Seeing Life Through the Truth of God’s Word

When trouble comes, what is your first response? Do you immediately look at what is happening around you and think, How am I going to get through this?

The Apostle Paul discovered something that completely changed the way he faced hardship. He was beaten with rods and whips, imprisoned, destitute, hungry, rejected, persecuted, shipwrecked, and even left for dead. Yet somehow, he was able to look at all of that and call it a “light affliction.”

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

2 Corinthians 4:17

That doesn’t make sense from a natural perspective. But Paul was not looking at life through the lens of his circumstances. He was looking at life through who he was in Christ.

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:18

Paul wasn’t ignoring his problems—he was putting them in the right perspective. He understood that his hardships were temporary compared to the eternal glory God had prepared. When you focus only on what you can see, your problems grow. But when you look through the eyes of faith, you see that God’s promises are greater than your circumstances.

I believe this is something many believers need to understand. You may know what God has done for you, but do you really see yourself the way God sees you?

Your Starting Point Matters

Think about what happens when someone receives a serious diagnosis. Most people immediately see themselves as sick and begin fighting to become well. They pray, “Oh God, I’m sick. Please heal me,” instead of “Thank You, God, that I’m healed! I am a well person whom Satan is trying to make sick. He’s trying to steal my healing from me, and I refuse to let him!”

I don’t know if you caught it, but that’s huge. That is a completely different starting point. One begins from a place of defeat, while the other begins from a place of victory. When I quit seeing myself as the sick who was trying to get well, and instead saw myself as the well whom Satan was trying to steal from, it was a turning point in my life.

Once I understood the truth—that Jesus had already provided everything I need—I started walking in supernatural health.

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

1 Peter 2:24

This applies to every area of life, whether it’s healing, finances, discouragement, fear, or any other issue. If you see yourself as lacking, then you’ll spend your life asking God to provide what you believe you don’t have. But the Word says you have already been blessed.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

Ephesians 1:3, emphasis added

God is not trying to figure out how to take care of you. He already knows what you need and made provision before the need ever existed. That is a radically different perspective from what most people have.

Stop Seeing Your Problem as Bigger than God

One of the greatest mistakes you can make is believing your situation is unique. The enemy wants you to think, Nobody understands what I’m going through. It’s different and worse than anything anyone else has faced.

Paul endured tremendous hardship, yet he understood that nothing is greater than God’s power or the promises He has already given. The enemy doesn’t create a new strategy every time. The same temptations and struggles that you face today are the same kinds of things humanity has dealt with from the beginning.

We may have limited control over many things outside of ourselves, but we can control our perspective.

If you look at life through fear, unbelief, and what you see in the natural, it will limit you. But when you begin to look through the truth of God’s Word, faith rises. And faith is what releases the power of God.

It’s like Peter walking on the water. As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he was doing something impossible. But when he looked at the wind and the waves, fear took over, and he began to sink. The circumstances didn’t change. The waves and storm were still there. What changed was Peter’s focus.

And that’s what a new perspective does. It may not immediately change your circumstances, but it will change how you respond to them.

The Part of You That Cannot Be Defeated

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he was not speaking from a place of comfort. He was speaking as someone who had suffered.

God is never caught off guard by what you face. Before a need ever exists, God has already anticipated it and provided the supply. When you approach life knowing that nothing can come against you that God hasn’t already prepared for, you stop living by what you see and start walking by faith.

This was the perspective Paul had. Even in the middle of suffering and experiencing things that would cause many people to give up, he wrote this:

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

2 Corinthians 4:16

Notice what Paul was doing. He recognized that there was a difference between what was happening outwardly and what was happening inwardly.

Your circumstances may be difficult. People may criticize you, misunderstand you, and you may walk through some hard things you never expected. But your inward man can still be full of faith and joy, and be renewed day by day.

Most people focus on the outward man—their body, their circumstances, their problems, and their struggles. And those things become the center of their attention. But Paul understood that the most important part of him was not his outward circumstances. It was who he was in Christ.

When you are born again, you become a new creation, and the Spirit of God lives inside of you. The Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and more. That means those things are not only available when life is going well. They are part of who you are in Christ.

I know this from experience. I’ve suffered a lot of stuff. I’ve been run out of town on a rail. I’ve had to leave under duress. I’ve had people malign me and write front-page articles about what a terrible person I am. I’ve had national ministries say that I’m the slickest cult since Jim Jones. And not only have I experienced persecution and criticism, but I’ve also been through a lot of financial problems. I’ve gone through things that were not easy.

But I can tell you, I have come through those things and I am still rejoicing. I’m still in love with the Lord. I’m not ticked off. I’m not bitter because of it. And the reason is not because my circumstances are better than everybody else’s. It is because of the perspective I have.

There Is More to Discover

I go into much more detail in my full teaching, A New Perspective: How Eternal Truth Changes Everything You See, so I encourage you to get the materials we’ve made available to you. This new perspective changed my life, and I believe it can change yours too.