The first thing the Lord does for us when we are to move into a new land is to give us a new vision for life. Why? Your vision determines the course of your entire life.
This is what he did for Joshua after the death of Moses. He gave Joshua a clear-cut vision of the land He had for Joshua and the Israelites. In Joshua 1:2-4, we read, “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them — the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory.”
Every place he walked, every place he could see, God would give him for their land. The Lord was building a vision of possessing, a vision of victory, a vision of destiny into Joshua. This vision of the promised land had begun many years earlier when God spoke to a man named Abram. “And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are — northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.” (Genesis 13:14-17)
God said to Abram, “Lift up now your eyes.”
God wants you to lift up your eyes, saint.
He wants you to see His ability, His might, His precious promises, His endless love and grace. How God longs for us to see life the way He sees life. God literally spoke to Abram and said, “Whatever you can see, you can possess. If you can see it, you can have it.” The very purpose of words and language is to form images that communicate. God’s Word communicates God’s vision and desire to the human race. God’s Word is designed to bring vision to God’s people. You are to see God’s promises as yours. Until you see yourself receiving what God’s Word has provided, it will not work for you.
Jesus said, in Matthew 6:22-23, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Jesus was not speaking about physical eyesight. He was speaking about spiritual eyesight. He was teaching about money. There is nothing evil about money unless your vision concerning it is evil. Jesus was not talking about what you see, but how you see. God wants to change the way you look at life. He wants to give you a vision for victory. He wants to build your faith-sight until life is not a burden but an adventure with Him.
