A Thankful Heart:
The Lifestyle of a People That Can See the Invisible God
By: Alan Smith
- Psalm 100: Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; W e are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.
Hmmm: to be a person that is really thankful; thankful for all things. Is it possible for us to be transformed into this heavenly creature? Does the condition of our hearts determine what we see? Does the condition of our hearts help to focus our spiritual eyes? How can we see this invisible God we love? I mean, how can we really see Him? But then we have to ask, is He really invisible or do we just need eyes that can see Him? Let’s take a spiritual journey and explore a little of the invisible world.
Things we see can be a language. The things we see around us do not come out of nowhere. They were created according to something in the invisible realm. What if we look at a “key” verse that unlocks this unseen world?
- Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him. (KJV)
So we can see that the scripture above has given us a road map into the unseen world. The Bible is teaching us that there are two worlds: one is visible and the other is invisible. Both worlds were created by Him. The created world, which is the visible, gives us the capacity to understand the unseen world, which is the invisible. The created world is a reflection of the unseen world. The unseen world has two speeds in which it moves. It moves faster than the naked eye and it moves slower than the naked eye. Let me give you an example. Can we see a tree or a child grow? I think not, but we can see a miracle of life. It is just moving at a pace that is slower than we can see with the naked eye.
On the other hand, there are also things that move faster than we can see. This means there is part of this creation that we just cannot see with the naked eye. This part of creations makes up the unseen world. God gives us revelations in which we can understand and see the unseen world. One of these revelations is that of the “thankful heart”. If God is in an unseen world, perhaps we need the capacity to go where He is. It is becoming very evident that we cannot enter into this world with our own understanding. The scriptures reveal to us a truth. We see in Psalm 100 above that we are to Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. If we are truly going to enter into this unseen world and into His presence, we first must do this with “thanksgiving”: thanksgiving unto Him. Are we truly thankful to God? I often find myself not very thankful at all. On the contrary, I find myself very unthankful most of the time. Why, we might ask ourselves? Could it be that what we focus on determines what we see? If what we see in the invisible world is determined by the condition of our hearts; then an “unthankful heart” sees that which is dark and depressing. It is always seeing what is going wrong on the planet. A “thankful heart”, however, can see dark as well as light, but chooses to focus on the light and the good. It sees what could be on the planet if our hearts were truly thankful for the opportunity that God has given us. I pray that we will consider our ways and become a thankful people unto our worthy God for all He has and is doing for us. Perhaps more next time on the “thankful heart”.
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