Growing Into My Green Eyes

"Jeremiah, what do you see?" (Jer. 1:11)

This verse provokes me. In this story, God was inviting Jeremiah to open his spiritual eyes and peer into the heavenly realm. To lean forward into the vision. To intensely fix his concentration on the picture shown to him. Today, Holy Spirit invites us to do the same. You may not be a prophet, but this intercessory petition from the book of Ephesians is for you: “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened…” (Eph. 1:18, NIV) Those are spiritual eyes He’s talking about there. He wants to empower ALL of us to see into His realm!

I need to tell you about another part of the vision that I shared in my previous post. It speaks to this invitation that the Lord is extending to us, to look intently into His world.

Remember the picture of my bright, probing green eyes? There was another scene to it that actually came first in the sequence. In it, I saw the face of a baby. Again, what leapt out from the picture were the eyes. This little child had one bright blue eye and one dark, gray eye.

Here is the interpretation that came to me as I wrote: the color blue signifies prophetic revelation. The one blue eye represents an organ of sight tuned into heavenly realities. As Jesus explained to us, “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness.” (Luke 11:34, NIV) In this verse, the “body” is a reference to the home, the location of your inner person.

This baby face thus represented me at an earlier phase of maturity. At that stage, only part of my spiritual eyesight was working to fill me with light. This was the meaning of the one bright blue eye – it was “good” by Jesus’ definition in this verse.

But my faculty of sight was not all the way there yet. The other eye was gray and dark. It was not yet “good.” This part of my spiritual perception was still immature. The gray eye represented the areas of my life where I was not yet accurately perceiving the Lord at that time. Parts of the inside of me were still in shadows as a result. Can you relate to this? Have you been there too?

The countenance of the child in the vision symbolized the early Biblical stage of maturity described in the book of Hebrews: “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk [is] still an infant...” (Heb. 5:12-13, NIV)

There was a time that significant portions of my inner space were still only dimly lit. I am so thankful to my Teacher that He didn’t leave me there. I share this to encourage you. If you need some help seeing more clearly, He is right by your side, bursting at the seams to give it to you!

Jesus went on to tell us in that same passage in Luke that we should “see to it” that our body is full of light (v. 35). He is exceedingly eager to take our hand and lead us forward into His adventure of seeing in the Spirit. As we ask, He empowers us. That is the point of the above mentioned verse in Ephesians. An excellent practice is to pray that very prayer over yourself on a regular basis. Lord, enlighten the eyes of my heart! He will joyfully do this for you as you make your request in simple, childlike trust.

I have longed to see Him better. I’ve been in His “Spiritual Perception Boot Camp” so to speak. You will learn more about this intensive training as I continue to blog. But here is the end result: my spiritual eyes are no longer two different colors. He has seasoned me. I have grown into my green eyes. His rigorous (at times exhausting) preparation has been a breathtaking gift. It has meant induction into a stage of development more akin to what is described in the next verse of the same Hebrews passage:

“Solid food is for adults--that is, for those who through constant practice have their spiritual faculties carefully trained...” (Heb. 5:14, Weymouth Translation)

The Lord has faithfully and patiently taught me to see, to distinguish, to perceive. He has grown me up through the persistent, disciplined use and focused exercise of the eyes of my heart. Out of His sheer goodness and gentle parenting, my spiritual faculties have come into adulthood – into maturity.

He will do this for each and every heart that hungers and thirsts for Him.

“What do you see, Jeremiah?” He asked the prophet so many centuries ago. Now I hear Him asking me, “What do you see, Jennifer?”

He is asking you, too, “Child, what do you see?”

Are you perceiving the spiritual realm? Take a moment and let Holy Spirit lovingly gauge for you the state of your heart’s eyes. In spirit, what color are they? Are your eyes “good,” by the definition in Luke? How much light is flooding the inside of you? Do you long to see Him more?

If you are hungry, I invite you to pray with me the Ephesians prayer over your spirit: Lord, enlighten my inner eyes! Focus the gaze of my heart on You and Your world! Help me lean into Your reality. Please continue to grow me up in my ability to perceive You and Your realm. I yearn for You! What do You want to show me today?