I was reading an email from one of our partners today about what they had gone through the past several years; it was a great deal of loss and pain.
As I continued to read, I began to feel like the Lord spoke a phrase to me about how this person perceived things, through the eyes of pain.
I can understand this kind of perception and I am well acquainted with it. Our perception is affected by external things. Perception is a neurological process by which recognition and interpretation are affected. It is our insight, intuition and knowledge from what we see, or how we see it.
Different people perceive different things about the same situation. We see this in the book of Numbers, when Joshua and Caleb wanted to go in and possess the land of promise. They were seeing through the eyes of faith, however, the other spies were seeing through the eyes of years of bondage and pain. They saw no hope, their perception was colored by what they had experienced, remember our perception is affected by external things.
While it is a truth that our perception is affected by what we have experienced, we can change how we view things. We begin with having our mind renewed to the word of God. However, I also believe that we need to be healed and set free from all wrong mindsets and bondages in our thinking. Those mindsets come from times of being hurt and disappointed.
God spoke something powerful to me today as I was studying this subject, He said; “You must get the wilderness out of you before you can enter into the Promised Land.”
I believe He means you have to get wilderness thinking and perception out of you before you can possess all God has for you. Whatever has happened to you that distorted your belief of God and what He has for you must be removed.
All kinds of things distort our vision and cause us to perceive differently. For instance, if you prayed for someone and they died, the next time you pray for someone your faith may be different because of what you experienced previously.
Or if you prayed for finances and they didn’t come through, you may now perceive that God is not a good provider, which is, of course, not true. Perception is linked to our faith and without faith it is impossible to please God. Without faith, it is impossible to enter into the promises of God. We need our faith and our perception to be pure and undefiled.
Unrelenting disappointment will cloud your vision and change your perception. Therefore, you must be healed and made whole from ALL disappointment. Once you receive your healing in this area you will again see through the eyes of faith. You will again perceive that ALL THINGS are possible to him who believes. God is faithful. It isn’t God who causes unrelenting disappointments to come our way BUT it is God who can turn it for your good. It is also GOD who can and will heal you from all disappointments. He will cause you to have HIS perception if you only ask.
Today, let’s get the wilderness out of us and enter the promises of God. Let’s see like God sees, through the eyes of undefiled faith.
