Scripture:

  • Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”Luke 5:20
  • Just then some men brought to Him a paralytic lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith he said… “Get up, take your mat and go home.”Matthew 9:2-6
  • Acts 14:8-10  Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking. And Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well, said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he sprang up and began walking.
  • “We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal”  2Cor.4.18
  • Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Heb. 11:1

Reflection:

My mother gave me a little sign to have on my desk when I started my first job in the ministry. It said “Only those who see the invisible can do the impossible.”

I’ve often wondered why my very Swedish mother who had a very limited education would be so captured by this statement to share it with me as I started my ministry life. Maybe she knew something that her son needed to learn. Mom’s can be like that!

Sight is one of God’s greatest gifts to mankind. For the majority of us it comes to us as almost perfect 20/20. The ability to see the sun slowly warm the sky over the mountains or a flock of 200 ducks suddenly spring as one into the air or to see the vibrancy of a rainbow painted against a bright yet dark horizon is certainly a treat for the senses. All of these amazing sights that are so richly experienced through God’s gift of sight. Yet seeing the invisible is something quite different. Seeing something that isn’t there for many is foolishness, but it seems to be something that is very real in God’s kingdom.

Blind sight is a new area of scientific study with those that do not have the ability to see naturally. Science has now realized that our brains perceive even though our eyes do not see. Perception is not limited to the natural senses. Science is just now becoming aware that there is more to our ability to perceive than our natural senses. Our spirits, moved upon by the Holy Spirit, perceive much if we are only aware. 

Faith is one of those invisibles that allows us to move in the impossible. Jesus modeled it, Paul walked in it, maybe it’s something that my mother understood I needed…that we all need. Paul said that the righteous live by faith, and not by sight. 

May this week you see the invisible God and know His favor upon you, for “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.”