The Bible declares that God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. (1 Corinthians 14:33) No doubt, these are confusing and uncertain times.
Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
The enemy wants to blind us, distract us and discourage us from walking in our high calling as sons and daughters of the Most High. I believe the Father wants us to walk in greater levels of clarity, discernment, wisdom, and confidence in this hour.
To do this, we must see clearly, and here are a few things that will help us do that.
TO SEE CLEARLY, I MUST UNDERSTAND THAT JESUS LOVED ME, WASHED ME FROM MY SINS IN HIS OWN BLOOD, AND MADE ME TO BE A KING AND PRIEST TO GOD.
“Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”” Revelation 1:4-8 NKJV
Circumstances, life challenges, and overwhelming concerns can sometimes cause us to lose sight of our identity as a beloved member of God’s family. Confusion about our identity in Christ is usually the first step toward a loss of perspective and a lack of clarity to really move forward with confidence. This is why I absolutely love this verse from John’s account of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. He declares that we have been loved, washed and made to be a part of God’s overcoming plan for the world. We are sons and daughters of the Most High God and Yeshua paid the highest price for that.
This is what the Apostle Peter is declaring in his second letter: “To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:1-4
TO SEE CLEARLY, I MUST REPENT FROM JUDGEMENT AND HYPOCRISY IN MY OWN LIFE.
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:1-5 NKJV
It’s so easy to blame others for the difficulties in our lives. It’s often so effortless to arrogantly presume that correcting others will somehow solve the problems that are affecting me in a negative way. In this teaching, Jesus is saying to be circumspect about judging others and to be certain to take an internal exam before you take it upon yourself to correct another person. Pride and blindness are two sides of the same coin and spiritual blindness is directly linked to a root of pride in the heart of man. Humility, however, magnetizes God’s grace to our lives and enables a much greater clarity in our spiritual vision.
TO SEE CLEARLY, I MUST TRUST THE LORD’S PROCESS TO HEAL AND RESTORE ME.
“Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.” Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.” Mark 8:22-25 NKJV
This account is very unique in the gospel narrative. It is only recorded one time in all of the gospels. It is also the only progressive miracle recorded in Jesus’ ministry. In other words, Jesus put His hands on this man twice, in order for the man to be completely restored. In all other recorded miracles of Jesus, He either spoke a word, or touched the infirmed only once for them to be completely restored.
There are many views about this particular healing, and my simple take away from this account is that it sometimes takes a few divine encounters to really see things clearly. Not everything is instantaneous. We must consistently trust the Lord and allow the process from faith to faith (Romans 1:17), from strength to strength, from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:16-18) to play out in our lives in real time. “Seeing men like trees walking” is better than blind, but far from the fulness the Father wants us to walk in. That is why Jesus touched him a second time and then made him look up. After that second touch, the once blind man could see everything clearly.
TO SEE CLEARLY, I MUST RECEIVE A SPIRIT OF WISDOM AND REVELATION IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
“Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:15-23 NKJV
The eyes of our understanding being enlightened. Yep, that’s exactly what we need. Talk about clarity. Heavenly wisdom and revelation provide the ability to clearly see the hope, the riches, and the power that is available to us as sons and daughters of God. What a powerful prayer the Apostle Paul left with us when he penned these words to the Ephesian believers.
So, to summarize these things. Contending for clarity involves diligently connecting with our settled position before the Lord, our humble and non judgmental posture before people, embracing the Lord’s process in our own personal journey, and walking in the eternal perspective that divine wisdom and revelation brings to us. My prayer is that we all receive the grace to walk in the fulness of these incredible truths.
With much love from Jerusalem,
Steve