Open my eyes, please.

Synopsis:  I am getting in my own way.  I not allowing the Holy Spirit to do what He really wants to do, namely to open my eyes so that I may truly see and comprehend who God is.  And if I let Him do that, I cannot help but begin to really marvel at the beauty and majesty and power and goodness of God.  And as I reach that stage in my faith, I will find unexplainable peace and joy, and it will transform my attitude and behavior.  People will look on me, as I plod through the mud of life, and they will see the glow of the Ancient of Days surrounding me.  Think about that! Picture this!  Imagine steadily pushing through the mud of life but glowing all the while.  Imagine what kind of person you would be.  Think about the response it would incur from others, encouraging and strengthening them, as they draw closer, not to you, but to the glow you are surrounded in.  You can grab hands with others, grinning from ear to ear, because you are truly leaning on God, truly having faith in the midst of trials and tribulations, deceit and despair, mud and messiness.  Life around you will not change, but the life within you will.  Do you want it??  It's there for the taking.  Let's change our perspective together, and let's marvel together, shall we?

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If there is one thing I know, it is that the Scriptures speak best for themselves. So let's hear from them...

Open my eyes so that I may see wonderful things in Your law.  Psalm 119:18 HCSB

But for you who revere My Name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.  And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.  Malachi 4:2 NIV

Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Psalm 37:4 NASB

Wonderful!    Healing!    Leaping!    Released!    Desires given!

These things are promised to us if we See, Revere and Delight in God.

Well, here's the crux of it:  I don't see Christians, myself included, feeling consistently and deeply wonderful, healed, released and leaping with all our desires fulfilled.  Those descriptions paint a very vivid picture of an abundant life of joy and peace.  And I do not see Christians emulating that picture.  And yet the Scriptures promise this if we fulfill the required conditions.

So this means one of two things:  either the Bible exaggerates a little, and we should only expect a partial fulfillment of those incredible descriptions, at least in this life.

Or, such beautiful, stirring things are indeed completely available to us now, and we just are falling short on obeying out part of the promise.

Which do you believe it is?

I think it's the latter.  I think the Bible says what it means and means what it says.  I believe I can walk through my day, every day, in complete awe and wonder, freed, spiritually and internally healthy, completely content and satisfied in getting to walk hand-in-hand with my Creator.  And this will show because I won't seek fulfillment in other things, such as control, money, attention or possessions.  Those things will remain where they should- as secondary and tertiary tools in living a Christ-centered life.  They will always remain tools, not the end goal itself.  I will truly live and move and have my existence centered on Yeshua Himself.

And the reason I am not there yet is because I do not fully revere and delight myself in God. Yes, I admire Him and worship Him.  But my reverence for and delight in Him are not complete.  And that is because my eyes are not fully opened to the total reality of who He is.  I squint at God, so to speak.  I look at Him from the corner of my eye.  My eyes do not steadily stay fixated upon Him; they wander to other things.

So I need to gaze fully at the majesty of God and let the Spirit give me spiritual understanding (which is the most real of all levels of understanding) of who I am looking at and submitted to. 

We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.  1 Corinthians 2:12-14 NIV

I thought, ‘Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom.’  But it is the Spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.   Job 32:7-8 NIV

So I need to stop trying to understand God, and simply let the Spirit show me.  I need to relax a bit and let go, and let the Spirit bring the vision and understanding that He wants me to have. And I can trust that if I do so (letting go) and He does so (opening my eyes), I will not be able to help but fall on my knees in awe and begin to truly revere and delight in God.

And as that begins to happen, I will find all my heart's desires coming to fruition (those desires being to feel God's agape love rather than receiving tangible things), I will continually walk with a spring in my step and I will never cease to marvel at the Goodness that has been given to me.

I desperately and passionately want this.  I ask you the reader to pray for Psalms 119:8, 37:4, Malachi 4:2, 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 and Job 32:7-8 to become a daily reality to me.  And if you want to partner up with me in this, say the word and I will pray the same thing for you!  Let's do this together, in community!!

Papa, Adonai, Ruach- I come before You contritely but confidently, and I beg of You and demand even, solely because Your Word compels me to, to let the passages of Psalms, Malachi, 1 Corinthians and Job become a reality for me.  I need You to do this for me, because I cannot do it on my own.  Holy Spirit, please direct me in letting go of my own efforts, and replace it with Your own power and understanding.  Open my eyes that I might see the wonder of God.  Transform my understanding of who You are and let it move me.  Forgive me for seeking desires other than You, in ways other than You proscribe.  Make me get out of my own way.  Still me and get my attention!  I ask that You begin this now, at the end of 2010, not only for me but for all the readers of this blog, and for all those around the world who are desperately, humbly, sincerely seeking You.  Draw to us as You help us draw to You.  Wake us from our slumber and daze, and let us set our eyes and mind upon the true reality of You and what a relationship with You entails.  I ask these things so that You may be honored and the world may be impacted.  Amen, please make this so, my LORD!