In the world, it’s common to hear the phrase, “Seeing is believing”, but in the Kingdom of God, many things can appear upside-down. Jesus told us the last shall be first, the weak will be strong, the sad will receive joy, and the lonely will become families. We are promised that those who have not seen but believe anyway will be blessed (John 20:29). Jesus explains that if we believe, first, we will then see the glory of God (John 11:40). What exactly is the glory of God? It’s the manifested excellence, power, majesty and presence of God. Wow! Who wouldn’t want to see that? So as believers, we can say, “Believing is seeing”.
The secret to seeing such goodness and faithfulness of God on display in our lives is to adopt a visionary lifestyle that can visualize a victory before it happens; A mindset that can visualize already receiving what was prayed for; The spiritual foresight that can envision already having the promises of God.
Faith is the first requirement before we are able to see anything. Hebrews 11:1 gives us a nice definition of faith:
“Faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1 GW).”
Faith is not based on human sight but on our spiritual insight (of knowing who God is) and the foresight to see into the future. This is why Paul reminded the Church to live by faith and not by sight (II Corinthians 5:7).
Faith requires us to look beyond what we see with our physical eyes because faith is visionary. Moses, Abraham, David, and Paul were all visionaries. They had the ability to envision all that God promised long before it came to pass. They were able to look forward in faith because they knew God would deliver on His promises.
How can we increase our faith to behold a future we have yet to see? The New Testament tells us that faith comes by hearing the Word. As we increase our intake of God’s Word, described as seed, it will grow in our spirits and produce a harvest.