Fixing our eyes on Jesus

This week I, along with many other ministers within The UK and Ireland territory of The Salvation Army met together for three days of worship and the word at our ‘Officer’s councils’. I have to admit that in the midst of an incredibly busy season, I was most looking forward to a couple of days away with my husband where I didn’t have to cook, clean or do the washing! However, as God often does, he completely surprised me and I had the most powerful time away. 

The theme of the three days was ‘Lifting our eyes to the king’ and from the moment our time began I had a real sense that God was doing something. On the first afternoon, our Territorial Commander, shared with us about Peter walking on water and how we need to lift our eyes to the king, especially when we are in the waves and think we may be sinking. He shared with us some verses from Hebrews 12:1-3 and throughout the three days they kept playing through my mind. Five little words even kept me up in the middle of the night, and these verses became the focus of part of our final session together. They say:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

The words that I couldn’t shake from my mind were "Fixing our eyes on Jesus." The idea of looking to the king and fixing our eyes of Jesus flowed through the whole of the time together, however, when I came across this quote from Spurgeon about those five words, It really struck me. 

“The Greek word for ‘looking’ is a much fuller word than we can find in the English language. It has a preposition in it which turns the look away from everything else. You are to look from all beside to Jesus. Fix not thy gaze upon the cloud of witnesses; they will hinder thee if they take away thine eye from Jesus. Look not on the weights and the besetting sin-these thou hast laid aside; look away from them. Do not even look upon the race-course, or the competitors, but look to Jesus and so start in the race.”

When we fix our eyes on Jesus it means we are to look away from everything else around us, and not allow ourselves to be distracted. The things that we turn away from may not in and of themselves be bad things, as Spurgeon suggests, but they can so easily stop us from turning our eyes to the king. For me the challenge is to not take my eyes off Jesus and divert my attention to my ever-growing to do list, the responsibilities pulling me in so many different directions or the storms raging around.

One morning I found myself  in the prayer room and a few of us came together to pray, prophesy and speak the name of Jesus. As we did, we got a glimpse of what it looks like when his people fix their eyes on the king. We saw the Holy spirit start to move and we prayed bold prayers of dreams and visions, answered prayers, the supernatural, true worship and revival in The Salvation Army.

That afternoon I attended a truly inspiring session led by Rev Les Isaac. We were challenged to consider what new things God can do through The Salvation Army when we as spiritual leaders have an appetite for God to do more, and as he spoke, I got a real sense that something was brewing. Later, there was an anointed worship session where God continued to answer the prayers uttered in the prayer room earlier that day, and the Holy spirit fell. It was a special moment where there was a sense of unity as we all fixed our eyes on Jesus and worshipped him in Spirit and in truth. This was carried on into our final day and as we completed a beautiful piece of sacred art binding us as leaders within The Salvation Army to the cross, and as people lined the mercy seat there was a palpable sense that God was doing something new within his people

I thought it was really prophetic that as we prepared to return home from this spirit shifting time together, a storm hit our country and many of us had interesting journeys back to our homes and appointments. Reflecting on the last few days, I feel a real sense that God isn’t done with his church, and certainly not with The Salvation Army My prayer is that in the coming days The Salvation army and its people will continue to fix our eyes on Jesus, refusing to be distracted by the things around us and the storms that will come As we do this I know that we will see mighty things happen.