Some time ago, I was discussing a situation with someone, and they said something that stuck with me. They said, “Dane, pray that God opens your eyes to see.” This made me stop and think as I realised I had never prayed this prayer before, for a long-standing situation I was dealing with. So, I said to myself Dane, this makes sense. Why not pray to God to open my eyes for this situation which was heavy on my heart?

So that same night I went to the person that I had an issue with and explained to them the concept about asking God to open my eyes. My friends, let me tell you something, talk about God answering prayer quickly. That same night while the person and I were conversing my eyes were opened. What I realized is, the person was telling me all along that they weren’t going to change. This person was telling me in simple ways all along that this is who they are, and they are going to stay the same. After so much back and forth for years about an issue, in an instant, the behavior and attitudes were understood by me.

It was like the Prophet Elisha when he was with his servant and surrounded by enemies. Elisha could have seen what was taking place in the spiritual realm. In that, there were more spiritual elements around Elisha fighting for them than the earthly physical armies they were seeing. However, his servant could not see the heavenly armies because he was spiritually blind.

Now to illuminate the servant’s eyes Elisha prayed the following, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see. Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw…” – 2 Kings 6:17-20. When the servant’s eyes were opened, the physical and the spiritual were clearly seen together and this also showed that they had the victory. In essence, he saw things as they truly are, a plain view of the physical and a plain view of the spiritual. All elements were exposed to them because one man prayed.

One thing I would like us to note here. Elisha’s eyes were opened from day one while the servant had to get prayer to see clearly. This is noteworthy and it can apply to us now. Some people can see a situation clearly while others cannot, and this is why praying for your eyes to be opened is essential coupled with seeking advice from those who are more mature and wiser than us.

It’s always important to consider that there might be someone with a better perspective in a particular situation than you. It’s crucial to remain aware of this because at times, one’s own perspective may be biased or limited. That last sentence was a nice way of me saying the blind person could be you, and this is a thought we seldom consider.

So from now on this will be a prayer I will be praying more often (Lord open my eyes to see). Because all of us have been in a place of ignorance (please read the Blog: Self-Induced Ignorance) and made poor decisions because we didn’t see things clearly. It happened to King David when he stole another man’s wife and when the Prophet Samuel provided King David with a parable related to what he did. King David did not even know that Samuel was directly speaking about him (2 Samuel 12:1-10). As strange as it may sound, King David’s eyes were closed to see his gross actions.

The same blindness also applied to Peter when he was favouring the Jews over the Gentiles, and Paul had to rebuke him publicly (Galatians 2:11-15). Peter being this great Apostle, did not see what he was doing was wrong and he needed someone else to jolt him into consciousness. In this regard, Paul was Peter’s spiritual defibrillator.

There is a myriad of things that can cause blind eyes to be opened, and these are too many to list down. But all I can say is this. I am asking everyone to lay down their own opinions, feelings, perspectives, attitudes, behaviors, mindsets, and all such blinding agents which stagnate our growth and development. Then bring your situation before God and simply ask, “God please open my eyes to see things as they truly are”.

END

PS: Dane Miller was last seen thinking about something his boss told him once. Two prisoners were staring out of their prison cells, one saw bars and another saw stars.

Don’t forget to read the blog Self-Induced Ignorance  and I am also recommending two more You Don’t Know what to Pray for and What do you See

Your Brother in the Lord,

Dane Miller – “God is the Author, I am the Pen”

Authored Book – What is the Woman Saying – Lessons from Biblical Women.

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