“LORD, OPEN MY EYES…”

Lawrence Oyor has shared on numerous occasions how he started praying for long stretches at a time.

The first time it occurred, he and a group of other young boys were drilled by a certain pastor to pray for twelve hours non-stop. A few of the lads absconded, and the others just wanted to literally die.

When that prayer was over, they were given a break of four hours – then resumed another twelve-hour stretch.

What made it even more ‘difficult’ was that they were given only one prayer point to pray for the entire duration:

“Lord, open my eyes.”

Today, a lot has changed. Lawrence no longer struggles to pray for twelve hours. Rather, he now holds meetings where youths pray for a minimum of 36 – 72 hours non-stop.

However, even in his personal life, one prayer still remains:

“Lord, open my eyes.”

A well-known minister was sharing how he attended a Kenneth Hagin campmeeting when he was still alive. He wanted to know how the great man of God prayed during these awesome meetings, especially when amazing miracles were taking place and the power of God was strongly manifesting.

Since he was on the Kenneth Hagin team, he was able to move closer to the man of God to listen – and he heard him muttering under his breath repeatedly, “Lord, open my eyes. Lord, open my eyes.”

Recently, I was reading the book of Job and I found myself praying this same prayer – and I will tell you why.

While Job is to be commended for his trust in and reverence for God, the truth is that Job was spiritually ‘blind’ to what was happening behind the scenes.

Spiritual blindness is simply spiritual ignorance – especially about (a) certain issue(s) – and it can be very deadly because it does the following:

(1) It Makes You Attack Humans – Instead Of The Enemy.
It was Satan who destroyed Job’s animals and killed his servants – but in the physical, the Sabeans and the Chaldeans raided Job and killed his servants. (Job 1:15&17)

If Job had been a man of war, he would have roused his army and gone to fight against the Sabeans and Chaldeans – unaware that something spiritual was going on behind the scenes.

And that is what spiritual blindness does:
It makes you blame people who are merely pawns in the enemy’s hand – and who don’t even know why they are acting in a certain way – instead of attacking the enemy himself, or at least asking God for revelation about the issue.

(2) It Ascribes To God What The Devil Does.
The servant said “…the ‘fire of God’ fell from heaven and killed all your animals and servants…” (Job 1:16)

Dear brethren, because the fire came from ‘above’ doesn’t mean it came from God. (This is a complete message on it’s own.)

Futhermore, after he lost all including his children, Job fell down and worshipped, saying “…the Lord gives, and the Lord has taken away…”
…but it wasn’t God who took.

(3) Spiritual Blindness Makes You Passive.
If Job was in our time – and he could see behind the scenes – he would have either:
– Rebuked the enemy because he was aware of His rights and God’s word, or
– Rejoiced and praised God actively – especially if God told him to hold his peace, because he knew justice and full restoration was certain.

However, because he was spiritually blind, Job passively accepted the situation because he couldn’t ‘fight against God.’

Even his worship was resigned because the situation was ‘as the Lord wills.’

But do you know the biggest reason the enemy wants us spiritually blind?

(4) It Affects Our Knowledge Of God.

You see, Job didn’t really know God.

Oh, he was a good and upright man, just in his dealings, and he reverenced and feared God – but he didn’t really know Him.
If he did,

• He would have known that it was completely against God’s nature to afflict His children. (Job 37:23).
• He would have known such senseless destruction of his family and business was totally anti-God.

But Job didn’t really know Him – and it was only after God revealed Himself to Job much later, that his eyes ‘opened’ and he said,

“I have heard of You with the hearing of my ears, but now, my eyes see You.” (Job 42:5)

In Jeremiah 9:23&24, God said, “Let no man boast in his wisdom, strength or riches. Rather, let him boast that he knows and understands me…”

Even as deep in God as Paul was, he still desired for himself “…that I may know Him…” (Philippians 3:10).

He yet went further to pray that ‘the eyes of understanding – of people who were already children of God – would be open, and they would have revelation “in the knowledge of God.”’ (Ephesians 1:17&18)

The warfare of spiritual blindness is to prevent us from really knowing God, and the enemy wants us ignorant of the true Person of God – so that he can give us a knowledge of Him that is twisted.

Warped.

Wrong.

That’s why we pull down mental strongholds, and cast down imaginations (theories, thought patterns, arguments) and everything that “exalts itself against the knowledge of God.”

Because when you know God…
…and you come to have more understanding of His never-ending love…
…and you realize His amazing plans for you that no one can see or imagine…
…and the extraordinary, unlimited power He has made available for you…
…and the glorious wealth and riches prepared for you…

…when you truly know God…

…you become unstoppable and dangerous to the enemy.

It is only the people who “know their God” that shall be strong and do exploits. (Daniel 11:32)

So, let’s join our hearts with Brother Lawrence…and with Brother Kenneth…and with Brother Paul…and a host of others to pray:

“Lord, open my eyes.”

(Do you have a prayer request? Send it in. We will DEFINITELY be praying.)

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