Did you know that God sees things from a different perspective than we do? In part 7 of The God Plan Ashley and Carlie share how we can begin to see things the way that God does.
Transcription
Announcer: Why live a normal life when you could be living the abundant life? Welcome to The Abundant Life program with Ashley and Carlie Terradez.
Ashley: Hello and welcome to The Abundant Life. We’re so glad you joined us today. We’ve got a program for you today. We’re going to be talking about God’s perspective on things. Did you know God sees things differently than we see things. In fact, just the other day I was traveling and I was up in an airplane, and I realized the difference between seeing things from that height, 35,000 feet, however high they fly, than being on the ground driving. It just gives you a totally different outlook. I was going over the same streets I’ve just been on, but by being up that high, I saw things differently and it gave me a new perspective. I could see the whole picture. I could see around more. I could see… Whereas down in the car on the street level, all I could see was hindrances. When I was up looking in that airplane, I could see opportunities.
So, God sees things differently than we see. So, today we’re going to be looking at God’s perspective on things, how God sees things. [inaudible] if we line up with how God sees things, praise God, it’s going to change our outlook, it’s going to change our picture of how we see things, he’s powerful, when we start seeing things how God sees them.
Carlie: Yeah, it’s interesting. Where we live, we’re blessed, we live at the base of a mountain, and we can see this huge, great, big mountain from outside of our back deck. Right?
Ashley: Our kitchen window.
Carlie: Our kitchen window.
Ashley: When we look at our kitchen window, we have to suffer the view of Pike’s Peak out of our kitchen window, so that’s-
Carlie: And it’s amazing, especially when it has a snowcap on the top, it’s just absolutely beautiful. But it’s awe-inspiring, but it seems so huge, so massive, so immovable. And I think sometimes there are obstacles in our life that look just like that mountain, some of them might be exciting opportunities, but they’re just huge and they’re just overwhelming. But you know, actually, [inaudible] when we go up from Colorado Springs airport and we get above Pike’s Peak in the airplane, that same mountain that looks so huge outside of our kitchen window, it looks like a little ant when we fly over the top of it. And it’s amazing the difference that perspective can do when we start to see things from a different angle.
God does not see the same obstacles in our life like we see them. He says that we can speak to a mountain and be cast into the sea, that no weapon formed against us will prosper. Right? That we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. But when all we can see is the size of that mountain looming outside of that kitchen window, man, if that’s all we’re looking at, we forget how big our God is. But really, if we were just to think for a minute, how is God view in the same situation that I’m seeing? And just take our problems and ask, “Lord, how do you see? I mean, what I’m seeing right now is a lack in our finances. What I’m seeing right now is a sickness in the body. Whatever it is, Lord, show me how you see, give me, Lord your, perspective on this.”
Because in the scriptures, it talks about magnification quite a bit in the Psalms, actually. And whatever we magnify becomes bigger. If you’d get a magnifying glass and you’d put it over some small texts or something, it becomes bigger. In other words, whatever we focus on, becomes bigger. And if we focus on the answer, which is Jesus, rather than on the problem, then the solution will become bigger than the problem is. I think sometimes the problem is we’re looking at our problem rather than at the solution.
In England, there’s a really good public transportation network, and it always used to amaze me. We have a very sophisticated train system that you can pretty much get anywhere in England by train. Everything’s connected. I mean, it’s a small place anywhere, but you can get trains everywhere. But I remember watching the news as a kid and they would go through like all of the traffic report and the traffic delays and where all the congestion is and on the trains, as well, which trains weren’t running. And so often it would come up time and time again, the Piccadilly line isn’t running between wherever because there’s leaves on the track.
Ashley: Due to leaves on the track. Leaves.
Carlie: Huge, great locomotive, tiny little leaves. Nope, can’t run.
Ashley: Yeah. [inaudible] the wet leaves-
Carlie: Right. The kind that stick to the track, makes it slippery.
Ashley: I think they’re the wet leaves, stick on rouse, and it’s… Yeah, makes it a bit dangerous.
Carlie: But don’t you think, I mean, to me, even as a child, I thought, “I’m sure there’s obviously a technical reason why a huge, whacking, great, powerful train can’t cross a few leaves. I’m sure there really is a very good reason for that.” But it just sounded so ridiculous. And the Lord reminded me of this when I was considering some things that we’d been going through, it’s like, you’re letting leaves on the track stop the locomotive from running.
Ashley: That’s good.
Carlie: Well, I’m like, “Leaves? What do you mean leaves?” No, the leaves are just your thoughts, your imaginations, whatever you’ve been thinking on, the cares of the world, the worries of the day. You see, you’re letting those leaves, those thoughts, settle on your track. And I thought, “Wow, That’s true.” Fairly recently we’ve made some pretty big leaps forward in the area of ministry and just stepping out with God and just… God’s given us a vision to reach the nations with his gospel, to see people healed and set free and saved. And I’ve never done that before. Right? But here’s the thing, when God gives you a vision, if it’s small enough that you can do it yourself, then it’s not a very big vision. Right? It doesn’t take faith to do that. And I think the vision that God’s put on inside of us, just when I start thinking about that, I can easily get overwhelmed. I don’t know about you.
Ashley: Yeah, you can let those thoughts on, “How are we going to do it? How’s it going to work out? How are we going to pay for it?” and everything else start to slow that down, or even hinder that vision all together. And basically, fear can get in, and before you know it, you’re not in faith anymore. Now, you’re in fear trying to work it all out, trying to think, “How’s this going to work out? We haven’t got the resources to do that. We’re not going to make it. We’re going to fail.” And fear of failure and fear of lack and even fear of man can hinder God’s plan and God’s big purpose in your life. So, that’s why we need to keep God’s perspective on this.
In the Amos three, verse three, chapter three, verse three, it says, “How can two walk together unless they agree?” And really, if we want to walk with God, if we want to walk in the fullness that God has for us, then we need to agree with how he sees things. You know what? God has great plans for us. He has great plans for you. He has plans to prosper you. And he has plans to do great things through your life. Praise God. He has only good things to have you do for him, and he has plans. His thoughts for you all good, but we have to walk with him. We have to agree with those thoughts with him. And if we don’t agree with God’s thoughts, then we’re not going to experience God’s ways.
Carlie: Right. One of the things I’ve realized is when God gives us a vision, he’s not asking us to pay for it.
Ashley: Amen, that’s good. Yeah.
Carlie: I don’t know about you, but my brain automatically goes, “Okay, God, so you want us to go here, you want us to go here, well, that’s going to cost this much. And we’re going to need one of these, and we’re going to need people to do that.” My brain goes towards the operations of making it happen, and God’s, “No, you don’t understand. This is my vision, not your vision. This is my vision, and I pay my bills.”
Ashley: That’s good.
Carlie: But human nature, when God shows us something, it’s almost like we try and figure out how to pay for everything, how to figure out all of the logistics. God’s not asking us to do that. It’s his vision. He’s just asking us to agree with his vision and speak the vision.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: Amen? He says that you write the vision and make it plain that others might read it and run with it. We got to read the vision.
Ashley: Now, [inaudible] go off in the other ditch at the same time is God asked you to do something, obey God and leave all the consequences to him. So, that’s right, if God’s asking you to do something, you’re not responsible for paying for it and things like that, but he’ll show you things to do here. He’ll show you, you can put your hands-
Carlie: There’ll be some logistical things in there.
Ashley: Yeah. Put your hands to something. Maybe you give, maybe you put your hands in something, he’ll show you things to do, and we’re responsible for that. But God’s ultimate responsible for providing for his vision and his ministry. Amen?
Carlie: Amen. He does.
Ashley: So we don’t have to carry the burden. That’s where Jesus is, “My burden’s light.” But you know what? God’s ultimately the one who’s going to be responsible for this, but we just have to listen to him. I know some people get off in the other ditch and say, “I was waiting on God. God’s going to pay for it all.” Well, are you going to get a job, or are you going to… What you doing? “Well, I’m just going to wait on God.” No, God gives us things to do. But we need God’s perspective. God’s perspective is so important because our own human perspective is so limited. All we see is the limitations, and we just see in 2D, if you like. We just see the natural circumstances, but God sees the big picture. God sees in the spirit, obviously. And in the spirit, it’s a very different picture, praise God, it’s limitless.
Carlie: Let’s look at this. This is in I Corinthians two, verse nine. It says, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man the things God has prepared for those who love him.” God is not limited by our small vision. He has a huge vision. Let’s look at this. This is in Ephesians 3:20. It says, “Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” He wants to do amazing things through us, but we have to stop limiting his vision with our small thinking. Right? We can hinder God if we only focus on every reason why it won’t work.
Ashley: That’s good.
Carlie: I remember growing up, it was like in school especially, they’d have a committee for everything. Right? School or church, actually. Similar. Somebody would have an idea, they wanted to do something, and then, “Well, you got to have a committee. You got to have a team of people.” Sounds great. Right? And as you start to share your vision, all of the people will come out and tell you all the reasons why it’s not going to work. Those are not the kind of people that you want on your team. Right? God’s looking for people that are going to go with his plan, they’re going to agree with his vision, and rather than be, “No, people, it’s not going to work,” but, “Yes, God, how’s it going to work?”
There’s a complete different perspective where, you know what? We might not have the resources today. We might have a lack in some areas today. We might not have the ability today. We might not have the experience or the people, but you know what? If God’s shown us a vision, if he’s told you that you’re going to go somewhere, you can take that to the bank. Right? Because in every word from God is everything you’re ever going to need to fulfill it. God’s not asking you to pay for it. He’s asking you to agree with it, and that’s different.
I think sometimes we get so wrapped up in carnal thinking. I’m thinking of Romans eight, verse six. It says, “To be carnally minded,” just earthly minded, “is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Man, we need to walk in the realm of life and peace. If we can just get a heavenly perspective, “God, you’re looking at the same problem I’m looking at, but show me it from your side of the coin. Show me it from your perspective.” And I’ll tell you, we’d have a lot more success and a lot more breakthrough.
Ashley: Be life and peace instead of death. In Isaiah, Isaiah 55, verse eight, Isaiah 55, verse eight says [inaudible], “For my thoughts…” This is God’s speaking. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways.” What God’s saying here is, one of the things you can take from this verse, Isaiah 55:8, is God’s thoughts and God’s ways are connected. So, if we wanted to walk in God’s ways, we have to think God’s thoughts. So ,when you think godly thoughts, when you think about these things and meditate on these things, then your ways are going to go that way, you’re going to experience them. So, we think about things just like Romans 8:6, as we think, so are we. It’s amazing how when we have those thoughts, then we go there. We think at first, and then we go there.
Then the other thing you can take from this is, here’s the Lord saying, “My thoughts are not your thoughts. Your ways are not my ways.” You know what? God’s ways are much higher than our natural ways. God’s ways… Now, some people use this verse as an excuse. They say, “Well, we never can know the mind of Christ. We never can know the ways of God,” and all that. And I understand that we can’t fully understand or comprehend God, because he’s so big compared to us, but God hasn’t made it so that he’s a mystery and we just can’t understand him at all. God has revealed himself in his word. God’s revealed himself in his word, and he wants us, he wants us to explore his ways, he wants us to understand his ways, he wants us to have his thoughts on things.
And this verse, to say, “Well, we never can know the mind of the Lord, and that’s it,” in fact later on, I think it’s actually in I Corinthians here, I Corinthians 2:16. I Corinthians 2:16 it says, “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” So, this is taken from the Old Testament. This a verse taken from Isaiah 40, Isaiah 40, verse 13. It says, “Who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” Saying who can know the mind of God? But then look at the second part of this verse that Paul says here, he says, “But we have the mind of Christ.” So, we can, through the mind of Christ, through our spirit, we can know the thoughts of God, we can know the thoughts and God’s perspective on things.
So, through the word of God and through the Spirit, we can understand God’s perspective on things. And that should be one of our prayers. It’s one of my prayers, is that, “Lord, show me what you see in this. Give me your eyes for this situation. Show me your thoughts for this. Show me your perspective on this situation.” Whereas we see limitations and we see issues and problems, with God, he sees opportunities, he sees abundance, he sees it a different way than we see.
Carlie: Right. And this is so important. This perspective and vision that we’re talking about now, it’s literally life and death for some people. I remember when our daughter Hannah was… When she was three years old, she was sent home from the hospital with a week to live and she was dying of an auto-immune disease. And I remember being in the hospital, and we were very new to faith, very new to the grace message. We had literally just started to hear that healing was even available, that God was a good God, and he wanted us well. But as the doctors, I remember sitting there in the hospital room, as the doctors came in, and every time they came into Hannah’s hospital room, they’d be like… The prophets of doom, we called them. They never had anything good to say. It was always really negative.
And this whole time I’d been staying in the hospital with Hannah, and Ashley’d been working and taking care of other two boys at home, and I’m like, “Lord, I just need some help. I need your perspective on this situation. I need your perspective on our daughter. I know that you’ve healed other people. I’ve read testimony, I see it in the scripture, but I need your perspective on my little girl.” Right? I need it to be real for me. And so, I asked the Lord, “Can you show me how you see this situation?” And he gave me three pictures, three very distinct pictures.
Remember, at the time, she’s still laying, she’s still sick, she’s in the hospital bed, but he gave me three pictures on the inside, when I closed my eyes, I could see them. And one of those pictures was of Hannah riding a little red tricycle, about three or four years old, riding a little red tricycle. And at this time, Hannah was fit to die. Right? She was really close to death. She didn’t even have a little red tricycle. And the next picture, Hannah was about a year older, she was like four or five years old, and she was wearing a little green and gray school uniform and we’re walking her in through the school Gates of her first day of school. Now, in England, children where school uniform. And obviously, she hadn’t started school yet, none of our kids were at a school that had a green and gray school uniform. Right? None of those things had happened. And the third picture he showed me was of Ashley walking Hannah down the aisle on her wedding day. Now, Hannah’s 15. Okay? So, we haven’t seen that one.
Ashley: That’s not going to happen.
Carlie: Not for a long time, honey.
Ashley: There’s no way.
Carlie: It’s going to be fine.
Ashley: I told her she can’t even start dating until she’s 35.
Carlie: Poor girl. Okay? But here’s the thing. Now, the end of that story is that Hannah was miraculously healed, and you can watch the whole testimony on our website, at terredezministries.com. You can watch the whole miraculous testimony. But what I wanted to bring out of this testimony specifically was those three pictures. You see, in the middle of that terrible-looking situation, I asked God to show me his perspective. Now, he didn’t show me all of the journey and what every detail and every step and every appointment and where everything that happened over the next few months, but he showed me snapshots of where he saw her in the future. You see, when he looked at Hannah, he saw a healed Hannah, and all of the pictures that he showed me, all of the visions that he showed me, they were of Hannah growing up and leading a new, healthy, happy, fruitful life. He did not show me pictures of sickness or disease or hospital visits or any of that stuff. He didn’t even show me how that healing was going to manifest. He showed me the end of the result.
And we need a heavenly perspective because, you see, God sees the end from the beginning. What we see on earth is just temporary. How he sees things is in the eternal. And so, those pictures, what that did for me, that put hope and faith on the inside of me that there was a different outcome that I could expect. And than the one that was my reality in that moment. That is so huge because no matter what you’re going through, no matter what your physical reality is today, God can give you a different perspective. And sometimes if we’ve been sick for a very long time, or we’ve been poor for a very long time, or maybe you’re incarcerated and you’ve seen the same four walls for a very long time, it can seem almost like our situation is impossible to overcome, our mountain is too big to climb. It’s so big and it’s so up close in our face that we can’t possibly see a way around it.
But let me tell you, God makes a way where there is no way. Amen? He opens doors of opportunities where the door didn’t even exist before. He has ways and results and perspective and vision and answers to your problems that you haven’t even conceived yet. Amen? And he’s just wanting, he’s just waiting for us to get on board. Amen? These things aren’t hidden from us. So, I want to encourage you, if you’re watching or listening to this today, and you’re this person that I was speaking about, ask the Lord for a different perspective, to start seeing the same situation through different eyes. Because what that does, that places like a pin in the map for you to pin your hope to. Amen? Where you can start seeing and believing.
Ashley: Amen. There’s lots of verses in the Old Testament in Isaiah and also in Psalms, it talks about lift up your eyes, lift up your eyes to the heavens. And then in Psalms it says, “Lord, I lift up my eyes to heaven.” You can make a choice to choose to see things that God sees things, that means getting in the word. In Philippians four, verse eight, it says, “Meditate on these things. Think on these things.” It says, “Whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, whatever things are virtuous, whatever things are praiseworthy,” and so on and so forth. You know what? We can choose to think on those things. We can choose what we think on. We have thoughts come to us, it’s up to us whether we dwell on those thoughts or not.
But you know what? Right now, wherever you are, you can choose to think God thoughts on things, you can choose to get into the word of God, find out what God says about your situation. Like Carlie said, if you’re experiencing sickness, then you know what? Find the verse in the word of God that will help you. Look up I Peter 2:24 that says, “By his stripes, you were healed.” If you’re experiencing lack in your finances, if you think you haven’t got… Look up Philippians 4:19. It says, “My God will supply all my needs according to his riches.” You know what? Start looking at those verses, start seeing God’s thoughts on your situation, and choose to meditate on those thoughts. Lift up your eyes, look to heaven, lift up your eyes, is what the Psalmist says over and over, it’s what Isaiah says over and over. Lift up your eyes, choose to see things how God sees things, rather than you just seeing things in your natural perspective.
The real you is a spirit, and really, your address, now you’re born again, is a spiritual address. And you know what? You don’t need to just see things as carnal anymore, you don’t just need to see things as worldly anymore, you can see things from a heavenly perspective. Because that’s the real you anyway. So, choose to look at things as God sees them. And it’s amazing, when you start seeing things that way, it’s amazing how the natural circumstances will change because that’s how you’re seeing them.
Carlie: Right. I’m just thinking here, this is a passage in Romans four, this is talking about Abraham and Sarah. Many of you will be familiar with this story, but Sarah was barren, she was unable to have children. At this point when we pick up the story, she’s 90 years old and Abraham is probably about 100, and God has given them a promise to Abraham that he was going to be the father of many nations. And here they are years later and still no baby. But look at, this is in Romans four and verse 17, it says, “As it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’ in the presence of him whom he believed, God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.”
It doesn’t matter how dead our situation is, it doesn’t matter how dead our finances are, it doesn’t matter how dead our body feels, God can cause life to sprout in dead places. Amen? “Who in contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what is written, so shall your descendants be. And not being weak in faith, he did not…” This is talking about Abraham. “He did not consider his own body, already dead, since he was about 100 years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.” There was not much action going on there, just saying.
Ashley: Do you want to elaborate? Do you want to explain that more?
Carlie: No, I’m just going to move right on.
Ashley: Explain that more?
Carlie: “He did not waver…” This is important. “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith and giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what he had promised,” what God had promised, “he was also able to perform it.” God has given us a book full of precious promises, and the problem is sometimes we are so in tune with our five senses and so in tune with the reality that is just our world around us, we forget that there is a heavenly perspective, a way that God has that is much higher than what we see in [inaudible] in this moment. He has ways of breakthrough that you have not even conceived. If Abraham and Sarah only looked at their physical circumstances, at the lack that they had, they would not have received the child of promise. Right?
And this lack mentality is not a new thing. Most of the time, I think what I see in the body of Christ just in the world in general is a lack mentality. We lack finances, we lack resources, we lack time, we lack support, we lack our youth. Whatever it is. We lack faith. People think that they are missing out on something, they’re deficient as Christians in some way so that they can’t see the power of God manifest in their life. That’s a lie. If you’re a Bible-believing Christian, if you have received Jesus as your Lord and savior, you do not lack in any area. Amen? There is not grades of Christians. Right? There is not some super-duper Christian and some second-rate clearance rate Christian. Okay? You don’t have a clearance rate faith. You have the faith of Jesus that’s more than enough faith to raise the dead, heal the sick, or cast put any demon in hell. But the problem is, is our perspective.
In Proverbs, it says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” There are Christians that know what the word of God says, that put the word of God and the promises of God at a greater value than what they feel, and then there are Christians that aren’t really too sure what the word of God says and are really still wrapped up in their emotions, but they want the results that is in the word of God. And that’s really the difference, is in how we think about things. Because in how we think determines the perspective we have about the promises of God. You see, if Abraham had had the perspective, “Well, we are well past it, Sarah. I know what God said, but,” then there wouldn’t have been a baby.
But what they did, they placed the word of God, they considered God who caused life into dead places, they consider God well able, well faithful, the one that had promised was good. Right? They considered Gods’ promise good enough that they were going to put some action to their faith. And I’m not going to go into the biology of it, but we know they put action to their faith because along came Isaac.
Ashley: Amen. Don’t elaborate on that.
Carlie: No, we’re just going to move on.
Ashley: But I like that. You know what? Abraham did not consider the deadness of his own body or Sarah’s womb. You know what? He had the opportunity to consider and meditate on those things, and meditating on the natural circumstances is not going to work. We have a lack here, like Carlie was saying, lack mentality. You know what? When you meditate on those things, you’re giving life to those things. But it says, “Abraham chose not to meditate on these things, chose not to consider those things.”
Carlie: He didn’t deny that they were a reality-
Ashley: Right. But he chose not to-
Carlie: … he chose not to meditate on them.
Ashley: … he chose not to consider them and not to dwell on them. And later on it talks about how if he’d considered the land which he’s come from, he would have had opportunity to return. Again, he didn’t consider those things. So, we can choose, we can take every thought captive, and we can choose not to consider the lack, we can choose not to consider… or the so-called lack, because really there isn’t lack.
Carlie: Perceived lack.
Ashley: It’s the original trick of the devil to say, “You’re lacking something.” Just what he did to Adam and Eve, “You’re lacking this. You’re lacking things.” You know what? Like Carlie said, if you’re born again, God has given you everything you need to succeed, God’s given you everything you need to fulfill the promises of God in your life. Praise God. So, we have no lack in any area, we just need to start believing it and start focusing on the abundance rather than the lack. Start focusing on the provision, start having a godly perspective on our situation rather than the lack. Amen?
Carlie: Amen. So, how do we attack lack mentality? Well, it’s pretty simple, really. We start to get a heavenly perspective, we start to find out what the word of God says about our situation, rather than just looking at our physical situation and our five senses, and we start confessing the word of God into our situation. Start speaking life into dead places. Amen? And then what happens is we’ll start to develop an attitude.
I want to leave you with this final thought. This is in I Samuel 17. This is the attitude of David as he ran after Goliath. It says he said he saw Goliath, but he saw Goliath’s fierceness as temporary. This in verse 45. He says, “You come at me with a sword and a spear and a javelin. But I come at you with the name of the Lord of hosts, the Lord God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And I will feed you to the birds of the air and the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” So, when you look at that same situation, there’s one thing I want you to shout, and that’s, “Temporary.” Amen? You are subject to change. The Lord has led you into success in every area, and every negative circumstance in your life that is contrary to the word of God is temporary. Amen?
Ashley: Amen. That’s a godly perspective right there. That’s a godly perspective. Awesome. We’re out of time. We want to thank you for being with us and joining us today. And I just pray, and we’re going to be praying for you throughout the week. You know what? You’re going to have a godly perspective. whatever your situation is, whatever you’re going through, that you’re going to have a godly perspective over that situation. And God’s perspective is one of life and peace, praise God, and the expected end. Amen? So, we’ll be back real soon. Until next time, don’t just live a normal life when you could live an abundant life.
Carlie: Amen.
Ashley: We’ll see you the next time.
Announcer: To order your copy of this teaching, visit our website, terradez.com.
Ashley: So, Carlie has a great teaching, it’s called Who You Think You Are, and she says that to me sometimes. Who do you think you are? But this is a great teacher, and it’s a single CD, and it’s going to really help you discover who you are in Christ, all the benefits you already have in Christ. It’s got the confession card in there, as well. So, you’ll love this teaching. Go to our website, terradez.com, and get yourself a copy of this today. Praise God.
Announcer: Download your free copy of Ashley and Carlie’s teaching notes at our website, terradez.com.