Seeing God

Seeing God

Come and See God!
What is true Christian living? What is true worship? Martin Luther once said “true worship is the tenth leper turning back”. His remarks were based on Luke 17:11-19 (MSG):

It happened that as he made his way toward Jerusalem, he crossed over the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten men, all lepers, met him. They kept their distance but raised their voices, calling out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Taking a good look at them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” They went, and while still on their way, became clean. One of them, when he realized that he was healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude, glorifying God. He kneeled at Jesus’ feet, so grateful. He couldn’t thank him enough—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus said, “Were not ten healed? Where are the nine? Can none be found to come back and give glory to God except this outsider?” Then he said to him, “Get up. On your way. Your faith has healed and saved you.” 

All ten were healed physically. But the one who came back to give glory to God received something so much more: he was healed, saved and made whole. Because he recognized who Jesus was. He not only experienced a miracle but he was able to perceive it as such. He noticed God was in action. Hence he turned back to Jesus. He was bursting out gratitude, glorying God with everything he got. That’s true worship. And that’s also true Christian living. How come?

Christian living is all about seeing God. Not just about believing the creed but really seeing God. Recognizing his gifts. Sensing his presence. Acknowledging his holiness. And then staking our lives on the promises of God.

When we really see God, we acknowledge that God is God and we are not. When we really see God, everything changes because God’s power is in operation. When we really see God and surrender to him, we are saved and made whole.

Then we can’t help but praise him and glorify him.
Just like the tenth leper.
Then we can’t help but follow Jesus.
Just like the tenth leper.

When we live in this wonderment of Jesus, we are truly worshiping. When we live in reverent awe of God, we are truly living our faith out. When we live in wild grace, we are truly seeing God all around us. And God is good. He continues to redeem us, restore us, renew us and refresh us. And his love endures forever!

 

Gracious God,
Give us eyes to see,
really see you
all around us.
Give us grateful hearts
to recognize miracles.
Enable us to turn back to you
and worship you
and glorify you
forever and ever!
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Do you have difficulties to see God? What does help you to see God? How do you see God?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you see God and follow Jesus!

Giving thanks today for
#791 God is in miracle business
#792 God is making us whole
#793 counting blessings is a blessing
#794 God wants us to see him
#795 Believing is seeing
#796 life is a miracle
#797 seeing God is a blessing
#798 worshiping is expressing gratitude
#799 grace enables us to see
#800 grace empowers us to worship

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Image courtesy of Samuel Kaylor. Linking up today with Linking up today with What’s on Your Heart Tuesdays Wordfilled Wednesday, All Things Heart & Home , God-Bumps and God-incidences , Work in Progress, Come to the Table, and

32 thoughts on “Seeing God

  1. Thanks for this sweet and important reminder, Mari-Anna!! This is a powerful (yet sometimes hard) story from the Bible.

    I have trouble seeing God when things of this world distract me– I am currently on a quest to live with Jesus ABOVE my circumstances and let my faith drive my feelings– not the other way around.

    He’s still working on me– and it sure is a blessed journey. Glad I stopped by again today 🙂

    1. Thank you, Sharita, for stopping by and commenting! Yes, we are all his works in progress. Thankfully God has promised to keep on restoring us. Step by step we will -by grace- make it. There’s as much grace as we need. 🙂 Big blessings to you and yours!

  2. It’s like moving beyond ordinary faith. You’ve encountered. You now know. (Ahh my next blog post!) 🙂 As always, I thank you for your thoughts.
    Blessings in His Name,
    Felecia

  3. Beautiful post- love this passage of scripture!

    Lately I’ve been blown away in knowing God actually listens to me! Pretty humbling when one stops to think about it.

  4. I like the line in your prayer that says, “Give us grateful hearts” so many times I pray and God answers and off I go without remembering to stop and say “thank you!” Something that I get irritated at other people for not doing! Ack! Yes Lord, give me a grateful heart! Amen.

  5. Our hope in God and His Word can be the only anchor that holds for our souls. We must learn as His children to not be intimidated by the fiery darts the enemy throws at us and become skilled at having the high praises of God in our mouths and a two edged sword in our hands. May we live like that leper – always turned towards Jesus giving Him praise. Thanks for a great post to remind us of our direction.

  6. blessed are those who believe without seeing ~
    John 20:29
    Jesus said to him, Because you have seen Me, Thomas, do you now believe (trust, have faith)? Blessed and happy and to be envied are those who have never seen Me and yet have believed and adhered to and trusted and relied on Me.

    seeing through eyes of understanding that have been opened through experiencing Love ~
    worship resulting ..

  7. the story of the ten lepers is one of my very favorites. honestly, for
    me, I never see God more than when I’m with the least of these. i spent
    last week with sick babies in Guatemala… and I saw Jesus in each of
    them.
    thanks so much for sharing with us at heart+home link up,
    lauren

  8. Stopping by as part of the Come To THe Table hop. Thank you for these inspirational thoughts!

    Susan M (blog: Loves 2 Read)

  9. Hi Mari-Anna

    Thank you for your post. I found you through ‘Come to the Table’ hop.
    I love the the Glory moments; where we see God’s goodness displayed in abundance. Nature particularly speaks to me . The Martin Luther comment is powerful.

  10. I’m visiting with Come to the Table hop. Nature is a powerful one for me. To deny a creator after seeing a sunset or thunderstorm is a mystery to me. I feel close to God when I listen to music and sing.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

RSS
Follow by Email