Eyes That See

In 1 Samuel 3:1, Berean Standard Bible, we find Israel in a state very similar to where the Church is today: “Now in those days the word of the LORD was rare, and visions were scarce.” The prophetic movement has come under great scrutiny, due to the issues of inaccurate prophetic words, UnChristian character, and manipulation and abuse by those who have led or been on the forefront of the prophetic movement for years. Like the days of Samuel, the true word of the Lord is rare, and visions (not wishons) are ever rarer. As someone who has experienced the real, I would like to see that change. That’s what I’d like to talk about in this post.

I have walked with prophets who were visionary prophets; they were seers. John Paul Jackson was a friend who operated in visions on a regular basis. He would see the angel of the Lord, as he was moving in meetings. Accurate and powerful. In fact, God’s manifest presence was so strong that when I attended his meetings in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, it appeared that I was drunk because I was so deeply affected and overwhelmed by God’s presence. Burton Seavey, a friend who was an accurate prophet in the Chicagoland area, who had a history of moving in prophetic ministry since the 1950s, when he saw William Branham at the height of his ministry, was a seer prophet. He described what would happen in healing meetings. He would have a vision of a particular person he would see healed, and he would do exactly what he saw in that vision (by the way, he didn’t know before having a vision that that person would be there or even who they were).

Experiencing the seer ministry through other men and women of God taught me much about the seer ministry. I learned that seer prophets see into the realm of the spirit — good and evil. I, myself, have functioned as a seer prophet. In my only vision, I physically saw God’s glory. It nearly impossible to describe. It was like 10,000 suns rolled up into one that didn’t hurt my eyes. While I was in that vision, I had God give me, in my spirit, two scripture verses that would describe the ministry I was called into — God had given me the gift of discerning of spirits. From that point, I could physically sense God’s holy presence, the weightiness of His glory, and I could physically see demon spirits, who would appear in various forms based on what they would do. God gave me the ability to see into the realm of the spirit.

Unfortunately, much of the seer’s ministry has been lost and believers have been gaslighted by those who have sought to profit from their “visions”. It’s sad that the Church has such a lack of discernment. We don’t, won’t, or can’t recognize those spirits operating in churches. And yes, there are demons operating in disguise in churches, even under the guise of the prophet’s ministry. In the process, the Church has descended into foolishness. Although the wisdom of God may be foolishness to the world, it’s not foolish or fool hardy. Rather, true prophetic ministry should contain vital information for the governing of the Church under the inspiration of the Spirit. Prophets, especially seer prophets, are designed by God to lead churches in the right, not wrong, direction. What’s the right direction? Towards greater fruitfulness. As Jesus said, “By their fruit you will recognize them.” Matt. 7:16, Berean Standard Bible.

Why aren’t we using this Biblical standard for evaluating prophetic ministry? Because the Church doesn’t have eyes to see. We don’t know how to see what God is doing or what the devil is doing. That has placed the Church in a precarious position — we are defenseless against the onslaught of Satan and the infiltration by his agents into the Church. As a result, we experience and succumb to attacks by our enemy that we should overcome. The lack of vision has put us, God’s people, in jeopardy. How can we move out of that unprotected place? By recovering what was lost — eyes to see.

In Proverbs 20:12, ESV, we learn, “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the LORD has made them both.” Yet Jesus asks this pointed question: “Do you have eyes, but fail to see? Do you have ears, but fail to hear? Don't you remember?” Mk. 8:18, ISV. In Matthew 13:16, Christian Standard Bible, Jesus commends his disciples and apostles, “Blessed are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear.” Yes, seeing is a blessing and not seeing or not seeing clearly falls under the curse. As such, having eyes that see is a very important part of our spiritual life. We must be able to see.

Jesus is our example of someone who had eyes that could see and ears that could hear. In fact, He makes this bold statement: “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” Jn. 5:19, NKJV. Notice, Jesus refers to Himself as the Son. He was highlighting His personal relationship with the Father. To be the Father’s Son, He had to obey the Father. To obey the Father, He had to see what the Father was doing. It was as if Jesus was calling us to do what He did — be a son.

As children of the Father, we have the innate ability to see what the Father is doing. That’s God’s gift to His children. When we operate as sons and daughters, we see what the Father is doing. Then, it takes faith for us to do what we see Him doing. Why is that? God does the impossible, thr miraculous. And we cannot do the impossible, miracles, without Him. Yet, miracles are what we are called to do. That’s why so many think they aren’t seeing what the Father is doing: what they see is beyond their ability to believe. Everything God does requires faith to do.

So then, faith sees. Yes! In Hebrews 11:10, New Heart English Bible, we see Father Abraham who “looked for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” He had the vision to foresee the City of God. And Moses, who would later physically see God’s backside, while he was stilll in Egypt, the Bible says, “he saw Him who is invisible.” Heb. 11:27, Berean Standard Bible. That’s why Moses was willing to give up everything for God’s people. Moses saw God before he actually saw God. It was that vision of God that sustained him throughout his life.

When you catch a glimpse of God, it radically transforms your life. That’s what happened to the prophet Isaiah, he saw God. In Isaiah 6:1, NKJV, Isaiah shares his vision of God, “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” What transpired next was the prophet being cleansed — from sins of the tongues, which had caused Isaiah to be in a state of sin: “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.” Is. 6:7, NLT. Because Isaiah started talking like everyone around him, their sin had become his sin.

Yes, sins of the tongue can obscure our vision, lead us into sin, and cause us to be captured by the very words of our mouth. As it says in Proverbs 6:2, NKJV, “You are snared by the words of your mouth; You are taken by the words of your mouth.” Possibly the one thing that obscures our vision more than anything else is the sins of our own tongue. With Israel, “their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.” Is. 3:8. That’s why Israel lacked the ability to see: their own tongues blinded them to God and what He was doing.

Often, it’s our own speech and language that stops us from receiving from God. Further, it can stop us from being a conduit for God. What we say really does matter that much. So, to receive fresh vision from God, eyes that see, we must allow him to cleanse our speech. Without that, we will continue our hardness toward Him and what He’s doing. As such, the call to purity of flesh must start with the purity of our speech, which begins with the purifying of our hearts. As the Apostle James, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:8, ESV.

The first step towards renewed prophetic vision with new eyes to see with begins by us cleansing our hearts and purifying our speech. You can’t talk trash and be filled with God. And, quite honestly, there’s a lot of trash talking taking place in the prophetic movement. Is it any wonder why we don’t see what God’s doing? How can we? Our tongues are against what Jesus died to free us from — the wages of sin, the harms of sickness and disease, and awfulness of poverty and lack.

My prayer for you is that God would restore your vision by cleansing you from all sin, sins of the flesh and sins of the tongue.

Let us pray!

— Scott Wallis