Developing Spiritual Perception

In the book of Isaiah, the Lord says something beautiful:

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
— Isaiah 43:19

Most of us love this verse.
We pray it.
We claim it.
We hold on to it when life feels dry.

But right in the middle of that promise, God asks a question that we often ignore.

“Do you not perceive it?”

God is not only talking about what He will do.
He is talking about whether we will recognize it.

That tells us something important.

God can be doing something real, good, and new,
and we can still miss it
if we do not perceive it.

That is what this message is about.
The eyes of perception.

This theme appears all through the Bible.

In Revelation, the Spirit keeps saying,

“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
— Revelation 2:7, repeated in Revelation 2–3

Jesus says something similar in the Gospels:

“You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
— Matthew 13:14

That means things can be happening right in front of us,
God can be active in our lives,
and still we may not recognize it.

Why would perception even be a problem?

Because God says,
“I am doing a new thing.”

A new thing is unfamiliar.
A new thing does not look like what came before.
A new thing does not follow our past patterns.

That is why perception is needed.

Think about a wilderness.

If you have ever gone hiking or walking in a forest, you know this.
A path exists only if someone has already walked there.

If you are the first person to go through, there is no visible way.
You can be standing right where the path is forming, and still not recognize it.

You can miss the way even while standing on it.

That is what God is saying: “I am making a way in the wilderness. Do you not perceive it?”

Think about a desert.

If you have been to a place like Rajasthan or any desert region, you do not expect water.

If you are thirsty and disoriented, and you do not recognize a stream when it appears, you will collapse, dehydrated and discouraged, even though provision is near.

The stream is real.
But perception is required.

God can be providing right in front of us, and we can still be lost.

The clearest example is Israel in Jesus’ time.

Jesus is the Messiah Israel waited for centuries. They knew the prophecies. They memorized Isaiah.

But when He came, they did not perceive Him.

Why?

Because He did not come the way they expected.

They expected a warrior.
They expected political power.
They expected a king who would overthrow Rome.

Instead, He came as a carpenter. From a small town. Without status.

That did not fit their imagination.
So they rejected Him.

One disciple even says,

“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
— John 1:46

That is perception at work, or rather, the lack of it.

We decide where God is allowed to come from.

Even when Jesus performs miracles, casts out demons, and heals openly, they still refuse to accept Him.

They say His power comes from Beelzebul.

Instead of adjusting their perception, they explain away the evidence.

Jesus challenges them:

“If I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out?”

They have evidence.
They have logic.
They have Scripture.

But they cannot accept the conclusion, because it does not match their expectations.

So they miss what God is doing.

Another reason we miss God’s work is because it often starts small.

Think about Elijah.

After three years of drought, Elijah prays for rain.
The land is cracked.
The need is massive.

What appears?

A cloud the size of a man’s hand.

Very small.
Very easy to dismiss.

Someone could say, “This cannot solve our problem.”

But if you miss the small cloud, you miss the rain.

Sometimes the problem is huge, and the answer begins tiny.

And we reject it.

The disciples do the same thing.

Jesus has five loaves and two fish. The crowd is enormous.

The disciples look at the numbers and say, “This is not enough.”

They dismiss it.
They want the crowd sent away.

But when what looks small is placed in the hands of Jesus, it becomes more than enough.

What they dismissed was exactly what God intended to use.

Another reason we lose perception is when our hearts are already captured by something else.

Think about Balaam.

Balaam is a prophet.
He hears God clearly.

But he is promised wealth and honor.

As he travels, the donkey sees the angel of the Lord with a drawn sword.

Balaam sees nothing.

The donkey stops.
Balaam gets angry.

Why could the donkey see, and the prophet could not?

Because Balaam’s eyes were clouded.

Not by ignorance, but by desire.

Wealth had already captured his heart.

So he could not perceive what God was doing.

Many times we are the same.

Worries.
Pleasures.
Money.
Success.

They can blind us.

Jesus teaches the same truth when He talks about the sower:

“The worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.”
— Matthew 13:22

Paul repeats this message in his letter to the Corinthians:

“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ.”
— 2 Corinthians 4:4

So this is why we miss it.

Because God’s work is new, and we expect old patterns.
Because God’s answers are small, and our problems are big.
Because God comes from places we do not respect, in ways we did not imagine.
Because our hearts are already full with other pursuits.

We want new wine, but we want it in old wineskins.
We want God to move, but only in ways we are already comfortable with.

That is why we need eyes of perception.

What do I mean by “eyes of perception”?

Eyes of perception means the ability to notice what God is already doing, even when it is small, quiet, or inconvenient.

It is not about education.
It is not about experience.

It is the ability to recognize God’s activity before it becomes obvious to everyone else.

It is seeing the small cloud before the rain.
It is noticing the stopped donkey before the danger.
It is hearing the whisper before the noise.

# How to develop eyes of perception

So how do we develop eyes of perception?

First, the Word of God.

That is why David says:

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” - Psalm 119:105

A lamp does not show the whole road. It shows the next step.

God usually does not reveal the full picture. He reveals what we need for the next step.

Second, the Holy Spirit.

The prophet Isaiah says:

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’” - Isaiah 30:21

Often it is not loud. Often it is a whisper.

That is why our hearts must stay sensitive.

Third: Time Alone With God

There is one more thing that shapes our perception.

Time alone with God.

Community prayer is good.
Worship together is important.

But perception is usually formed in private.

The Bible says:

“He did not say anything to them without using a parable.
But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.”
(Mark 4:34, NIV)

The crowd heard stories. The disciples received understanding. Jesus explained things when they were alone.

God has always worked this way.

He spoke to Abraham privately about what He was about to do (Genesis 18:17).

He spoke to Moses face to face when no one else was around (Exodus 33:11).

Daniel understood what was happening after he went and prayed in private (Daniel 2:17–18).

Even Jesus withdrew to lonely places to pray (Luke 5:16).

Public moments are for proclamation. Private moments are for explanation.

When you spend time alone with God, He does not always change your situation immediately.

But He changes your understanding.

He shows you what He is doing. He explains what is happening. He adjusts your perception.

That is where clarity comes from.

When we walk with the Word, listen to the Spirit, and spend time alone with God, our perception changes.

We begin to see what God is doing, even when it is small.

We do not miss the cloud. We do not ignore the warning. We do not walk blindly into danger.

That is how heaven begins to touch earth. That is how we walk faithfully with God.

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