Eyes to See

One thing I used to always pray in high school for people that I thought might not be saved was that God would "soften their hearts" and "give them eyes to see and ears to hear."  Regarding a soft heart, in the Old Testament God says that when someone gets saved He will take out a person's heart of stone and give them a new heart, one that is soft. This makes sense too in relation to the parable of the seeds.  The hard ground did not receive the gospel.  But the soft soil did and it bore much fruit. :) 

So it seems to be a combination of us softening our own hearts in order to really receive the gospel and God softening our hearts.  All things in the Christian walk, from initiation to the end, are this partnership of us doing part of it and God doing part of it, the work of saving and sanctifying us.  It is not all us and it is not all God; it is both of us working together.  Amen.  We can't get lazy and think that God will do everything, like make us WANT to read our Bibles etc.  But we can't get overly stressed and think it's all on us either.  It's a partnership. :)

The second phrase is one that Jesus said over and over at the end of his parables.  He meant that yes we all have eyes, but many of us don't REALLY see.  And we all have ears, but many of us don't REALLY hear.  As in we don't see and hear spiritual things; we can't really perceive them, because God has not opened our eyes.  The Bible says that Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers. 

I personally have never experienced this, because since I was about two it seems I knew and understood the message of the Bible.  But there are testimonies of people who could not understand the gospel or the Bible at all, and then God one day opened their eyes to see it all and understand it.  Praise God! 

May God give us all eyes and ears that can understand spiritual matters fully.  Amen!  (I was reading the story of how the candy cane was meant to be a witnessing tool about Jesus and thought about all that. : ) 

God bless!