Do you feel God is distant and not interested in you? In that case don’t trust your feelings. God is near and very interested in you. But let’s see why we could feel that way. First of all we need to know that God is not hiding. God is waiting to be found. So if we are spiritually unsatisfied it has something to do with us.

Do we rush through life so stressed out and busy that we don’t have time to slow down and see what God has for us? Do we know so well what’s good for us that we don’t have time to listen to what God has for us?

If so, we are missing out big time.
If we keep our spiritual eyes shut we are unable to see what God is doing in our lives.
If we keep our spiritual eyes shut we don’t recognize God’s miracle-wonders.
If we keep our spiritual eyes shut we feel God is distant.
Maybe it is time to open our spiritual eyes wide open.

    Be generous with me and I’ll live a full life;
      not for a minute will I take my eyes off your road.
   Open my eyes so I can see
      what you show me of your miracle-wonders.
   I’m a stranger in these parts;
      give me clear directions.
   My soul is starved and hungry, ravenous!—
      insatiable for your nourishing commands.
(Psalm 119: 17-20, MSG, emphasis added)

The only way to be spiritually alive is to live in God’s grace. When the Holy Spirit lives in us we start seeing God’s blessings everywhere. And I am not talking about parting-the-Red-Sea size miracles. They happen, too. But everyday life is full of beauty and God’s presence if we keep our spiritual eyes open.

Spiritual growth happens when we learn to hear and obey the voice of the Lord. An ongoing process in deepening our spiritual life is learning – by God’s grace – to live according to God’s will. This does include spiritual disciplines whether we like it or not.

Because we need them to keep our spiritual eyes wide open.
Because we need them to grow in faith.
Because we need them to be robust in Christ.

The spiritual life is not meant to be chaotic. In order to be spiritually satisfied we need to be rooted in the word of God and prayer. The spiritual life is an ongoing, dynamic relationship with God. It’s powered by the Holy Spirit but we need to do our part of the relationship by continually showing up. When we obey God’s commands and follow his guidance we will be blessed beyond measure. By God’s grace each of us will live a full life with our spiritual eyes open for his miracle-wonders.

Gracious God,
Open our eyes wide open for you!
Claim a permanent residence within us!
Teach us your ways!
Show us how to follow you more closely.
Empower us to extend your grace to others.
Guide us into a deeper relationship with you.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: How do you keep your spiritual eyes open? What keeps you spiritually healthy?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you keep your spiritual eyes wide open and embrace what God is doing for you, in you, with you, through you!

Bloggers: note a prayer blog hop “Weekend Prayer Wall” at Flowing Faith every weekend! Image courtesy of Elideth Ceniceros. Linking up today with