It’s easy to see what your eyes see, but have you ever wondered how to see spiritually?
Recently a listener asked me to talk about how to see things in a spiritual way. Specifically she asked me to share some thoughts on a passage in Chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians. So today, we’re going to talk about how to see spiritually.
Here’s the passage in 1 Corinthians:
However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” [Isaiah 64:4]— the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.
The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:9-14 NIV
There’s a lot here to talk about so let’s jump right in.
Seeing spiritually
First of all, the Bible says a whole lot about vision and seeing things spiritually. There’s no way to cover everything in this podcast episode, but I’m going to touch on some of the passages that give some deep insight into what it means to see spiritually and how we can do it.
So let’s tackle that first idea: what does it even mean to see spiritually? And we could add to that: why is it important?
Actually, I’m going to start with talking about the second question, why is seeing spiritually important?
The short answer is, so we don’t make as many mistakes in our judgements and assessments of people and circumstances.
Remember when Moses sent the 12 men to check out the Promised land after the Children of Israel had left Egypt and crossed the wilderness?
The LORD said to Moses, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.” Numbers 13:1, 2 NIV
One leader from each of the 12 tribes of Israel went on this mission, which lasted 40 days. When they returned, they reported how bountiful the land was but also how strong the people were there.
Caleb’s spiritual vision
Caleb, from the tribe of Judah said,
“We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” Numbers 13:30-33 NIV
These reports frightened the people and they said
Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” Numbers 14:3 NIV
But then Joshua said,
“The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land…” Numbers 14:7-9 NIV
All this was to no avail. The other ten spies and the people in general were afraid and didn’t trust God to help them.
Why seeing spiritually is important
The result was that the Israelites wandered for 40 years in the wilderness before God let them go back to the Promised Land.
There’s a lot more to that story in Chapter 13 and 14 of Numbers if you want to read the whole thing.
Who had spiritual vision in this situation? Who saw things from a more spiritual perspective?
Only Joshua and Caleb could “see” that God would help them. Everyone else was afraid and couldn’t perceive that God was able to help them win the land.
And there’s a really good hint, that if you’re afraid of what the material picture is, it’s going to be harder to see what’s going on spiritually in a situation.
What if the other ten tribal leaders had been more spiritually perceptive? What if they had used their spiritual vision instead of just their material eyes and human reasoning?
It would have save the Children of Israel 40 year of being out in the wilderness. They would have been in the Promised Land much sooner.
Samuel didn’t use his spiritual vision at first
Another example of why seeing spiritually is important is the story of Samuel going to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king of Israel.
I refer to this story a lot on the podcast because it has so many lessons that apply to lots of different areas of our lives.
When God told Samuel to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king, He didn’t tell him which son. There were eight.
When Samuel saw the oldest son, Eliab, he looked at his stature, his physique, his outward appearance. Based on what his eyes told him, he was sure this was to be the new king. But God said Eliab was not the one for the job.
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 NIV
Fortunately, Samuel was spiritually minded enough to hear God’s voice and obey it. And eventually he anointed David when God told him to.
Here’s the thing. Samuel was a prophet of the Lord. He was well-known and respected throughout the land as someone who talked to and heard God.
But even Samuel did not always use his spiritual vision. This was a good lesson for him, just as it continues to be for us today.
You or I may be very spiritually minded. You might even be considered a prophet, in some way, but that is not a guarantee that you will always see things spiritually, as God does.
Elisha teaches us how to see spiritually
One more example that has helped me immensely understand what seeing spiritually is all about is when the king of Syria, or Aram depending on which Bible translation you’re reading, came to capture Elisha the prophet.
When Elisha’s servant woke up that morning, they were surrounded by soldiers on horses and in chariots. The whole city was surrounded. The servant was dismayed but Elisha was not. He saw something his servant did not.
He tried to reassure him
“Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6:16, 17 NKJV
The horses and chariots of fire, which represented God’s protecting power, had been there all along. Elisha could see them but his servant could not. His simple prayer opened the servant’s eyes to see things more spiritually.
There’s a lot more to this story, which deals with blindness and seeing, and you can read about it in 2 Kings, Chapter 6, staring verse 8.
Seeing spiritually is important
Why is seeing spiritually important? Without it, Elisha would have panicked like his servant. He wouldn’t have known with such conviction that God was protecting him, and he wouldn’t have known how to resolve the situation so peacefully.
From these three stories, we can begin to get an idea of what it means to see spiritually. It means that we become aware of God’s presence and power. We trust God to protect us when He tells us to do something or if an emergency comes up. And we don’t judge according to the outward, material appearance of things.
This exactly what that passage from 1 Corinthians is talking about that I quoted earlier: “no eye has seen, … no ear has heard, and … no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him.”
The very next verse talks about “the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.”
Seeing spiritually is revelation
There it is, plain and simple: to see spiritually is to discern what God reveals to you.
So how do we do that? How do we see what God is revealing to us?
Jesus, as always, gives us some clear insights, pun intended, to whatever questions we have.
He says in the Sermon on the Mount,
The eye is the lamp of the body; so then, if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! Matthew 6:22, 23 NIV
Your eyes are literally the lens you see the world through. But metaphorically, the eye or lens we look at the word through is our thinking.
If you are a loving person, you will see things and people through the lens of love.
If you are a fearful person, you will see everything through the lens of fear, and consequently be afraid most of the time.
Fill in the blank with any emotion or attitude. That is the lens you’re looking through.
To the degree you are thinking spiritual thoughts, the more you’ll be seeing spiritually.
What prevents us from seeing more spiritually?
Well, there are all sorts of things. Jesus gives this example, again from the Sermon on the Mount.
It has to do with being judgmental. Jesus says straight out,
Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Matthew 7:1 NLT
And then he gives a very graphic example of how being judgmental keeps us from seeing spiritually.
And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. Matthew 7:3-5 NLT
When you think you can solve a problem for someone else you haven’t dealt with in your own life, Jesus says you’re a hypocrite.
Hypocrisy, and the self-righteousness that usually goes along with it, is guaranteed to keep you from seeing spiritually.
That would imply that their opposites, sincerity and humility, or maybe self-awareness (there are probably lots of opposites of self-righteousness) help you see spiritually.
Fear, any kind of sin, any ungodlike thought will keep you from seeing spiritually.
Every time you trust God, every time you obey God, every Godlike thought you have will help you see more spiritually.
A pure heart sees spiritually
Jesus makes this clear in his beatitudes,
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8 KJV
Purity is an undistorted, clear lens that allows you to see spiritually.
So, it’s really our thinking, what’s in our hearts, that allows us or prevents us from seeing spiritually.
Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted. Titus:1:15 NLT
Jesus says practically the same thing
For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person… Matthew 15:19, 20 NIV
We could rephrase that: These are the things that prevent you from seeing spiritually.
Jesus was always trying to get people to see things from a more spiritual perspective. That’s why he told so many parables about the kingdom of heaven.
To see also can mean to understand. He wanted people to begin to understand God’s nearness, readiness, and ability to help and heal them. He wanted them to understand that the kingdom of heaven was indeed at hand and that they could partake of its presence.
Jesus teaches us how to see spiritually
Jesus constantly and patiently encouraged his disciples to be more spiritually minded, and therefore enable them to see more spiritually.
But at times he rebuked them because they were only judging the situation based on the outward appearance of things.
Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.”
But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Matthew 16:6-12 NKJV
The disciples finally got a more spiritual perspective of what Jesus was talking about.
And even though he did rebuke them from time to time, Jesus also blessed his disciples and their ability to see things spiritually.
blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. Matthew 13:16, 17 NKJV
So how does all this apply to you and me?
Well, let’s start with the idea that Jesus is saying to you, just as much as he said it to his disciples, “Blessed are your eyes for they see.”
This is really a blessing and a promise that we can see things spiritually. It’s not just for people 2,000 years ago who knew Jesus personally.
Take a moment for an honest evaluation of the thoughts in your heart that either help you or hinder you from seeing spiritually.
It doesn’t have to be an enormous undertaking and it should never be a time for either a self-righteous or self-condemning attitude, depending on what kind of thoughts you find tucked away in your heart.
Offer a simple prayer of gratitude for all the good, pure, loving thoughts.
And as for the thoughts and attitudes that would keep you from seeing spiritually, don’t be too impressed or discouraged. Simply think of what the opposite quality is and focus on that.
Look through the lens of love and forgiveness instead of hatred or revenge. That’s just one example.
We see what God reveals to us. To the degree you and I are pure in heart, listen for and obey God’s voice, are unselfish and loving, to the degree we follow Christ in our daily lives, we see the things of the Spirit, which God reveals to us. We see spiritually.
Ask God to show you what He sees. Ask God to reveal to you what He wants you to see. You are capable of this right now.
You will see the horses and chariots of fire, God’s presence and protecting power. You will see that God is able and willing bring you into the Promised Land, whatever that might be for you, and you’ll have no doubts. You will discern spiritually who to choose for a leadership role.
And you will see so much more… spiritually.
Photo credit: Marina Vitale via unsplash.com
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and podcaster. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by embracing the mindset of Christ in daily life. Contact him here.
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Bible References
1 Corinthians 2:9-14 NIV
9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” [Isaiah 64:4]— the things God has prepared for those who love him—
10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.
14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
Number 13:1, 2 NIV
1 The LORD said to Moses,
2 “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”
Number 13:30-33 NIV
30 “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”
32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.
33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
Numbers 14:3 NIV
3 Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”
Numbers 14:7-9 NIV
7 “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good.
8 If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.
9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land…”
1 Samuel 16:7 NIV
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
2 Kings 6:16, 17 NKJV
16 “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Matthew 6:22, 23 NIV
22 The eye is the lamp of the body; so then, if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.
23 “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
Matthew 7:1 NLT
1 Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.
Matthew 7:3-5 NLT
3 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?
4 How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye?
5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.
Matthew 5:8 KJV
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Titus:1:15 NLT
15 Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted.
Matthew 15:19, 20 NIV
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
20 These are what defile a person
Matthew 16:6-12 NKJV
6 Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.”
8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?
9 “Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?
10 “Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?
11 “How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Matthew 13:16, 17 NKJV
16 blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;
17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
