How to Keep Our Eyes Open for God

Keep your eyes open.

Maybe we keep a lookout on our neighbors’ house while they are out of town. Perhaps we look for a friend’s lost pet.

Or, we watch for a specific job ad in the paper or online.

Yet, to keep our eyes open sometimes proves difficult. Like when we are sleep deprived. Or, during a scary movie or gruesome video.

And when using eye drops. Anybody else have a hard time with this?

But to keep our spiritual eyes open often proves most difficult of all.

Similar to how we were once spiritually blind to salvation, we open our spiritual eyes to God’s presence and His work in our daily lives.

Psalm 105 in The Message says this:

Hallelujah! Thank God! Pray to him by name! Tell everyone you meet what he has done! Sing him songs, belt out hymns, translate his wonders into music! Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs, you who seek God. Live a happy life! Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works; be alert for signs of his presence. Remember the world of wonders he has made, his miracles…(Verses 1-5a, emphasis added).

Maybe we tell others of all the great things God has done for us. And we praise the Lord for every deed or blessing from His hand.

Yet, we miss the second vital part. We fail to look for God’s presence Sunday through Saturday, 24/7. We forget to watch for God to display His wonders in our lives today and every day.

This passage gives us insight into how to keep our spiritual eyes open.

Keep Our Eyes Open for God

Rejection: 3 Truths to Overcome the Lies

I fought the urge to gasp while reading her text on my phone. The hard-to-swallow message caused a long-buried hurt to suddenly resurface. Rejection. 

Although I have felt the sting of rejection throughout my life, this was a lesson from the school of hard knocks, adult education department.

Rejection happens in every stage of life—to little girls, teen girls, and grown girls. 

Almost like I was an experiment in a lab or a reality show. Will she survive rejection as a woman? Stay tuned for the results.

Perhaps, like me, rejection yanked the rug out from under your fragile heart too many times. 

But whether people introduced us to rejection early in life, later, or both, there are three truths we need to cling to whenever people reject us.

And these truths change our perspective as we compare rejection from people to acceptance from God. We replace lies with truth.

(1.) Rejection is something done to me, not who I am. 

Rejection leaves a hole in our soul wider than the Grand Canyon. Yet, we make the mistake of equating what is done to us as a title to wear. The actions of others should never pen the labels we stick on ourselves.     

Because rejection is an action, not a person. Rejection does not make me a reject. 

On the flip side, acceptance is not only an action, but also a living being—God. So there’s no need for me to have an identity crisis. I take my cue about who I am from the great I AM.

We are patterned in the image of our Creator. Accepted. Valued. Precious. 

Arrive at a Better Place in Your Relationships

Like traveling to a specific destination, our relationships are an intentional journey. And as with any journey, we need to map out where we hope to go and how we want to arrive somewhere better.

So when it comes to our spouse, children, extended family or friends, it’s not about the popular phrase, I’ve arrived.

Because we never attain perfection in relationships. Instead, the process of becoming stronger in key relationships requires us to evaluate and define how we arrive to desirable places.

Here are a few ideas on how we A.R.R.I.V.E.

A – Advance to Arrive

Advance means to move forward. Each day is a new opportunity to advance our relationships. 

For example, a bank account won’t grow unless we put money into it. In the same way, our relationships cannot grow without focused input. Are we making more deposits than withdrawals in our most important relationships?

Action points: Determine daily acts required to move toward a desired destination in our marriage. Discover what our kids need most from us. Deposit love, kindness, forgiveness, compassion and goodness into our relationships.

R – Regard to Arrive

Google defines regard as consider or think of; attention to or concern.

Philippians 2:3 challenges us, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves” (NASB, emphasis mine). It’s not easy in the flesh. That’s why the Lord instructs us to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:25). 

When we regard our spouse in this way, it moves our marriage to a better place. And regarding our friends as more important than ourselves helps us lay down pride and arrive to a better place as a friend.

Trusting God to Fill Our Blank Spaces

I have known some form of blank most of my life.

Blank spaces nearly succeeded at branding my childhood. They attempted to steal my joy. And blank often overstayed its welcome and threatened to hold me hostage to the emptiness.

So I used to wonder if the God in heaven received memos from people on earth. One memo in particular from a girl wondering why He allowed her life to have blanks. Why He didn’t give her answers. 

Because of blank spaces in my childhood, I grew into a woman who became obsessed for any and every blank to be filled in with something—anything.

Like as a college student it bothered me to leave an unknown answer blank on a test. Even now, whether it’s a class or online training, I frantically search for what goes in the blank. 

And as Christian, I need all the lines filled in on my Bible study book. Seeing blank lines with missing answers (only white space) triggers memories of a life devoid of answers. 

Blank Spaces in All Shapes and Sizes

Blank spaces come in all shapes and sizes and seasons of life bringing loss or lack in areas such as relational, spiritual, mental and emotional.

No respecter of persons, blanks affect us all. Because I don’t know of anyone personally or anyone named in the Bible without blanks for God to fill. 

But…what if when we are surrounded by blank spaces, we trust that God is there too? And when the blanks seem greater in number than filled ones, what if we were confident the Lord was at work behind the scenes to bring about our good?

Loving Jesus More Than Anyone or Anything

Loving someone often happens naturally.

But maintaining loving another person is not that easy. In fact, it takes work.

Love.

A small and seemingly simple word. Yet it holds more power than we realize. 

And I’m not an expert on the subject of love. Instead, I held misconceptions about love as a child and young woman. Like my friend expressed, Hang-ups about love form from emotionally expensive experiences. ~ Jo Ann Fore

You see, my father abandoned me for a time, and I never remember the phrase “I love you!” by either of my parents until later in life. 

I was grown with my own children the first time my father uttered the words I love you. The conversation’s forever etched in my memory.

Still, as much as I wanted to hear my dad tell me he loved me, I needed to believe it. And I longed for the reassurance he meant it.

You know what? The same holds true today. My husband can never tell me or show me he loves me too many times. 

Because a continual and intentional assurance of love takes any relationship to a higher and deeper level. Pure and whole-hearted love, in the most powerful form, is a show-and-tell affection.

Loving Jesus 

Likewise, the words I love You, Jesus! rise in my heart and roll off my tongue more often these days. Why? 

The Greatest Reward for Following Jesus Christ

Following Christ has great reward.

As Christians, we know there are costs for following Christ. Such as the call to deny our desires, plans and life to pick up our cross and follow Jesus. Still further, family and friends may disown us. Or, we suffer persecution and ridicule.

But let’s not forget the powerful rewards for followers of Jesus. And one greatest reward of all. I list ten rewards and save the best for last.

(1.)  Reward of Eternal and Abundant Life 

“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:28)

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

(2.)  Reward of Righteousness

“If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.” (1 John 2:29)

We follow Jesus in a foreign culture of unrighteousness. And those who refuse to follow Him have destruction as their end. 

Because “enemies of the cross” make their belly a god and glory in shame. Since their minds are set on earthly things. “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (See Philippians 3:18-20)

Do we desire to follow Christ and His righteousness, Sunday through Saturday, 24/7?

True disciples not only want to follow Jesus, but also follow through by seeking to stay on the path of righteousness.

(3.)  Reward of a Good Shepherd

20 Amazing Quotes for Friends in a Pandemic

Besties. BFF’s. Life-long friends. 

Friend is such a wonderful and endearing term.

The good Lord created us as relational beings, first with Him, then with others. So it makes sense to not only understand the importance of friends in our lives, but to also celebrate friendship.

But what does true friendship look like? How does it play a practical role in our lives? 

And how do we keep our friendships alive during this present pandemic? Because things have changed during COVID-19.

Such as those intimate, fun and face-to-face outings, chats, lunch dates, meetings at our favorite coffee shop, and a whole list of friend-things most of us are missing these days.

Or, we show up sporting a face mask and wonder if our get-togethers will ever look normal again.

So I put together a list of some pretty amazing quotes on friendship. While the way we spend time with friends may look different right now, the heart of friendship remains the same and keeps us connected.

As you read through these great quotes, think about creative ways to reach out to friends. Like texts, emails, calls, FaceTime, MarcoPolo App, cards, record an audio message to send by text (even a prayer), Snapchat a fun photo or video, or drop off their favorite sweet or a gift and leave on the porch giving them the heads up.

Amazing Friendship Quotes

(1.) “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” ― C.S. Lewis

(2.) “Real spiritual friendship is eagerly helping one another know, serve, love, and resemble God in deeper and deeper ways.” ― Timothy Keller

(3.) “I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.” ― Helen Keller

(4.) “A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” ― Walter Winchell

Positively Finding Your Joy by Yvette Walker

Welcome our guest writer, Yvette. I’m honored to have met this godly, beautiful lady online. We recently chatted when she invited me on her podcast, Positively Joy. And my episode goes live this morning. I know her words about joy will inspire you.

By Yvette Walker

During this unique season, I have been working from home instead of in my office at college. Every day I get up, make the bed, feed my four-footed kids (two cats, one dog) and come into the dining room.

And I don’t know why, but the dining table has been my makeshift desktop since March 16. Because I have a perfectly good study, but the dining room seems warmer, more inviting. I open my laptop, log on and begin the day. I’m a bit of a homebody, so I’m loving the arrangement, even though I’m an extrovert and miss the company of my coworkers and students. 

Something had been on my mind for a while, and that was to start a podcast. I wanted it to be about beauty standards, how we dress and style ourselves and how sometimes America does not approve. It was to be called Hair Goddess, after a book I’d published a a few years ago.

Positively Talk About Joy

But God said, “No, you are to talk about JOY.”

Uh, OK, Lord, I’m listening.

And so, Positively Joy was born. In the middle of a pandemic, at home, in my dining room. I knew just enough audio editing software to be dangerous, and I knew enough people who would talk to me. 

It has been a delight to my soul, and, I hope, a fun listening exercise to my followers.

15 Scriptures to Pray Over Family and Ourselves

Try this at home. Here’s one feat I encourage every believer to try; insert the names of loved ones and your name into Scriptures.

Then, pray the Bible verses and see what happens.

Oh, I get excited thinking about what God’s up to; how He’s working behind the scenes.

But there’s working power we unleash in prayer when we speak truth and life from God’s Word.

Recently, I shared The Prayer I Prayed Over 5000 Times. It’s my story of when I met Christ at sixteen and started praying for my dad, an atheist.

Prayers for him to believe in the heavenly Father. And God answered my prayers sixteen years later when my dad gave his life to the Lord.

The Power of Praying Scriptures

Still, I struggled to believe my dad would ever become a Christ-follower.

Needing help with my own unbelief, I inserted my dad’s name into salvation Scriptures I prayed back to God. And loud enough for the enemy to know I was serious.

I believe it played a part in my dad’s salvation.

Also, praying the Bible acquaints us with the Scriptures, hides it in our hearts and reminds us of God’s promises.

I’m sharing 15 Scriptures I’ve personalized and prayed for family members or for myself. However, keep in mind the wealth of Bible topics available at our disposal.

Examples include: salvation, freedom from something, addictions, fear, healing, spiritual growth, strength, faith, trust, love, forgiveness, bondage, sin, wisdom, wayward souls, children and depression.

Simply research Bible verses that address your needs or those of family members.

Inserting Names into Scriptures 

How to Find Comfort in an Uncomfortable World

Comfort. 

Maybe comfort’s not overrated.

Or blown out of proportion…at least in the spiritual sense.

But most of us find ourselves in an uncomfortable state. 

Because we live in a world turned topsy-turvy. And we all took a crash course we never signed up for on how to manage current life. 

Life as we know it is now uncertain and unstable.

For many of us, the uncertainty robs our joy, while fear and worry creep in. Sometimes even supercharged panic pays us a visit.

There are ways to find comfort in uncertain times and uncomfortable places.

1. Limit the media we consume.

Staying intentional about what I’m feeding my mind helps me cope with stressful circumstances.

So I limit my intake of news media and social media in what and how much. Although we sometimes hear or read heroic and positive stories, media often focuses on the negative, debates political or social issues, and leaves us in a worse mental perspective than before.

While I am not advocating to pretend real facts don’t exist, I am saying to pay close attention to the source. Since the source—articles, videos, social media posts and people—may not be credible and often present conflicting or false statements. 

And evaluate the amount of media we consume. Consuming too much media and the wrong kind of media fuels worry, fear and “what-ifs.”

Instead, I focus on reading God’s Word—the source of truth, comfort, peace and real hope.

“This is my comfort in my affliction, That Your word has revived me.” (Psalm 119:50 NASB)