for help God comes in His grace and helps us to stand in trial and difficulty causing us to overcome. The grace of God is not to be used as a license to sin, but to live a holy and powerful life. So does the grace of God standalone without the person of the Holy Spirit? Can we access His grace without yielding to the Spirit?

Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Living Communion

It has always been through a living communion with the Spirit that God's grace has become a living experience for me. This is what Paul also communicated saying, "Let the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all." There is a communion that we have with God by the Spirit that enables us to access the grace of God. If it is without needing the person of God, then we are again stuck with another religious formula. This only frustrates God's grace and our walk with God because it leads us into a performance mindset. We can have all the knowledge and information but only the Person of the Holy Spirit can make it alive in us.

We can be told all day long what is right, what is true and what is Biblical but if there is no life of the Spirit in it, it will fall to the ground. Could it be that this is why Jesus told us about the living water that will overflow like rivers from within us? Our greatest need is to find life, sustenance, and a river of life that we can continually drink from. The Word of God needs the accompaniment of the Spirit's water.

God's truth is like detergent and we need the water of the Spirit to make it work in our hearts. In the same way we need to know the Author of the Book to help us understand the contents. Accessing the grace of God is an "inside-out" experience where we find His strength in our communion with His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the "Spirit of grace" (Hebrews 10:29) and the "Spirit of holiness" (Romans 1:4). (Photo via Tawny Nelson)

The foundation and understanding of grace in our lives is essential to live a holy life before God. His grace is received through our intimate communion with the Spirit enabling us to grow in love for God with a decreasing toleration of sin. Without holiness no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

We are called saints, in definition, "holy ones". This is by His grace and our response to His invitation. Does that mean we are perfected? Yes and no. God has done the work for us through the Cross. He is completing His work in us by His Spirit. As we commune with God we access His grace and our lives are being renovated from interior to exterior.

John and Brandi Belt
Overflow Global Ministries
Email: office@overflowglobal.com
Website: www.overflowglobal.com

PREPARE THE OVERCOMERS by Bobby Conner

Divine Dissatisfaction:

                                  Preparing The Remnant For A Righteous Revolution!

God is preparing a remnant of truly overcomers for a righteous revolution! The Spirit of God has been fanning the flame of discontentment within the hearts of the Saints causing them to feel a  deep dissatisfaction with mere powerless religious actions. There can be no true revolution with contented people! What you feel within your spirit  is a divine disturbance driving you to seek God on a deeper level (see Isaiah 44:3-4).  

The Secret Place

This is a season of seeking the secret place (see Psalms 91:1)! First let’s discover more understanding concerning the importance of seeking the secret place. Never forget the secret place is not a location but the holy  presence. It is very important to understand that we are not seeking a place but rather a person. The saints of God discover that true intimacy is stirred in the secret place of the Most High, a desire not merely for power but for His living presence.

Deep Calling unto Deep  

The first step toward the "secret place of the Most High" (Psalm 91:1) begins with a desperate, hungry heart (see Matthew 5:8).  This longing draws us to seek true, deep intimacy with Christ. One can hear the cry of David’s longing heart in Psalms 42:7

“Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me.”

Beloved, now is the time to go deeper into the Word of God in order to go higher with the Lord. We must avail ourselves of the Sword of the Spirit to battle against the spirit of fear and doubt. The Spirit of God has stirred this desire! None will be satisfied with a stagnated life. He has been fanning the flame of discontentment within the hearts of God’s people, resulting in a deep hunger for not merely the power of God but the abiding presence of God (see Psalms 15:1). To advance the pathway into Psalms 15:1 it isPsalms 51:1, this deals with the need for a clean upright heart (see Psalms 51:10). Only with a clean pure heart will we dare approach God (see Psalms 24:3-4). We must never forget; “the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.” (see 2 Corinthians 7:1)

David's Burning Desire

Many in our day can relate with the hungry heart of David as he pens the Psalms. These love poems to God are filled with the heart-cry of a man seeking for a deep, personal relationship with the Lord Himself. Again and again, David expresses a burning desire to intimately know the Lord on several levels of experience. First, he desires to know the Lord face to face.  In this regard, I so appreciate the Message Bible Psalms 63:1-4

"God—you’re my God!

I can’t get enough of you!

I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God,

traveling across dry and weary deserts.

So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,

drinking in your strength and glory.

In your generous love I am really living at last!

My lips brim praises like fountains.

I bless you every time I take a breath;

My arms wave like banners of praise to you."

This desperate hunger is again stated in Psalm 42:1-2:

“As the hart pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?”

David's Repentance

David has gained the knowledge that he cannot find the soul satisfaction and fulfillment that he deeply desires from other relationships. He now desires to know the Lord as a Person with whom he can share times of intimate fellowship. When he fell short of this experience, David repented before the Lord. 

“I acknowledged my sin to you, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

                                                            Psalm 32:5 NKJ

Now, after coming clean with God David is free from all guilt and condemnation and he can say from within the depth of his being:

“You are my hiding place; you shall preserve me from trouble; you shall surround me with songs of deliverance.”

                                                               Psalm 32:7 NKJ

David has come to understand that only the Lord can satisfy the longing of his soul.  He has completely abandoned himself to the Lord as his "hiding place."  With open arms the Lord awaits your return to Him He is ready and willing to forgive and restore all who turn to Him. He will take the yoke of sin and shame and give you abiding peace and the marvelous joy of His presence (see Psalm 16:11).

David's Trust

As a result of this deep heart rending repentance, David then desires to know the Lord as one in whom he can place infinite trust.  In Psalm 56:11, David the Psalmist writes:

“In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what can man do to me.”

There is a bold clarity in the expression of David's trust and expectancy in these words as they flow out from a heart of love, appreciation, and worship. With clean hands and a pure heart David discovers he has been brought into a new level of intimacy with God, the Lord spoke to him and imparted this very encouraging promise:

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you.”

                                                                   Psalm 32:8-9 NKJ

David’s repentance has brought him into such an intimate closeness to the Lord ("I will guide you with my eye"), that David is able to sense the desire of the Lord concerning him, apart from words being spoken.  Seeking to take David even further into true intimacy, the Lord exhorts him to be both responsive and obedient: “Do not be like the horse or like the mule.” As followers of Christ we should not be self-willed, like a horse, nor should we be stubborn like the mule. Our goal is to become easy to lead, swift to obey. Desiring to fully follow the Lamb wherever He will lead.

Unwavering Desire and Focus

We also desperately need this same clarity of Spirit-led protection and guidance that David experienced. As world pressures and religious confusion increase, we must heed this exhortation in the Word to unconditionally make the Lord our portion, He alone is our impenetrable rock, and refuge (see Psalms 59:16-17)!

Psalm 91 promises deliverance and victory in the time of trouble to those abiding in God’s presence.  “He that dwells in the secret place of The Most High.” This “secret place” is a place “set apart” where we can withdraw from the activities of our everyday life experience. Here, we will be able to clearly hear with our spiritual ears, and then appropriate His Words into our spirit and digest them until they become a personal reality within us. Only as we learn to act upon the Word of God does our life start to transform and true change occurs. (see James 1:22).

There are many distracting influences that seek to draw us away from a sincere devotion to the Lord. These forces have absolutely no power or control over us, unless we allow them to do so. There must be within each of us an active resistance to anything that will hinder our times of fellowship with the Lord. It is when we resist the devil that he takes flight from us (see James 4:7).

The Lord will not over-ride our will, He will urge us and prompt and provoke us but the choice must be from our heart. He will guide us, but we are given the freedom to choose our level of response to Him in every area of our life encounter. We must abide continually in an attitude of choosing to respond to His wooing our hearts into this place of “a secret abode of intimacy with Him.”

The foe of our soul will do all he can to distract us away from our quest for the secret place. The enemy's strategies that pull away from this secret place are many and manifold:  there continually lurks in the shadows the desire for success, recognition and earthly security against what might happen. If allowed, these things will step forward to obscure Jesus. Our goal is to truly seek first the Kingdom of God (see Matthew 6:33). As this becomes our quest then everything else will find it’s proper place in our life.

We easily forget His promise in John 16:33. “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Here, Jesus is saying, “Do not fear, in Me you will have peace.” He has promised to care for us, for He is our Good Shepherd. As we have need, we can freely partake of all that He won on the Cross in our behalf (see Romans 8:32-37)!

Set Our Affections Above

If we are not receiving His care and protection, we have either chosen the wrong dwelling place or we have set our affection on something or someone other than Christ Jesus, our King. When this happens, He patiently waits, ready to help us when we finally turn to Him.

His “word” to us is that we enter into “the secret place” where He dwells and then make this our real, experienced home. David erected a tent on Mount Zion for God to dwell in, but David’s heart became the Lord’s abode. The Lord promises to reward those who seek Him. This reward is God Himself. Nothing can compare to this eternal treasure!

Super Victorious

In Romans 8:28, we are presented with exhortations, promises, and the marvelous word that “all things work together for good to them that love God” (to those who make Him their secret abode). Then comes the encouraging words, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” The answer to this question is extremely clear in Romans 8:37 amid all that the foe can send our way in Christ Jesus we are super victorious.

Victory is guaranteed, as we put our trust completely in Christ Jesus and seek this place of rest in His presence (see Psalms 16:11). As we do this, we will be eternally grateful and satisfied (see Phil.4:6-8)!

Abiding in Christ’s presence produces the peace that surpasses all understanding.

Bobby Conner

Exposing false grace. by Pieter Kirstein

There is no such thing as ones saved always saved. Anybody can lose their salvation and fall from grace if they choose to turn away from the living God.

John 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  20  For everyone that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21  But he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are worked in God.

One of the most powerful prayers that anyone can pray is to go before God and ask; HERE I AM LORD, PLEASE IN JESUS NAME EXPOSE ME IN THE PRESENCE AND BY THE POWER OF YOUR TRUTH AND CONFORM MY HEART AND LIFE TO IT. BRING ME BY THE GRACE AND POWER OF YOUR HOLY SPIRIT INTO AGREEMENT WITH YOUR WAYS, YOUR TRUTH AND YOUR LIFE. RIGHTEOUS FATHER I PETITION THAT THE SAME GRACE THAT SAVES ME WILL ALSO CHANGE ME INTO THE LIKENESS AND IMAGE OF JESUS THE LIVING MANIFEST WORD OF GOD. YES LORD BECAUSE THIS IS THE SECRET TO TOTAL FREEDOM, REDEMPTION, HEALING AND DELIVERANCE. BE REVEALED IN ME BY SANCTIFYING ME BY THE STANDARD OF YOUR TRUTH.

The moment that we hear the truth we are accountable before God as Jesus declares in Joh 12:48 He that rejects Me, and receives not My words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

Proverbs 2

1  My son, if you will receive my words, and hide my commandments with you; 2  So that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; 3  Yes, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding; 4  If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures; 5  Then shall you understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

Pro 3:7 Be not wise in your own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

The following scripture will find it's complete fulfilment when the foundations of the earth start to quake and the tribulation judgments of God start to hit this planet.

Pro 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 20  Wisdom cries without; she utters her voice in the streets: 21  She cries in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she utters her words, saying, 22  How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? 23  Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit to you, I will make known my words to you. 24  Because I have called, and you refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25  But you have set at nothing all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26  I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear comes; 27  When your fear comes as desolation, and your destruction comes as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish comes on you. 28  Then shall they call on me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 29  For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 30  They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 31  Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. 32  For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. 33  But whoever listens to me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

I never really understood the fear of the Lord until I read the following scripture Pro 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the perverse mouth, do I hate.

Providing 6:16  These six things does the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17  A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18  A heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that are swift in running to evil, 19  A false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among brethren.

Scripture is crystal clear Isaiah 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.19  If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land: 20  But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.

A Christian friend once told me over the phone while partying and drinking in a bar and nightclub; there is anycase no condemnation for them that are in Christ.

I admonished her to read the whole counsel of God that says in Romans 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 6: 9  Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11  And such were some of you: but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Ephesians 4:17  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,18  Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19  Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto licentiousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20  But you have not so learned Christ; 21  If so be that you have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22  That you put off concerning the former way of life the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24  And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 25  Therefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.26  Be angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:27  Neither give place to the devil.

We are called unto obedience in the faith and yes we all stumble in many ways and we are saved and justified by faith in the finished work of Christ but we cannot live as we please because as is written 1 Thessalonians 4:1  Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more. 2  For you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. 3  For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication: 4  That every one of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor; 5  Not in the lust of passion, even as the Gentiles who know not God: 6  That no man transgress and wrong his brother in any matter: because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. 7  For God has not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. 8  He therefore that despises, despises not man, but God, who has also given unto us his Holy Spirit.

The fear of the Lord will be restored to the church in the coming shaking and awakening.

Hebrews 12: 22  But you are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel. 25  See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven: 26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 27  And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28  Therefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

29  For our God is a consuming fire.

God gave me the following scripture that will now come into fulfilment in and during the season of shaking.

Isaiah 1: 24  Therefore says the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will rid myself of my adversaries, and avenge myself of my enemies: 25  And I will turn my hand upon you, and thoroughly purge away your dross, and take away all your alloy: 26  And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning: afterward you shall be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. 27  Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness. 28  And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.

Deu 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live:

Also read Ezekiel 33 

My Mercy by Glynda Linkous

My mercy towards My people is very great, and My people do not praise Me enough for My mercies.

My children, My mercy saves you and those you love from thousands of tragedies every day on the earth. I desire you would become more aware of My mercy and more thankful for it.

If My mercies were not renewed every day, everyone on the earth would suffer horribly. You enjoy many benefits as My child. Rejoice, and be thankful!

Lamentations 3:22-23

22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Psalm 86:5  For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.

Psalm 145:9  The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Luke 6:36  Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Psalm 68:19  Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

Psalm 116:12  What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?

DESTINY CONNECTIONS by Doug Patterson

I have gathered My REMNANT PEOPLE together and have established DIVINE CONNECTIONS for your glorious breakthrough. Now there is a shifting and upgrading to DESTINY CONNECTIONS, that will supersede the past relationships in which you gathered and assembled together. Corporately, you will support one another as you fulfill your joint destinies, and take the world for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Breakthrough is imminent, and there is an exponential increase in the POWER and the GLORY. The former and latter rain will fall and refresh all who serve Me. My world belongs to you; so possess it, have dominion over it and give Me all the glory.

This is the year of My FAVOR, says the Lord.

Isaiah 60:1

Arise, shine for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

Psalm 90:17a

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us...

Shekinah Restoration Centre

How To: Sharpen Our Spiritual Acuity by Keith Miller

 In the days of old, wise priests tended to the temple lampstand (menorah) located in the inner court of the tabernacle of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Hanging goatskins and hides at its entrance prevented natural light from shining into the room. According to the Lord’s command through Moses (see Exod. 27:20), the lamp—which represents the Lord’s presence among His people to give them wisdom and revelation—had to burn continually. Thus, the priests kept the wick trimmed morning and evening. They kept plenty of fresh, pure oil made from pressed olives on hand so that the light could burn continually (see Lev. 24:2).

This lampstand illuminated the inner court of the tabernacle so that the shewbread, which symbolizes the Word of God (see Matt. 4:4), and the altar of incense, which represents worship and intercession (see Ps. 141:2) would be visible.

One day, the lampstand in the temple was about to go out. Eli the priest’s eyesight had grown dim; little remained of his visual acuity. This was true not just in the natural but in the spiritual. The land was dry and void of the word of God; the word of the Lord was rare, and visions (revelation) were not widespread. The Hebrew word translated “widespread”—parats—means “to break through or down or over, to burst, to breach; to break or burst out (from a womb or enclosure).” Very little breakthrough revelation burst through in those days; the understanding of God was not widespread. Eli’s sons, who were also priests, were evil, and they lustfully feed their desires while the spirituality of the nation died. Though he knew what his sons were doing, Eli did nothing about it or about the thirsty flicker of the fire in the lamp that needed fuel (see 1 Sam. 3:1–3).

About that time, the Lord raised up a spiritually perceptive young man named Samuel, a true seer prophet. Samuel was the opposite of Eli and his sons. He had 20/20 spiritual vision and served the Lord as a faithful priest who grew in stature before the Lord and whose words never fell to the ground (see 1 Sam. 3:19). Samuel spoke out of the realm of watching to see what God would say. He believed that the “Thus sayeth the Lord”—the word of the Lord—would reap much fruit, that it would be busy accomplishing God’s desire. This principle is explained in Isaiah 55:10–11:

For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

Samuel saw it, heard it, and pronounced it as accomplished. Because of Samuel’s friendship with God and his keen spiritual sight, God accomplished much through him. His is an example we must follow.

Our words carry weight, and they are about to weigh a lot more—as a result of seeing and hearing the Lord well. God desires to give us a continuous supply of the fresh oil of wisdom and revelation, like the menorah, keeping us illumined so we might be the Father’s light in the world. The result of Samuel’s spiritual sight and faithfulness was great manifestation of God’s glory and power on the earth. The same will be true of us. When Jesus said He could do nothing of Himself, but only what He saw the Father do (see John 5:19), He was showing us the connection between spiritual vision and Kingdom works. Seeing is the first step. When we have eyes to see, the Father shows us what He is doing and invites us to join Him in it.

Pure Fuel for Your Eyes

Jesus explained this further in Luke 11:

No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lamp stand, that those who come in may see the light. The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.—Luke 11:33–36

When our eyes—our faculty/ability of knowing—are good, our whole bodies are also full of light. (The King James Version translates this “when thine eye is single,” meaning focused.) In Greek, the word translated “light” is phos, which means “a bright character”; it comes from a root word meaning “a heavenly light, such as surrounds angels when they peer upon earth with a countenance; anything emitting light; a star.” Perhaps, for some, star sounds too much like the New Age. However, it’s biblical. The Lord spoke through the prophet Daniel that, in the last days, the wise will shine like the brightness of the firmament and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.

Daniel prophesied that many would be purified, made white, and refined and that the wise would understand, but the wicked would not (see Dan. 12:3,10).

Our spiritual eyes are the gate that controls our whole being and our perception of life. We need pure eyes, taking every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ (see 2 Cor. 2:5). Interestingly, the root word for light in the Luke 11 context also means, “like a fire that releases light; like a torch.”3 Jesus called John the Baptist a “burning and shining lamp” (John 5:35). To be that fiery torch of the Lord, full of light, we must be walking with the Lord in full surrender and obedience, in purity of heart.

To be the fire that releases God’s light, first we must be the pho—the light of His purity and character. Thus, our ability to see and to shine are connected to the purity of our hearts.

This is not an isolated instance. The same Greek context for the word light appears in other significant verses of the Bible. Let’s examine a few examples:

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned. —Matthew 4:16

This, of course, speaks of the coming of Jesus the Messiah. Seeing Him literally brings a dawning of light. Here’s another familiar verse:

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. —Matthew 5:14

Those who see Him become lights, reflecting His glory!

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

—Matthew 5:16

This is the light that illuminates from the inside out, the inward gleaming of the bright character. We must be careful not to let darkness have any place in our hearts but instead to cast it out by being full of light. If we are walking with the Lord, His light will always cast out darkness. In Luke 2:32, Jesus is spoken of as the “light to bring revelation to the Gentiles”—the light that casts out the deepest darkness and transforms completely. (Check out other verses on light, such as 1 Peter 2:9 and 1 John 1:5.)

Refining the Eyes of the Heart

Not only was Jesus the light that purifies, but He explicitly connected purity with spiritual sight:

Blessed are the pure [clean, purified by fire] in heart for they shall see [with the mind, perceive, know, become acquainted with by experience] God. —Matthew 5:8

Refining brings a greater definition to our lives; it releases focus and engages our spiritual eyes. Refining brings defining! Our purification is similar to a vine being cleansed by pruning so that it can be fit to bear fruit. It is the filtering of a mixture to remove what is false. It is the process of becoming sincere and genuine, blameless and innocent. God desires that we would see ourselves as He sees us—innocent through the blood of Jesus. When we do, we will sing like Isaiah:

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, and He has covered me with the robe of righteousness… —Isaiah 61:10

In Christ Jesus, the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness cover us. Where we were once naked, we are now covered. This is what God sees when He looks at us. When we start to see how He sees, our hearts go through that purifying process. What an incredible reality!

Excerpt from Chapter Six of “Eyes to See the Solution of Tomorrow” by Keith Miller.