“Three things I pray/To see thee more clearly/Love thee more dearly/Follow thee more nearly/Day by day.” Stephen Schwartz

“Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.” This is best illustrated in 2 Kings 6. Elisha the Prophet was giving military intelligence to Israel’s king through words fed to him by God.

This intel ticked off the King of Syria, who sent his army to capture Elisha. One morning, Elisha’s servant sees his massive army surrounding the city that terrified him.

Elisha tells his servant to relax and then asked the LORD to open his eyes to see what he couldn’t see at the moment – God’s army of chariots of fire! The servant couldn’t see this army before; and thus, was afraid of what he could see – the massive Syrian army.

Feelings of fear were reversed through added information/truth. This is the point of Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” (ESV)

As followers of Christ, what we see at times can cause us to be fearful, which can paralyze us at best or cause us to retreat at worse. Yet, this feeling can be reversed with specific information the Lord can give…if only we’d ask.

God told Jeremiah to ask for information he needed to act upon by faith to stand strong in the midst of what he was seeing – prison walls!

Emotions make us human. They are real. But, sometimes they are based on lies or a lack information. Truth must rule our lives more and more and emotions less and less.  

The servant saw a massive army and became fearful. What did he need? Specific truth to combat what he wasn’t seeing – God’s army.

We must apply Jeremiah 33:3 when our emotions/feelings seem to be overtaking our lives by praying, “Lord, open the eyes of my heart to see the truth I need to combat the feelings/situation I’m currently facing in order to draw closer to You.”

Learn from your tears.

I love my wife so much. Yet, I know myself, with all my faults, and wonder how she can love me as she does. Tears.

I love being a dad. Tears. Transparent? It was super difficult when both my children got married. I knew they married the person God picked for them. And, I’m very proud to call them my bonus children, not a son or daughter-in-law.

Yet, I teared up at both their weddings out joy for their future and sadness at the loss of them no longer being in my home. I also teared up when I recently was told that I’m going to be a granpapa (my chosen name) for the very first time.

There are even certain themes in my favorite TV show that cause me to choke up. As well as when I see what humans do to each other as a chaplain who goes on patrol with his officers, I can tear up on my way home.

Tears. Do real men and strong women cry? If they are seeking to become more Jesus they will. Life, with both its highs and lows, can bring on the tears. As a man, even Jesus teared up.

Yet, was it over the suffering his friend Lazarus’ death caused his sisters or because He loved Laz so much as some at the tomb thought? Or maybe, was it because He was ticked off at Satan for bringing death into the world, with all its unnecessary pain (John 11:33 – groan and troubled).

There are many causes for tears. We can ask the Spirit, however, to show us what is causing them in order to grow to new levels of knowing and following our Father just as Hezekiah (2 Chron. 25), David (Ps. 6), Asaph (Ps. 80), and Jeremiah (Jer. 9) did.

Life can be joyful and painful, sometimes over the same situation. We can make it about the tears/situation; or, we can learn from and draw closer to Jesus because of them. This is our choice.

As you choose the later, your joy will increase, despite their cause.

“God never said the journey would be easy, but He did say that the arrival would be worthwhile.” Max Lucado

Joseph had a dream that one day his entire family, including his parents, would bow down to him. As Joseph was not the firstborn, this would not come about through any natural succession.

So, if this dream was from God, it would have to come from another direction. And oh boy, what a direction (Gen. 37-50) that would be!

First, his bothers sold him into slavery and faked his death. Then he passed a seduction test, only to be thrown into prison. Finally, he does a favor for someone who could get him out of prison only to languish in prison for another two years.

Scripture says that the LORD was with him, but did Joseph see slavery, imprisonment and betrayal as something that God was using to fulfill his dream?

We possibly see a glimpse of understanding God’s perspective with the naming of his children. But we know with 100% certainty that he got it when he tells his brothers, “You meant it for evil, but God used it for good to save our family and many others.”

Joseph didn’t have God’s perspective until the end of his ordeal. He went through the unfairness of life to reach the point where God’s purpose did come true. It most likely didn’t happened as he would have wanted, but it did come about.

Perspective informs perception. The way you think will be the bases for how you interpret life as it unfolds. Perspective: God is in control, despite what others do or don’t do. Perception: life may seem out of control and/or unfair, but I can still praise God in the midst of it because He will work all things out for His good in my life in the end.

How you interpret life starts with your perspective. Does Jesus owe you anything, or do you owe Him everything? The more your perspective lines up with God’s Word, the greater you’ll be fulfilled despite life’s disappointments.

Being a follower of Christ is not a one-off decision, but multiple.

Let me run a scenario by you. You’ve always wanted to work for BossTops, which requires a high security clearance. If caught lying, you’ll automatically be fired.

You’ve been preparing to work at BossTops your entire life. It’s your dream job. And now, you hired! You’re pumped. There is only one thing left to do: pass training, which you are doing when “it” happens.

On the last day of training, you’re about to handle a service call, when your training officer tells you to wait. While waiting, though, another employee helps that customer.

After the customer leaves, your co-worker asks, “What in the world happened?” Before you can answer, your trainer pipes in, “Oh, he didn’t see the customer come in.” Your trainer threw you under the bus.

You say nothing. Put your head down; and, finish the day. Everything is cool, right? Well, in order to successfully complete training you must meet with BossTops’ owner. During the interview, she asks, “Were you ever put in a compromising situation while on training?”

You’re thinking, “What kind of question is that? Does she know about what my trainer did? If she knows and I lie, I’ll get fired. Maybe this is simply an integrity check. I’ve got to tell the truth.

“But, what if she doesn’t know? The success of BossTops is based on being a team player. And if I don’t have my trainer’s back, who might have just been having a bad day, I’ll never get the best assignments and/or promotions. If this happens, my dream job becomes a nightmare.”

This scenario illustrates Romans 5:3-5. Our hope that knows that it knows where we’ll spend eternity starts in suffering that produces Christ’s character in us.

This process is not a one-time decision for Jesus to be your savior. No, it’s a decision-by-decision process to let Him save you from yourself. Will it be easy? Nope. Can there be consequences? Yup.

It does, however, produce in you the reality that you’ll spend eternity with Jesus in heaven even while your hope is being sorely tested here on earth. By faith, continue to do what Jesus would do. It’s not a cliché, but a life changing truth.

“Your thinking drives your feelings, which drives your choices, which determines your character.”

This statement drives to the heart of the battle within our current Western culture, which wants to reverse the order of thinking and feelings. If I feel it, it must be true.

Jesus’ in the Garden of Gethsemane fought this battle. He was feeling depressed (Matt. 26:37 – “troubled”), which led to the thought of not going to the cross. Yet, He got the order back in line with the truth and said, “Not My will, but Your will be done despite how I feel.”  

No matter how much we hear the opposite, Scripture, the source of truth, says that we become more like Jesus through changing the way we think (Rom. 12:2), not by changing the way we feel.

Let me illustrate. Let’s say you and your 14-year-old son are at restaurant when he asks permission to go the bathroom. You nod your head and he’s off.

Five minutes later your waiter tells you, “You should see what your teenager is doing. He’s stuffing toilet paper down the toilet that is flooding the bathroom floor. You should be ashamed.”

What are you feeling at that moment? Incredulous that anyone would say that, a little embarrassed or a tad bit angry, maybe all the above?

You quickly head to the bathroom to discover it’s not your son! In fact, he’s using the toilet behind the locked stall! Now what are you feeling? You get the point. Change your thinking, you change the feeling and choice.

As followers of Christ, we can’t make decisions based on our feelings if we want to be more like Him. Feelings, though real, are not the truth that will set you free from the behavior ruining your life.

Change is not easy, which Scripture never said it would. In fact, it reveals that it will be a fight! Your freedom is a battle worth fighting, regardless of how you feel at the moment.