Topic: Recover Your Vision with Prayer [RICK WARREN Devotional 27 July 2021]
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Recover Your Vision with Prayer
BY RICK WARREN — JULY 27, 2021
“They said to him, ‘Lord, let our eyes be opened.’ And Jesus . . . touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.”
Matthew 20:33-34 (ESV)How is your perspective these days? You may be living with a sense of contentment and gratitude. If that’s you—great! But if you’re stuck in a negative pattern of thinking and have lost your sense of direction, God wants you to recover your vision.
But it will only happen with prayer.
Maybe you’re locked into a habit, hurt, or hang-up, and you can’t see your way out of it. Maybe it’s an unhealthy relationship, a bad attitude, or a way of living. No matter what it is, with prayer, you can recover your vision and see things you’ve never seen before.
There’s a story in the Bible about two blind men who recovered their sight when they prayed. The Bible says, “And when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, ‘Lord, have mercy on us!’” (Matthew 20:30 ESV). This was a passionate prayer, like King Hezekiah’s prayer from yesterday’s devotional.
But the crowd told the blind men to be silent. So they prayed even louder, and Jesus stopped and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Matthew 20:32 ESV). I love that. Jesus let them set the agenda. And he’ll let you do the same. He wants you to tell him what you need. And any time you tell Jesus something, you’re praying.
Then they answered, “‘Lord, let our eyes be opened.’ And Jesus . . . touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him” (Matthew 20:33-34 ESV).
Doesn’t that sound like a good pattern? You pray, recover, and follow Jesus. You start looking at life from God’s viewpoint, and you see things you’ve never seen before. You see your spouse, friends, family, coworkers, and even strangers as valuable, acceptable, and forgivable. You also see those things about yourself. Your entire perspective changes.
The Bible says in Mark 6:34, “When Jesus . . . saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (NIV). That’s the way Jesus sees people—with compassion. And he wants to recover your compassion for yourself, your loved ones, your community, your country, and the rest of the world.
Ask God to restore your vision so you can follow him and see people the way Jesus does.
- Is there a negative pattern of thinking you need to recover from?
- What keeps you from crying out to Jesus to tell him what you need?
- What changes to the way you see others and yourself do you think God wants to make in you?