Following Judah's Lion

Turn Your Eyes

Eph.1:3-4 - 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

In this hedonistic culture the church has slowly but surely adopted their fallen view of almost everything. When a believer uses the word “blessings” he almost always is referring to some form of gain, whether it be financial, material, or some advancement in a particular field of endeavor. But Paul refers to “spiritual blessings in heavenly places”. Many translations refer to the blessings in the “heavenly realm”. How many of us actually think on the heavenly realm or much less dwell and meditate there?
Our blessings in Jesus Christ are far greater than green paper or earthly successes. What a shame it is that God has so graciously and abundantly given us ALL spiritual blessings and yet we remain transfixed by the glitz and glitter of this passing world. We seem somewhat grateful for homes and cars and food, but in reality so are the heathen. But do we retreat from all of this and in the secret place of the Most High do we bask in the glory of His presence and the eternal blessings in heavenly places?
Remember, God divided the land of Canaan by tribes, but to the Levites, the priests, God gave them Himself as an inheritance. What a blessing! The other tribes have dirt and stone but Levi has Jehovah as his glorious inheritance. The New Testament teaches us that we are priests before our God, and in that vein God has bestowed upon us “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you”.
Why do God’s people walk in the ways of Esau and daily trade their spiritual birthright for the perishing pottage of this fallen world? How tragic it is when we realize just how much we have given up to capture a few fleeting moments of carnal satisfaction, when the eternal blessings from the very hand of God await us in heavenly places. The heartbreaking truth is that we do not even seek the heavenly realm and we have grown content to warm our hearts by the fires of this earthly realm. What abundance we miss, and what glory we sacrifice. In fact, we sacrifice the manna of His wonderful presence for the leeks and garlic of this fast food culture.
So often we seek God’s hand and not His face. We have become accustomed to dead ritual and redundant observances instead of the freshness of a daily encounter with the Risen Christ. Spread out some of those spiritual blessings upon the altar of prayer and worship. Look over His grace and His mercy and His love and His eternal redemption. Embrace His sonship and His adoption and be nourished by the Vine into which you are grafted. His joy, His guidance, His healing, His forgiveness, His friendship, His unfathomable love. Do not just recall these blessings, but live in them. Let go of the temporal and grasp the eternal.
Halleluiah, the Lord God reigns! This world is passing and Christ is coming! We are His children and He is our Father! The ebbs and flows of this earthly life will continue. We will be well and we will be sick. We will have money and we will need money. We will rejoice and we will mourn. But our Great God and our Savior Jesus Christ does not slumber nor sleep.

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Let the moth eat and the thief steal and the dust decay. But as for us, we will abide under the shadow of His mighty wings and there we will find our life. Is the end near? For those of us who live in His everlasting presence and with the aroma of heaven saturating our very beings, this world has already ended. For those of you who still endure the whips and scorns of this present world and whose life in the Spirit is being sorely compromised in the earthly rat race, I say take some bread and take some juice and find a secluded place. In that place have a personal time of communion with Jesus and renew the reality of His covenant.
And as you rise from that place, embrace with determination His blessings in the heavenly realms, and leaving the past once more, seek Him with all your heart. He is right there to receive you into glorious presence.

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There's light for a look at the Savior
And life more abundant and free!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.

Thro' death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
Over us sin no more hath dominion-
For more than conq'rors we are!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.

His word shall not fail you-He promised;
Believe him, and all will be well;
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.