Hebrews 12:2 The act of fixing my eyes on Jesus. An edited repost.

This idea of fixing my eyes on Jesus will not let go of me.

Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author, and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The KJV puts it this way:

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;"

The Greek word for fixing or looking is aphorao and means to consider attentively.

To be honest, I have a problem with this idea of looking, because it implies distance, and distance suggests that I can never get close to God. Some churches I have been a part of, with their superstar pastors, have demonstrated what it is like to have a leader that is untouchable, and I have had more of that than I can stand. I have also, because of choices I made, experienced infidelity in marriage and divorce. The battle I had to fight was learning that God did not act like the people who have created false imagery in me. While God may never leave me, I sometimes wonder how embarrassed He is with how I talk or act. In the worst of conditions I have never experienced any distancing toward me on God's part, but I can assure you I have felt significantly distanced at times. There is no doubt in my mind that this distance I felt was because of my selfish indulgences.

The NET version says: "keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,.." This version has pulled in both concepts; keeping our eyes on Jesus, and the idea of our fixation upon Him.

Why would you fix your eyes on something?

Detectives do it because they are on the hunt for something. Artists study or set their eyes upon a subject so that they can capture what they see. We, as believers, are told to fix our attention, vision, thoughts, and emotions upon Jesus because I believe that God wants us to live in a state of peace that passes understanding.

To be filled with peace, at a time when it is illogical, passes my understanding. Yet, having read this, and desired it, I find it easier to comprehend knowing that was God in the situation, though I did not know it, and He only wanted good for me.

Hebrews, the faith book, is meant to train us and establish us with the benefit of a solid information, and believable eyewitnesses. If I could equate this life to a trial, the evidence for the prosecution would be overwhelming and beyond a reasonable doubt. In reading Hebrews, I find out that the peace I just spoke of, requires faith, and is wrapped up in my faith.

Is it my faith or God's?

I suppose both. I have to exhibit some degree of faith in the process of accepting my position within the family of God; I have to act in faith upon God's promises to me to live in this world; And, God has placed His confidence in me that I will succeed and join Him in eternity. Example: There was a brief time in my life that I was keenly aware of a tremendous faith for healing.

How would I know that? I was a shy person who for the longest time was very timid. Speaking out boldly, or placing my hands upon someone for healing, would have been out of character for me. However, in several circumstances, I saw God's hand at work in extraordinary ways. Here is where the faith aspect comes in. God's word tells us to lay our hands on the sick, and they will recover. There is no emotion needed in that, merely obedience. The faith part is acting and letting God do what he said he would.

"Not with bodily eyes, for at present he is not to be looked upon in this manner, but with the eye of the understanding, or with the eye of faith; for faith is a seeing of the Son;" ( John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible)

Having read several commentaries on the passage, I agree with Gill. I believe that the intent is to focus on Jesus at all times and in every circumstance, but that seems impossible to do. When I was at work, I was barraged by customers, to the point that I barely had time for a thought of my own.

Where and how do I squeeze God into this hectic scene?

I know I am not alone in this struggle, because it is a human struggle, and it does not take a detective to realize that few people invest quality time with God to the degree that He becomes predominant in their thinking. For me to say, I am looking at Jesus with the eye of my faith makes it sound like I am very spiritual, although I sometimes wish I could be like Enoch and simply walk off the earth, that will never happen. In reality, this ability to stay focused on God seems to imply some act of our inward man that can operate aside from the circumstances the body is experiencing. What we are talking about here could be nothing more than the ability to reason, and that ability to reason would have to include the mind, would it not?

For the skeptics who think this inward man talk is something new age, I give you Paul's own words.

2 Corinthians 4:16 NASB 16) Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

If you consider our beginnings then this inward man idea may make more sense. In Genesis 1:27 we see God creating man in His image.

NASB “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

God's image is a spirit, therefore the man was a spirit, and, just like the Father, eternal. We don't see a body on the man until Genesis 2:7, after the completion of the earth.

John 4:23-24 NASB "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24) "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

This plays a role in our understanding of death as well, for the spirit never dies. Since the spirit never dies, then how did Adam understand this death that was to come upon him should he partake of the forbidden fruit? Because of the eternal nature of the spirit, death, in one regard, would have to mean eternal separation from the Father God. God, in the form of Jesus, had no intention of allowing that to happen as long as He could do something about it, and therefore, through Christ's activities in “death”, we were redeemed. Paul, in Ephesians, speaks of a mystery.

Ephesians 1:6-9 NASB to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7) In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8) which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9) He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him.

It is almost overwhelming when you let it all sink in.

It would seem that the spirit, which wars against the flesh, can function independently of the body.

Galatians 5:17 NASB For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

If that is the case then I should be able to have a conversation with you and the Father at the same time. In truth, I am not that good. If I have too many conversations going on at the same time, then someone is going to lose in the battle for my attention.

I believe that Paul was speaking to this distinction between the spirit and the flesh when he wrote:

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 1 Corinthians 14:14 NASB

Perhaps I am missing the point. It may be that Paul is saying that the spirit bypasses human reasoning. I have never been able to pray in the spirit without involving my mind, as something had to initiate this conversation. That does not mean that if I am praying in the spirit (that means praying in tongues to me,) that I am always keenly aware of what I am praying, but I always have a general idea.

Do not despair at the apparent futility of this exercise of the tongue for James tells us that God gives wisdom to those that ask. Is he talking about understanding everything that you might say in tongues? Probably not, but at least we have the opportunity to understand a great deal of what we say in tongues.

Since the topic had to do with fixing our eyes on Jesus. I think we have found that there is so much more to this simplistic phrase. Fixing my eyes on Jesus entails all of me, body soul and spirit. And, the spirit wants to take a well-needed advantage of the desire to commune with the Father. Now, this is where I could move into an entire teaching on aspects of our communications with, not only the Father but the body of Christ as well.

Back to my struggles with fixing my eyes on Jesus (A funny thing happened as I wrote this. I slipped up and wrote ears instead of eyes; I have since fixed that error. Why that might be funny is because if we could hear what God is saying, and respond, then maybe we would be walking as Enoch did. We have no evidence that Enoch saw God. So then, any seeing would have been by faith. Hearing, on the other hand, is a different story altogether.)

So, as I was trying to deal with the continual onslaught of customers at work, I could at the same time be praying in the spirit on the inside If I can pray in the spirit, then I can have communication with the Father at the same time too. I think it would primarily be Him talking to me.

The trick in this is to fine-tune your listening skills.

You should be aware that there are too few of us that have any clue how to listen to others. With your insight, you picked up on something. How does one fine-tune their listening skills so that God becomes the focus? Prayer, which is merely conversations you are having with God, often on behalf of others; that, and spending time in His word. The words that God uses currently, are no different in theme, from those he has already spoken. Trust me on this one, God can speak your language. How many translations of the Bible are there?, many, and yet He has brought innumerable lives into the family by speaking their language or slang. There is always the skeptic who does not believe that God speaks all the time. While God is not just incessantly rambling to hear His head rattle, as we often do, but there is a purpose in everything He says.

Keep this in mind as you read your Bible; everything in that book has a purpose. For example, why does the Gospel of John emphasize things like the cloth that was folded so precisely in the tomb (there was a reason); why is the trip to Samaria a three-day journey?; Why did Jesus go to the Samaritans, they were effectively Gentiles, and going there was contrary to his stated mission? There are things that all throughout the Bible that seem like nothing and yet the Jewish leadership believes that when the Messiah returns (he already did) that he will explain even the spaces between the letters; they are that serious about God's word. If only we were that serious about His Word as well.

To not walk in darkness. A series Part 5.

He who follows Me...

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." (John 8:12 NASB)

This verse is a strong testament to eternal salvation, but there is a warning, the word follow, which seems to mean, one that follows as a disciple, in my mind, demonstrates a commitment, and I can think of many that came to Jesus in tears and were baptized before many of us, and still live like the devil. 

The answer to that is, it is not for me to judge, but certainly could explain why they never seem to have any light.

As a disciple of Christ I do not make it my goal and purpose to walk in darkness. Now that might be debatable if I base my understanding upon what I feel like or see.

Darkness is the Greek word skotia. It is only used 15 times. 13 of those are interpreted as darkness. 2 are defined as dark. 

Strong's concordance explains that the word means: dimness, obscurity (literally or figuratively): - dark (-ness). And tells us that skotia is a derivative from skotos which include shadiness. 

We can see that Jesus did not mean that it had to be pitch black, but merely the shadows of life.

Did Jesus tell us that we are protected from even walking in shadows? 

Faith tells us to stick our necks out on the line and say yes, but I think we are confusing the two things: 

Jesus is the light and there are times that the light is purely internal. 

Secondly, you have to walk through this life which is filled with darkness. 

How do you walk through the darkness and not be in it? That can only be an internal, spiritual thing.

Why or what keeps us out of the shadows? Having the light of life. 

Jesus is the light of life and receiving him into our your life is the key. You do that by giving control to him, receiving his forgiveness, and accepting that Jesus death and resurrection give us hope. 

That hope is in spending eternity with the Father and the glory he has prepared for us.

Related articles

• To not walk in darkness. A series. Part 3
• To not walk in darkness. A series. Part 2
• To not walk in darkness. A series. Part 1
• "Jesus, A Miracle Worker"/Jesus Walks On The Water
• Darkness Cannot Hide From The Light
• God's Can in Our Can't

Some quick thoughts on hearing the voice of God.

On Monday of this week I got off early from work and went to the market. I was on the hunt for apples, particularly the ones that come in a bag, but this market seems to think that is beneath them. Whatever! Within a few seconds a lady wearing an apron comes around the corner and so I asked her if she knew anything about apples in a bag. Nope, but hey, stick around, we giving away a free paring knife in about five minutes, and she gave me a ticket to claim my free knife. You know I stuck around, besides I had just started my minimal shopping adventure. The knife demonstration began. Although they are impressive, and the paring knife is part of the package, I no longer wished to wait here anymore.
Now this is where the voice of the Lord part comes in. As I decided I no longer wanted to play this knife game anymore I hear this thought; take the aisle behind you, you can slip away quicker and fewer people will notice you leaving. I heard this twice, but since I am trying to learn to be less concerned with what people think about me I opted to merely make a quick left and walk away in front of everyone.
I made it about 10 feet when I hit a puddle of water that I did not see, slipped and slammed down upon my left knee. I ended up laying that puddle of water and probably had everyone looking at me.
Is there a point to this, oh absolutely. Listen to the voice, even if you think it your own. Tuck the foolish pride away in your back pocket, because you do not know what God/the Holy Spirit is trying to spare you from. BTW: That fall hurt a lot, but nothing is broken, I think.
When I was a wee bit younger, I chose to practice hearing God's voice. As I left church one night (I lived in a semi-rural area with a lot of orange groves around) I felt strongly that I was go over to this lady's house (I was trying to gain her attention and she was pretty). I argued with the voice/God about how stupid I felt about this idea but chose to go anyway. I had heard him say to me, "she will be there when you get there". I was fighting with God about this and not paying attention to the road. Suddenly I realized I was about to shoot past it, slammed on my brakes, and spun the car into the long drive way. She was right behind me and pulled immediately next to my car. I told you I was not paying attention. I apologized for scaring her and told her what God had just said to me.

While the conversation was less than productive, I think the point was God was trying to teach me something. I could not tell you that most of this sounded like much more than thoughts in my head, so you have to learn to make the distinction. I think that as you practice trusting him and responding to the sane voices you too will learn to do the right thing; I wish I had that day in the market.
Consider that there is a day coming soon in which a trumpet blast will call us away. I am practicing so that I can hear that call. I have every confidence that I will. I will let you in on a little secret; it sounds like a shofar. I so desire for you all to join me as I meet the one I have longed for, in the air. Turn your life over to the one who gave his life, for your life. That is essentially the ticket, and his name is Jesus Christ.
Have a blessed day
Oz

How do you know?

"How do you know that is was God that answered your prayer?"

It may be natural to feel challenged when someone asks "how do you know?"; I do the same thing all the time. People make statements, but do not demonstrate a pattern consistent with the statement, or it seems so brash that you want to know why they made it. I am not asking a question like that because I am lacking a relationship with the Lord, but I certainly do want to know what theirs is.

I recently asked a young man, "how do you know God is real?" I ask myself that question frequently. Why? Because there are times when I get too focused on the world going on around me, and there is very little that the world shows me that gives me hope. In fact, if I focus on the world for very long I find myself wondering if this life that scripture teaches about is real, and coming as He promised.

How do you refocus, especially when they are coming at you from all sides? David had the same problem. (Read 1Samuel 30) Having been given this town by the Philistines, David and his men settled there with their families. They went out to battle and returned to find the town in ruins and every trace of their families gone. What did the, so called, mighty men do, turn on David, expressing their desire to now kill him. This was one of those days, the kind in which everything goes against you.

In midst of tremendous pressure, scripture tells us that David encouraged himself in the Lord. I have no idea how he did that, and a limited idea of  what he said, but instead of crawling under a rock he turned to God, asking shall we pursue? His response to the worms that wanted him dead was let's go get our families back, and off they went.

My perception of God and how I respond is wrapped up in what I know of God and how I respond.

I have visual images in my head associated with God in action throughout the bible. No, I do not memorize scriptures, that borders on the impossible for me. As I read things in scripture I can see them, and that is what I remember.
I know that Christ's coming was prophesied long before he came.
I know that he came.
I have a strong concept of social life during the time of his birth, and that Mary took a tremendous amount heat for continuing to profess that Jesus, this baby within her, was the son of God, not Joseph or some other man.
Don't believe that. Then why, when they came back to their home town for the census, did none of their kin folk take them in? 
I have the scriptures, promises that tell me of a future with Him.
We have eyewitness accounts of his death, and those that could attest to his resurrection.

So in my minds eye I walk the path that Jesus walked through this earth, demonstrating to folks who struggled to believe, that He was God, and that his  word was true and believable, by doing exactly what he said he would do.

Then the responsibility falls on me, because I must believe. There are always those who will not believe, and although that is not be beneficial to you, especially in stressful situations, I can at least understand it. Israel had the same problem, even as they were leaving Egypt, after 420 years of slavery.

Consider Jonah the prophet. Sent to declare God vengence and justice upon a people that Jonah hated. Jonah also feared them and fought going to deliver the message, hence the fish swallowed him up. After delivering the message, the people repent and God turns his anger away, withholding the destruction that Jonah had promised would come. Jonah thinks this makes him look bad because it appears that God does not do what he said. But there is more to the story than meets the eye.
Jonah has probably long since died, and Nineveh has returned to it's evil ways, and history records that God did exactly what he said he would  do and wiped that city off the face of the map.
   
As for myself, some of us live in a quiet seclusion, and because of experience, do not perceive the world as a place that encourages us to share all the details of our testimony. And yet, I have seen God's handiwork in ways, contrary to what man wanted, seemed to be in direct response to my prayers. (Prayers are oft times wrapped up in our anguished cries for help.)

I had a friend who opted for the wild side of life when he was younger, and found himself before a judge, facing a maximum prison sentence for drug trafficking. His daddy prayed, and the oddest thing happened, he was sent home a free man. He turned back to the Lord, grateful for what had happened and turned his life around. He does not brag about that to very many people. I believe that we have varying degrees of severity in our heads and will readily accept people back into our graces who have murdered by driving under the influence, over some other crime.

So then, what do we base our perception of whether God is involved in the answer to our prayer upon? We seem to base everything upon our perceptions and responses, which is the outcome of what our senses tell us. We choose to use our five physical senses to evaluate whether God moved or not; how ridiculous is that. Although God gave man those physical senses they cannot possibly be an adequate judge of how God can be perceived or who he is, for God tends to work outside of the physical realm as well work within it.
We know from scripture that God is a spirit. That in itself reaches beyond our comprehension, but even there we tie our understanding to what we think is the world of ghosts. Have no doubt the spirit world is very real, therefore God is very real, for how could the inventor of something have less of a reality.

If I have faith in Him, is not my faith the result of what my senses have registered? I hear someone speak of what He has done and I take hope. In doing so I have used my sense of hearing. I read his word, applying it to my own life, and I have employed the sense of sight. Should God's intervention be one that I can feel, (if only we could ask Lot about that) then once again my senses have come into play. We have what we call instincts. Those intincts, interacting with our senses can move us toward someone or quickly away from those we sense danger from. We might call that an inward voice, scripture refers to that as the voice of the spirit speaking to the soul of man.

Scripture tells us that during the days of Samuel the seer, that Israel came under attack by the Philistines. This happened many times, but this time Samuel prayed and God responded, with lightning (look up the destructive power of lightning sometime), and with earthquakes (the ground did not merely just shake, it opened up like a bad movie, and swallowed many). Men were burned, seared, deafened, had their clothing blasted off of them, and killed by the amperage. Israel understood that this was the hand of God, and yet there are always those that would say how do you know that God answered this prayer.

In any situation there would have to be a correlation between the request and the answer. I have prayed a simple a simple prayer of "God reattach this tendon to its proper place", and watched as the balled up tendon moved back down the arm to where it was supposed to be. Did that hurt, I imagine so, but the response to the prayer was immediate. I have also cried out to God for help and watched, in fear, as God worked out my prayer over the course of many long months.

Sure, I prayed for my marriage to be restored and my family returned to me, but that did not happen. What God is doing in the background I do not know. I would not change what I have now for anything. I do not think that anything happens by chance, but that it is all part of God's intricate plan. A plan that has a future, even if it is with him in paradise.

I suppose that if there is a bottom line in this, it is that our knowing that God was involved in the answer stems from faith. Faith is built upon trust and relationship, and without faith it is impossible to please God, and believe that He was the one who moved in your behalf.

Ozzie

How do you know that it was God? - My answer to Joyce

"How do you know that is was God that answered your prayer?"

It may be natural to feel challenged when someone asks "how do you know?"

I do the same thing, challenging people all the time because people make statements but do not demonstrate a pattern consistent with the statement, or what they say seems so brash that you want to know why they made it.

I am not asking a question like that because I am lacking a relationship with the Lord, but I certainly do want to know what theirs is.

I recently asked a young man, "how do you know God is real?" I ask myself that question frequently. Why? Because there are times when I get too focused on the world going on around me, and there is very little that the world shows me that gives me hope. In fact, if I focus on the world for very long I do find myself wondering if this life that scripture teaches about is real, and is he coming as He promised.

How do you refocus, especially when the voices of doubt and despair are coming at you from all sides?

David had the same problem. (Read 1Samuel 30) Having been given the town of Ziklag by the Philistines, David and his men settled there with their families.

Who were David's men? The down and out, divorced, wanted, bankrupt, and bar fighters. They went out to battle and returned to find the town in ruins and every trace of their families gone.

What did the men who were with David do, they turned on David, expressing their desire to now kill him.

That was one of those days, the kind in which everything seems to go against you. 

In midst of tremendous pressure scripture tells us that David encouraged himself in the Lord. I have no idea how he did that, or what he said, but instead of crawling under a rock he turned to God. His response to the worms that wanted him dead was let's go take care of the ones that did this, and off they went.

My perception of what David did and what I do, is to remind myself of what the known factors are.

I have visual images in my head associated with God in action throughout the bible. No, I do not memorize scriptures, that borders on the impossible for me. As I read things in scripture I can visualize them, and that is what I remember. I know that Christ's coming was prophesied long before he came, and I know that he did come. I have a strong concept of social life during the time of his birth, and that Mary took a tremendous amount heat for continuing to profess that Jesus, this baby within her, was the son of God, not Joseph's or some other man. If you don't believe that, then why, when they came back to their home town, Bethlehem, for the census, did none of their kin folk take them in?

So, in an effort to refocus, I walk the path that God walked through this earth, demonstrating to folks who struggled to believe, that He was God, and that his word was true and believable, by doing exactly what he said he would do.

Consider Jonah the prophet, he had to refocus. He was sent to declare God's vengeance and justice upon a people that Jonah hated. Jonah also feared them and fought God's calling for him to go deliver the message, hence forth the fish swallowed him up. After delivering the message, much to Jonah's dismay, the people repented and God turns his anger away, withholding the destruction that Jonah had promised would come. Jonah thinks this makes him look bad and it appears that God does not do what he said. But there is always more to the story.

Jonah has probably long since died and Nineveh has returned to it's evil ways, and yet history records that God did exactly what he said he would do and wiped that city off the face of the map.

When you use the phrase "be thankful for unanswered prayers". I suspect you just never know how or when the answer came.

As for myself, some of us live in a quiet seclusion, and because of experience, do not perceive the world as a place that encourages us to share all the details of our testimony. And yet, I have seen God's handiwork in ways that were contrary to what man wanted and seemed to be in direct response to my prayers. (Prayers are oft times wrapped up in our anguished cries for help.)

I had a friend who opted for the wild side of life when he was younger, and found himself before a judge, facing a maximum prison sentence. His daddy prayed, and the oddest thing happened, he was sent home a free man. He turned back to the Lord, grateful for what had happened and turned his life around. He does not brag about that to very many people. The action and reaction, answered prayer, was so immediate that it was easy to associate the request with the answer as being from God.

So then, what do we base our perception of whether God is involved in the answer to our prayer upon?

We seem to base everything upon our perceptions and responses, which is the outcome of what our senses tell us. We choose to use our five physical senses to evaluate whether God moved or not; how ridiculous is that. Although God gave man those physical senses, they cannot possibly demonstrate how God can be perceived or who he is, for God tends to work outside of that realm as well work within it. We know from scripture that God is a spirit. That in itself tends to reach beyond our comprehension, but even there we tie our understanding to what we think is the world of ghosts. Have no doubt the spirit world is very real, therefore God is very real, for how could the inventor of something have less of a reality.

If I have faith in Him, is not my faith the result of what my senses have registered?

I hear someone speak of what He has done and I take hope. In doing so I have used my sense of hearing. I read his word, applying it to my own life, and I have employed the sense of sight. Should God's intervention be one that I can feel, (if only we could ask Lot about that) then once again my senses have come into play. We have what we call instincts. Those instincts, interacting with our senses can move us toward someone or quickly away from those we sense danger from. We might call that an inward voice, scripture refers to that as the voice of the spirit speaking to the soul of man.

Scripture tells us that during the days of Samuel the seer, that Israel came under attack by the Philistines. This happened many times, but this time Samuel prayed and God responded, with lightning (look up the destructive power of lightning sometime), and with earthquakes (the ground did not merely just shake, it opened up like a bad movie, and swallowed many). Men were burned, seared, deafened, had their clothing blasted off of them, and killed by the amperage. Israel understood that this was the hand of God, and yet there are always those that would say how do you know that God answered this prayer.

In any situation there would have to be a correlation between the request and the answer. I have prayed a simple prayer of "God reattach this tendon to its proper place", and watched as the balled up tendon moved back down the arm to where it was supposed to be. Did that hurt, I imagine so, but the response to the prayer was immediate. I have also cried out to God for help, and watched in a shattered state of hope, as God worked out my prayer over the course of several months. Sure, I prayed for my marriage to be restored and my family returned to me, but that did not happen. What God is doing in the background I do not know. I would not change what I have now for anything. I do not think that anything happens by chance, but that it is all part of God's intricate plan. A plan that has a future, even if it is with him in paradise.

I suppose that if there is a bottom line in this, it is that our knowing that God was involved in the answer stems from faith. Faith is built upon trust and relationship, and without faith it is impossible to please God, and faith in him pushes us to believe that He was the one who moved in our behalf.

Related articles

• Motivated To Glorify Him, Evans Olang
• Jesus Versus Jonah
• Seeing God with Your Own Eyes
• My Name Is Jonah
• The Jonah Detour