Thought Gathering

November 30, 2007
Today's entry is simply for me to gather my thoughts. It's out of the order I wanted to write in, but that's OK.
I am in a battle with the devil. As always, he is trying to get my mind confused and undermine my mission. I will win! Because "with Jesus, all things are possible." And what I am doing is for Him.
God speaks to me with vision. During prayer, God put in my heart three C's. I did not understand what He was saying to me for many months. Eventually, I realized He was saying "see", not the letter C.
He taught me the 3 kinds of seeing. The first two came easy. The 3rd, a bit harder to get, but simple to understand.
We see with our eyes of the flesh. We look, our brain registers what we are seeing and tells us what it is. We know. We see colors, shapes, dimensions, movement, etc. . You are reading this with your eyes of the flesh.
Then there is seeing with our minds. We form a vision of a thought, description or idea in our minds. An understanding. Notice people say "I see" when they understand what you are saying or describing. We describe something to a blind person and they have an understanding of what we are saying to them in their mind.
And then there's the 3rd way to see. It has taken months to truly understand it. I first came to realize it was seeing in the spirit, seeing like God sees. And then my pastor spoke God's words so that I finally saw. "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" That is seeing in the spirit. What we ask Him for, if we believe, is already done even if we don't see it manifested yet.
Flesh, mind and faith. The 3 C's I struggled to understand. So simple now, But I learned what He was saying and grew so close to Him in seeking His guidance.

Thoreau said, "The question is not what you look at, but what you see"

That being said, I find that there is yet more to be looked at. Being an artist, I tend to look for a deeper meaning in a piece of art. But your average person only sees the surface. Let's say you are looking at a painting of a train. It looks just like a train in every detail. It's beautifully painted with soft clouds in the sky and mountains and trees in the background. There's a train station off to the side with people all around. Nice to look at. But the artistic mind looks for more. What is the painting saying or expressing? Look closely in the crowd and you'll notice a man with a look of anguish on his face. What is he looking at? Notice also in the window of the train, the sad look on the face of the woman seated inside. There's a story in the painting. I don't know what it is, nor do I understand why I used a train for an example, so don't get too involved!
I want my artwork to speak volumes of Jesus on the surface as well as on a deeper level. I want it to tell the story to those who don't look for the deeper meaning. If I am looking at a piece of artwork and I can't get the meaning by studying it on my own, I want to know the story!
( I should write the story behind it to accompany each piece)
God gave us the Bible with the whole story in it. But sometimes we can't get it on our own. "Faith comes by hearing the word of God" hence, we go to church and hear our pastors teach it and speak it. That is how our faith grows. Then we see. You see?
I feel better. My mind is clear to complete my goal for the day.

P.S. Ever notice we say "In one ear and out the other" but we never say "In one eye and out the other" ? Hmmmmm post for another day.
God Bless