Have you ever noticed when you’re walking down the street, if something catches your attention, you somehow find yourself drifting in that direction? Suddenly someone yells at you, “Hey, look where you’re going!” But the problem is, you’re going where you’re looking!
The same principle is true in every area of life. What you look at or set your heart on is what you’ll do or where you’ll go. This is why God wants us to focus on His Word and not on our circumstances. Whatever we continually focus on in the Word of God, we can have.
In Second Corinthians 4:18, the Apostle Paul told us not to fix our eyes on the things we see around us. Instead, we must fix our eyes on the unseen promises of God. Paul was telling us to look at the things that are eternal.
You see, you’re a product of what you continually give your attention to. If you look at evil long enough, you will go in that direction. If you gaze at the Word long enough, you will become what it says you are.
When I was younger, if I saw a car I liked as I was driving down the street, I would stop and look at it. I’m sure many people can identify with doing this. You pull into a sales lot and get out to look at a particular car. You sit behind the wheel and say, “I really like this car!” Then you look at the price tag, and the next thing you say is, “Oh, no way!” But in a few days you go back and look at that car again. For ladies, it may be a new dress or handbag.
When you’re not in the sales lot or standing in front of the store window, you can still see yourself driving that car or wearing that dress. And if you keep looking long enough at that car or dress—or whatever else you desire—you will find a way to buy it.
You’re going where you’re looking, whether it’s in a positive or negative direction. Negative things are packaged attractively to catch our eye. The devil wants to capture our attention and divert it from God’s Word. He knows if he can cause us to look at things other than the Word, he can stop us from receiving what God said is ours.
God’s words are life. Keeping our eyes on His Word brings life to us in every area!
We must get hold of this: if we can see something in the Word, we can have it!
PROVERBS 4:20–22 (NLT)
20 My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words.
21 Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart,
22 for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.
God makes a significant point to us through this passage of scripture. He says, “My child, pay attention! This is important now and for your future!” He is telling us not to lose sight of His words (v. 21). As long as we keep focusing on them, they will penetrate us and take us where we want to go. His words will carry us to a place of life and healing (v. 22).
We must get hold of this: if we can see something in the Word, we can have it! Looking at God’s Word sets our course for what it says we can have. The Word of God is to us spiritually what a GPS navigation system is to us naturally. Once you program your destination into it, the GPS system takes you to the exact place you want to go.
Christians have the best navigational system there is—God’s Word! That navigational system will take us wherever we need to go in life if we keep it in front of us. It will bring us whatever we need. And it will keep us safe in the midst of a storm.
See Yourself the Way God Sees You
What are you facing today? Begin to see yourself with the answer God gives you in His Word. See yourself possessing the promises of God.
As a young man, Joseph believed God’s promises. He believed God would bring to pass the visions He had given him when he was just a boy. (See Genesis chapter 37.) Joseph ended up in prison but saw himself free, and he eventually became the prime minister of Egypt. Although Joseph went through many negative circumstances, he never wavered. And he saw the visions God had given him become a reality!
It’s important to see yourself the way God sees you. See yourself protected, surrounded with His favor. Look at the Word, believe it, and say what it says. Remember, you will receive what you look at.
I learned at an early age to see myself the way God sees me. In 1959 while I was going to Bible school, I worked on a freight dock in Dallas, Texas, loading and unloading trailers.
We had an old foreman who rode us hard. We were working ourselves silly, but he’d still yell at us. One day I heard him coming down the line, asking people if they could do certain jobs. One at a time, each answered, “No, I can’t.”
When he came to me, he said, “Hagin, can you do this job?”
“Yeah!” I replied.
A guy loading next to me who went to the same Bible school I did said, “Hagin, you don’t know how to do that job.”
“I will by tomorrow at 2 o’clock,” I told him. “The Bible says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
I went to the library and studied that job and talked to a friend who did similar work. As a result, I was promoted when others weren’t simply because I said, “I can.” I saw myself the way God’s Word says I am.
Many people miss out because they say, “I can’t do that.” If you see something the way God sees it, you can! Man puts so many limits on things, but with God there are no limits. That’s why it’s crucial for you to see yourself the way God sees you. See and talk about yourself differently. Don’t talk about how tired you are. Talk about how full of life you are. Don’t talk about what you can’t do. Begin to talk about what you can do.
Instead of looking at everything coming against you, look into the Word and let it get inside and penetrate you. Every obstacle is an opportunity to prove that God’s Word works. Seeing the obstacles in life that way will change your whole perspective. It will change how you feel and how you talk. It will change everything!
Author
Kenneth W. Hagin
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