He Turns Our Eyes – Mercy Triumphs!
Turn us again, God. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.
As our eyes are turned upward towards our Hope more continuously, they will be filled more with light rather than darkness. We will be looking in faith to His perfect face, His perfect eyes, His perfect heart. We will be looking less and less to ourselves and others. We will be less depressed, disturbed, distracted or discouraged by the remaining sin, darkness, and wickedness coming from ourselves or others. We will grow more immune and protected from the schemes of the evil one. His destructive games of comparing, judging, condemning ourselves and others will lose their hold and power over us as we grow to trust the Lord and His righteous and true judgment. The vapor-like judgments and thoughts of men will find their right place, infinitely below the thoughts and judgments of God. We will turn away from the sharpening of our tongues, wits and expressions for malicious, damaging use, or even hurtful defensive uses. We will rather use our tongues and actions to share the love and hope of Jesus with one another and others. We will be more like harmless lambs or doves, loving and encouraging others to a greater trust in this God Who is beside us, in us and loves us so much. Our love relationship with Jesus will become more and more our main pursuit and enjoyment of life. We will desire others to know and love Jesus as we do. Many can experience life and His favor.
This is my hope and vision. That we, as seekers and believers looking to Jesus, would become people more like those described by Jesus Himself: poor in Spirit – desiring above all things more of Jesus, more of His Spirit, His righteousness , His love within us or manifested from within us. We would mourn more, grieving our perceived or felt distance from Him in our thoughts, actions, and feelings. Mourners also for others who are resistant to His mercy, grace, and love for them. We would be more gentle as we learn, trust and seek more the gentle Spirit's leading. We would be those who hunger and thirst after righteousness more. As some rich in the treasures of this world are greedy for more, we, being enriched by God, would be "greedy" for more of Him, His righteousness, His love, His presence found in Jesus, our Love. We would be more merciful as we have learned more the greatness of the mercy of God. Our hearts will be purified more as Jesus becomes more so our One Desire. We will become greater peacemakers as we have come to value more the peace we have been given. We will fear uttering words that seemingly cause only little wounds to others, such as belittling wit and sarcasm at others expense. We will less often give in to the desire to glorify and elevate our own selves at the expense of others and His glory. We will become those willing to suffer persecution, ridicule, and exclusion by others rather than compromising our seeking, loving and treasuring of Jesus, our Love.
In our understanding, seeking God will look something like the following: Simply looking to Him in expectant faith. Spending time in His Word, as He speaks to us and greatly encourages us through it. Spending time communicating with Him in prayer, giving His Spirit more time with focused attention. Thinking continuously about Him, allowing Him and His love to become where your mind is continually returning for renewal, refreshment and rest. God (Father, Son, Spirit) will become our universe, our everything, our True Love. We will care less about the things valued highly by the world but of little value to Him. Our hearts and lives will be moving further from the earthly and natural to the heavenly and supernatural as the Lord is accomplishing His work in us. May we become more confident in His merciful, gracious, and loving working within us. He provides for us from Himself all that is needed to reconcile with Him, know Him, love Him, and become intimate friends, children, and even lovers of God. Allow Him to become your Hope, and even more so.