¹⁸ And [I pray] that the eyes of your heart [the very center and core of your being] may be enlightened [flooded with light by the Holy Spirit], so that you will know and cherish the hope [the divine guarantee, the confident expectation] to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (God’s people), ¹⁹ and [so that you will begin to know] what the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His [active, spiritual] power is in us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength ²⁰ which He produced in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion [whether angelic or human], and [far above] every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and world but also in the one to come. ²² And He put all things [in every realm] in subjection under Christ’s feet, and appointed Him as [supreme and authoritative] head over all things in the church, ²³ which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills and completes all things in all [believers]. Ephesians 1:18 – 23 AMP

It’s happened a few times that I was reading and thought I had read a word that wasn’t actually written on the page. I have also walked down the street and thought I saw someone that I knew, only to realize my eyes were deceiving me. We don’t always see what we think we’re seeing…it’s true in the natural, but it’s also true about what we see in the spirit. It’s not always about what we see, it’s about how we see.

Without my prescription glasses I am useless. I have a condition on my driver’s licence…no glasses, no driving. I can buy trendy glasses, I can buy glasses with cool, tinted lenses, but unless they are the correct prescription, they are utterly useless to me. I will look good, but I will not see clearly. According to James (Chapter 1: 23 – 25) the Word of God, His perfect law and will for us, is like a mirror we look in, and if we do what the perfect law of God teaches us…in other words, if we have eyes to see…, then there is blessing and favor released to us.

The opposite of that is seen in Matthew 6:22, 23 (BSB): The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  If we’re honest with ourselves we don’t always see well. We often don’t see what the Lord sees, because we’re wearing the wrong lenses. They might be cool, they might be trendy, but they are the wrong prescription. We observe through darkened eyes, because of darkened hearts.

David prays “ Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting (Ps 139: 23, 24) and in doing so, he is confessing that he cannot possibly see his own wickedness, but the God knows and sees everything. What a posture of humility! Jesus knows we all have trouble seeing well, so He issues an invitation, no a directive, saying, “I counsel you to buy from Me gold that has been heated red hot and refined by fire so that you may become truly rich; and white clothes [representing righteousness] to clothe yourself so that the shame of your nakedness will not be seen; and healing salve to put on your eyes so that you may see.”

Not only do we need our eyes healed so that we can see the Lord clearly, but also that we can look at each other and see Christ in each other. I don’t want to go there, but I have to…we have become so critical of each other. We find fault, we trust what we see with our damaged eyes, our twisted lenses, our wrong prescriptions. We need to make Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1 our prayer…that the eyes of my heart be enlightened, that I would see Jesus at the Father’s “own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion [whether angelic or human], and [far above] every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and world but also in the one to come.” and that I am able to see people as created in the image of God, carrying light (even in the smallest measure) and sustained by the breath of God. I am challenging myself to look for the light, the tiniest spark, and to call it out. That is excellent sight and in order to have it, I am going to buy salve from Jesus because my eyes need healing as much as the next person’s.

This is my confession…that “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13) I declare that I will look for it, I will believe for it, I will call it out…in and for me, and also for you.

Mirror, mirror
Mirror on the wall
Telling those lies, pointing out your flaws, that isn’t who you are
That isn’t who you are

It might be hard to hear, but let me tell you dear
If you could see what I can see
I know you would believe that isn’t who you are
There’s more to who you are

So when it’s late
You’re wide awake
Too much to take
Don’t you dare forget that in the pain
You can be brave, and safe

I see you dressed in white
Every wrong made right
I see a rose in bloom
At the sight of you (oh, so priceless)
Irreplaceable, unmistakable, incomparable, darling, it’s beautiful
I see it all in you (oh, so priceless)No matter what you’ve heard
This is what you’re worth
More than all the money or the diamonds and pearls
Oh, this is who you are

Priceless