Faith is Seeing the Unseen
Steve Sampson

Faith is nothing more than seeing the invisible.

While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are
seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Cor 4:18 NKJ)

Every child of God has two sets of ears and two sets of eyes.  We have the natural set that we are born with, and
we have a spiritual set that we’ve been given upon being born again.  As we grow spiritually, we begin to see with
our spiritual eyes and hear with our spiritual ears.

Jesus is our example.  He stated plainly that He was able to see what the Father was doing, and hear what the
Father was saying.  Like us, He had to allow the Holy Spirit to let Him see and hear.  The success of Jesus’
ministry was based on the time He spent with the Father and hearing Him accurately.

Then Jesus answered and said to them, "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. (John 5:19 KJV)

"I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will
but the will of the Father who sent Me.  (John 5:30 NKJ)

As Christians, we must see from God’s perspective and hear His direction and command.  Our walk must be one
of total openness to Him and a willingness to obey.

Natural Eyes and Ears don’t Always Tell The Truth

Without recognizing the Holy Spirit, most of us let our natural eyes and ears and our other senses dictate to us and
record it as reality.  God never promised to lead us by our physical senses or our mental faculties.  In every
situation, we have to take note not so much what our natural (physical) senses are telling us, but rather what the
Holy Spirit is revealing.  What we see through the eyes of the Spirit is usually in great contrast to what the natural
eyes are representing as fact.  Our physical senses deceive us and are unreliable.

What He does reveal, in the unseen realm, has far more reality than what we observe in the seen realm.  When we
see through the eyes of the Spirit, everything changes.

This type of praying is exciting and extremely effective, because it is praying in the perfect will of God.

What God speaks, it brings things from the unseen realm into reality.

The exciting part about hearing God is that the Holy Spirit will enable believers to “cross over” by the Spirit into the
eternal realm.

It is seeing the unseen (eternal) realm where we perceive the will of God.  Once we see the will of God and what
exists from His perspective, we can cross back over and announce what God wants to perform in the natural,
temporal world.

Noah was another one who peered into the unseen realm and watched God pull back the curtain of future events.
Then he came back to the temporal (seen) realm and announced the mind of God.  Building the ark was a
response to the heavenly reality.

As Christians in the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit will let us see beyond things in the natural, and look into the
eternal — if we choose to see through His eyes.  When we see, it becomes a reality, and we can announce what
already exists in God’s mind – and it will then be a reality in the temporal (seen).

In prayer, we can cross that bridge and see as God sees.  Faith is that bridge between the eternal (the unseen)
and the temporal (the seen).  Prayer is so exciting.  Real prayer is not just words, but intently waiting on God until
we, by the Spirit, see what He is seeing.

The gifts of the Spirit operated through those who choose to see into the eternal.  As the word of knowledge is
given, or prophecy comes forth, then that which is unseen can be received and accepted and become manifest to
us.

Turning Off The Faucet

When Elijah stood before Ahab, he declared, "As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall
not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word." (I King 17:1 NKJ)
Elijah proclaimed that it would not rain according to his word, not God’s word.  Why could he make such a
statement?  He had already crossed the bridge of faith from the temporal to the eternal, and in seeing the mind of
God, he turned the water faucet off!  The eternal realm was such a reality that he not only turned the water off, but
knew that he had the authority to turn it back on.  I think he carried the water faucet handle in his pocket!

He was speaking with audacity before King Ahab, because he had been there, in the eternal realm.

Three and a half years later, he had to turn the water faucet back on.  He went up on top of Mount Carmel. 

Then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees…   (I King 18:42 NKJ)

Why did he put his face down between his knees?  In real prayer, in order to see into the eternal (unseen) realm,
the mind has to come under subjection to the Holy Spirit.  Elijah kept his mind subjected in that position, while he
commanded his servant to check for results.

And said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea." So he went up and looked, and said, "There is
nothing." And seven times he said, "Go again."  Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, "There is a
cloud, as small as a man's hand, rising out of the sea!" So he said, "Go up, say to Ahab, 'Prepare your chariot,
and go down before the rain stops you.'"  (I King 18:43-44 NKJ)

His servant represented faith.  When we are praying with expectation, we have to command our faith (as a servant)
to go check to see what God has done.  Every time the servant when to check, it was an act of expectation.

In prayer, New Covenant Christians can press into God and “see” into the eternal realm.  This is where God
reveals His will, and shows us how to pray and what to pray for.

In this type of praying, we receive strategies from God.  Many times when in a meeting, I’ll ask the Lord what evil
spirits we will be battling.  As he shows me, I bind them, and turn off “their faucets” of influence.  Also, the Lord will
often show me specific things He desires to do in each meeting, such as healings He is going to manifest.  This
type of praying is exciting and extremely effective, because it is praying in the perfect will of God.

Faith is “seeing” what is going on in the heavenlies, and declaring it a reality.