Can You See It?

I often reference the process of believing God when I write my blogs and I began to wonder if people really understood what it means to believe God. Believing is one of the most simple, natural things in the world. It is not some magical mind activity that we employ when we have a need, nor is it the power of the mind which some erroneously purport. Instead believing is a prerequisite to receiving anything from God. In fact, it is the necessary ingredient in order to bring any good things into our lives. People believe everyday and remain unaware of it. If believing is the key to receiving, then it behooves us all to learn how to believe. In this I ask, can you see it?

Believing is something that all humans do and the result of it can be found in the circumstances of our lives. People that expect to prosper, do prosper despite their upbringing, their education or social status. People that have escaped extreme poverty have done so because they believed they could. Believing is a principle that cannot be broken. Fear is also a form of believing, but it is believing in reverse. Instead of an expectation of blessings and goodness, fear is an expectation for negative things to happen. Fear only produces negative results. What you fear in your heart will manifest itself in your life. If you are afraid of a disease, not just wary of it or uncomfortable about it’s possibility, but truly afraid of it and you incubate those thoughts long enough, you will get that which you have greatly feared, not because God doesn’t love you, but because the principle of believing has already been set. The admonition to fear not is found on the pages of the Bible more than 5,000 times. That should arrest our attention! You and you alone set the limits of your believing. If you believe you can, you can and if you believe you can’t, you can’t. In both instances you are correct. Often in life people think they were born or predetermined to enjoy or not enjoy a certain station in life. They foolishly conclude that prosperity and good things are reserved for other people. Sadly, their expectation has been set by their own hearts; their own expectations. Believing is the reason some people are successful and some people are not. Believing is the reason certain folks live in relative safety while others suffer one calamity after another. God has not decided this for you, you have. God’s will is that you believe Him in order to receive His promises to you. Did you know there are over 900 promises in the Bible for you and for me? Despite our sincerity, God will not and cannot override our free will. Human beings have no power of the mind as I mentioned before, but they do have the power to decide what they will and will not believe. Can you see it?

The how of believing is really quite simple. Believing is a decision we make from our hearts, greatly influenced by the thoughts we choose to think about the most. The world and the great media machine and social media platforms work hard to shape our believing. All day long we are bombarded with images and ideals and are led to form the wrong conclusions. The world, a metaphor for evil at work in the world, informs us of what we can and cannot have. God’s Word also tells us what we can have and it will always be found to be in direct contradiction to what the world is reporting. Thus believing positively is our responsibility and our right as the rightful owners of our own free will. Believing is a verb and, grammar fans, always involves action. If we believe something is going to happen, good or bad, our corresponding actions will align themselves with whatever it is we are believing. If we believe God is going to do something to help us, we will naturally be looking for the help or the solution. If we say we believe God will help us, but do nothing to find that help, we are not believing. We are simply mentally assenting to the truth instead of living the truth. Living the truth means expecting God to do what He said He would do and not stopping until we get what we are believing to get. Again, believing is not difficult or requiring mental gymnastics. If you believe, you act! Expectation is a key you hold to every lock. Believing has no limits as God who honors it in every case has no limits. God is not deciding how much money you can have, your health status, where you can live or even what kind of car you can drive. You are! If God decided what people could have or how far they could go, He would be a respecter of persons and He is no respecter of persons. All of us can believe including the unbelievers and believing equals receiving including those unbelievers. When you observe some dastardly person prospering it is because they also believe and as such, receive. The principle has no respect for who someone is, but rather what they believe. Can’t you see it?

Finally, if you cannot even get your own mind to entertain the idea of getting something you need, you will not be able to receive it. Our minds come complete with imaginations which we control. The reason Jesus told us to have the heart of a child is because children have unlimited and unrestrained imaginations. They can picture what they want, believe and thus can receive it. You too can follow this same process. Our minds work in images. How easy it is for us to picture disasters and negatives, yet how infrequently do we take the time to picture good things? As easy as it is for us to conjure up images of defeat and loss, is as easy as it is for us to “imagine” good. You choose the pictures in your mind. Why not picture yourself having what you need and want? Can you see it? Can’t you picture yourself getting the good job, having plenty of money, enjoying health and having a loving relationship with those you hold most dear? You have to believe first before you see it which means you have to be able to see it in your heart and mind before it comes to pass in your life. Bryce Harper saw himself where he is today, playing in the World Series, (Go Phillies) long before it came to pass in his life. Yet now he gets to live it and enjoy it. Can you see it? The pictures you hold in your mind are a form of believing and there is no limit to what you can imagine. Determine now to begin seeing things you want in your life which serves to root out things you do not want in your life. It’s your mind. Can you see it?

As a great man once wrote, “How have you mentally pictured yourself for the past week, month, year, ten years? The picture that you carry of yourself with clearness and concern is what you are.” Can you see it? You are deciding how your life will turn out by the things you are believing in your heart. If you cannot get your mind to see good then you will have trouble receiving good as you determine what those things will be. Learn to believe positively. Rid yourself of fear whenever and wherever it shows up. Don’t keep waiting for your life to get better, believe (act) for it to get better. Give God something to work with. When you believe God you unleash His unlimited power into your situations. You can have everything you ever wanted if you will only believe. Can you see it?

Just some good thoughts…