Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Faith”
Our Bible verse for today: “So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 5:18 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “We must choose to see with eyes of faith.”
Saint Augustine was one of the greatest theologians the Christian church has ever produced. He lived and ministered about 300 years after the time of Christ. To this day his work is studied, referenced, and quoted by Bible students across the globe.
With respect to faith Augustine once wrote, “Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of faith is to see what we believe.”
He was referring to “seeing with eyes of faith.” An excellent example of seeing with eyes of faith is answered prayer. We pray about something, it happens, and we see the answer for what it is – the response of God to a genuine heartfelt prayer. But not everyone will see it that way. Many people will attribute it to “coincidence”. They will conclude that that particular event would have occurred whether we had prayed about it or not and the fact that we did pray about it, and it did happen, is mere coincidence. Such people do not see with eyes of faith.
Another example of seeing with eyes of faith will be the subject of the sermon at Oak Hill Baptist Church this Sunday. It is the issue of divine appointments. I personally believe that there are no coincidences in the life of a child of God. I believe that God is Sovereign over all the events of our lives and that He is always at work orchestrating events to bring about His good plan for us. People who believe this will view the events of their lives with “eyes of faith”, and they will see the hand of God at work in the middle of seemingly routine and common occurrences.
This is what Paul wrote about in 2 Corinthians 5:18. He was urging us to live with an awareness of the fact that there are always things happening in the spiritual realm which we cannot see, but which are real and which are happening nonetheless. And it is what Augustine meant when he wrote that the reward of faith is that we eventually gain the ability, the spiritual sensitivity, to see the things in which we believe.
I encourage you today to be intentional about seeing with eyes of faith.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 