Length: 4 minutes

Why does God say to live by faith instead of by what you see? Well, you have everything in Christ. You have everything going for you. God has redeemed you, provided for you and has qualified you to walk in all of it! But guess what? Your eyes could never tell you that. Never.

1 Corinthians 2:14 (NKJV) But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God… NOR CAN HE know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Everything that Jesus has done for you is spiritual, inside of you (at first at least) and therefore, you cannot know your true circumstances unless the Holy Spirit teach you. You can’t see what you have in Christ and you can’t see the work of the Holy Spirit in you. The only way you would know about it is if the Lord teaches you.

Your eyes, ears and senses are not capable of communicating to you who you are in Christ, and therefore, cannot be relied on to know these things. When you just go by what you see or hear or sense, you’re not seeing the full picture – not by far! Your eyes and ears can only teach you about physical things. They can’t teach you the truth of what’s going on in the spirit.

Because your eyes and ears can only show you physical things (and even that is VERY imperfect) God implores us to learn from Him instead of what you see.

John 7:24 (NKJV) Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.

Jesus says here that judging by appearance is the opposite of judging righteously. That means that as long as you go by appearance, you’re not seeing the real truth. You could say, when you come to conclusions solely based on what you see, you are always wrong.

We need to consult the Lord for what He thinks about us in our circumstance, instead of consulting our eyes. Plain and simple: Your eyes are inaccurate, because they only account for the physical things right in front of you. The Lord in you is never inaccurate! Listen to Him!

1 John 3:20 (NKJV) …God is greater than our heart [our fleshly reasoning], and knows all things.

Don’t consult your eyes for the truth. Consult the Living Truth inside you. And when He speaks to you, don’t you dare give it up because of an impression you get from what you see! 

I’m sure all of us remember that God gave a word to Adam and Eve in the garden. And do you know what the Devil used to deceive them? Do you know what caused Eve to let go of the word of God and believe a lie? What she saw!

Genesis 3:4-6 (NKJV) Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So, WHEN THE WOMAN SAW that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.

Look at that verse again. The Devil spoke a lot of lies to Eve, but at what point did Eve start to believe him? It says, “when the woman saw…” The Devil lied to Eve, but it wasn’t just his word that swayed her. It was when “she saw“ something that seem to confirm that lie. Lies aren’t so convincing until they seem to be confirmed by what you see, and the devil knew that. So the Devil used what she saw to make his lie convincing. And instead of strictly going by what the Lord told her, she went by what “she saw”. It was her own senses that failed her. 

The word of God will never fail you. The word of God is true. The word of God is on the inside of you, ready to guide you so that you can know the truth as well. But you cannot allow your mind to consult what you see for the truth. It is the word of God that is true, whether it seems to contradict what you see or not. 

The entire downfall of all of humanity was because a woman went by what she saw instead of what God told her. The lie of the Devil was not convincing to her until her sight seemed to confirm it. And “when the woman saw“ she bought into the lie. She traded in the truth of God, because what she saw gave her a different impression. 

Your senses are incapable of telling you the real truth. The only one that can teach you the real truth about yourself and your present circumstance is God. Period. Your senses cannot. 

If it contradicts the entire world, and if it contradicts all the impressions you’re getting from what you see, believe the word of God! He is true! And to heck with the rest of it! Don’t make the same mistake Eve made.

You are not unique. Every person has to make that decision constantly. Are you going to live by what you see? Or are you going to live by what the Lord speaks to you? Who are you going to consult for the truth? Your eyes, which cannot detect the things of God, or the Lord Himself, who knows all things — physical and spiritual? Make up your mind. Who’s going to lead you?

Isaiah 11:3 (NKJV) His delight is in the fear of the LORD, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears…