Jentezen Franklin - Open My Eyes from Gethsemane
Happy New Year to you and your family. Welcome to Kingdom Connection. We consider it such an honor that you would decide to join us. 2020 was a year that none of us will ever be the same from. We never saw some of the things coming that hit our lives, but God's been faithful through it, and here we are in a brand new year and I believe God is going to open our eyes to His plan, His provision, His protection, and to a divine visitation of revival in the nation and the world, and in your own life and family. Lean in today, this message that I'm preaching from the Holy Land that I taped there, I believe is a word that God is really going to cause to come alive. It's good news, and I believe you're going to be blessed.
I want to welcome all of you to an amazing experience. As you know, every year we begin a 21-day fast, and as you join us for the program today, we're asking God to open our eyes, that He would show us things we have not seen, that He would show us the provision, the direction, the protection, the visitation of His Holy Spirit in our lives and in our families like never before.
Let me tell you what I'm talking about as we fast and as we pray this year. You know, there are four times in the Scripture that those words, open my eyes are used or it says the Lord opens someone's eyes. It wasn't that they were blind, and they couldn't see in these particular texts. They had physical eyesight, but we're talking about spiritual eyesight that you see through the lenses of faith. You see through the lenses of Calvary. You see through the lenses of God's word every situation that you're facing and as we fast and as we pray in a new year, God is going to open our eyes.
In Genesis 21, the Bible said that Hagar was in a desperate situation. Maybe you are. And she was in the wilderness, and she had her child. His name was Ishmael. She had been put out by Abraham and Sarah, and she was hungry, she was thirsty, and she could not bear what she was going through. As a matter of fact, the Bible said that she took her baby, her young lad, and she set him under a bush. And I see bushes all with me. I'm coming to you from the Garden of Gethsemane, and there's bushes.
And she took a bush out in the middle of the desert and laid that child under and just let that child whimper and cry, and the Bible said she walked a bow's shot away measuring the space far enough out away that she couldn't hear the cry of that child. She put some distance between it. She said I just can't stand to see my child die. And I thought about how the Bible said that as the child was crying that God heard the cry of the child. Not the cry of the mother. The mother was weeping, but God heard the cry of the child in the desert, and God sent His Spirit to open her eyes. The Bible said, "And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water".
Now, I believe that there are people who are listening to me right now, and God is listening to the voice of your children. They may be in harm's way. They may be with the wrong people. They may be doing things that are breaking your heart. They may be addicted to drugs, but you've put Jesus in them. You prayed over them. You dedicated them. You pleaded the blood. You've witnessed. You've told them about Jesus. You prayed for them, and you know what? God can hear the cry no matter how desperate the cry is of our children, and the Bible said that when she had her eyes opened, she saw the water.
Now, I just want to say that God hears every parent, and He hears you saying, God, help my child. That's exactly what happened to this woman named Hagar. As she prayed and as she cried out to God, God opened her eyes, and the voice of the lad, God is hearing your children. Even if they're bound in drugs, something in them is crying out. Something in them is saying, God, help me, and God knows, and He has a covenant with us about our children, and God hears us, and He knows where they are. That's what touched me is God found that woman's child under a bush in the wilderness, and God knows where your children are. God knows where your family is. God knows where the people that you care about are, and He knows how to reach them.
So, first of all, God opened her eyes to provision. He showed her a well, and as you're fasting and praying, may God open your eyes to His provision, spiritual provision and natural provision, material provision, financial provision. God is going to open your eyes, and you're going to see things you didn't see before. The well of water was in the wilderness, but she didn't see it until God opened her eyes, and in this year on this fast, God's doing to open your eyes to provision. My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory, and He's going to show you where the provision is in your wilderness. The eyes of the Lord, the Lord wants me to tell you, are going to be upon your children in this new year. He's going to open the eyes of your children.
And then I think about Numbers 22, and it talks about a man by the man by the name of Balaam, and He's going in the wrong direction, and he's riding a donkey, and he's going in the direction that was not the will of God to go curse God's people, and the Bible said that God opened the mouth of the donkey, and the donkey starts talking to the prophet and says you're going the wrong way, and he beats that donkey, and he's just beating that poor animal mercilessly, and the Scripture said that eventually God opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw an angel standing with a sword in the path.
In other words, God said I'm going to open your eyes, Balaam, and I'm going to show you you're going in the wrong direction, and I'm going to show you what the right direction is for your life. And I'm telling you as I stand in the Garden of Gethsemane today. I believe God is going to open your eyes, number one, to divine provision. He's going to bless you, and He's going to open your eyes to God ideas, to creativity, to the right provision that He has for the vision He's giving you. He's opening your eyes to that, but secondly, He's going to open your eyes to the right direction for you and for your family.
If God could open the eyes of Balaam in Numbers 22, the Bible said and God opened his eyes, and he saw that he was going in the wrong direction, and I believe many of you have loved ones who are going in the wrong direction, and you've tried your best to talk to them. You've tried, you've cried, you've prayed, but as you're fasting, I'm telling you, God can open their eyes to how foolish they're being, how wrong they are living, how wrong the direction of their life is going. Only God can do that. God can open their eyes in one day. God can open their eyes and show them who the right people are and who the wrong people are, and as we fast and as we pray we decree the right direction. Your eyes shall be open to the right direction.
What is God's will for your life? The right direction. God knows how to open your eyes to it, and you'll just know this is right and that is wrong. This is the way I need to go. The right direction for your marriage. The right direction for your children. The right direction for your family. Just say it right there. God, open my eyes as I fast and as I pray.
Then, I found another place in the Bible where God opened another man's eyes. His name was Elijah, and the Bible said the Syrian army had surrounded his house, and he had a servant, and the Scripture said that the servant went out on the porch and when he saw the Syrian army at sunrise, they had completely surrounded the prophet, and he ran in and he said, Prophet, what are going to do? We're surrounded by the enemy. Do you feel that way today? We're surrounded by the enemy, and the Prophet prayed, God, open my servant's eyes, and when he prayed those words, the Bible said he went out, and he looked at the same circumstances that he was surrounded by, but then he saw something else. That's what fasting does. It opens your spiritual eyes.
See, as long as you focus on the physical problem, the Bible said that the natural things are temporal, but the spiritual things are eternal, and suddenly, God opened his eyes, and yes, they were surrounded by enemy, but then he saw with spiritual eyes chariots and horses of fire that were descending from the mountains. They had come all the way from heaven. God had dispatched angels, and the angels are being dispatched to deliver and protect God's man, Elijah. And I want to say that God's going to open your eyes to protection. He's not only going to open your eyes to provision and to direction but to protection.
The protection of the Lord on your family, the protection of the Lord on your finances, on your life, on your dreams, on your call. We need God's protection. If ever there was an hour that we need to learn to pray, Lord, keep me from evil. The evil one wants to kill, steal, and destroy, but we are going to have our eyes open to the fact that we're overcomers by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. You know, when we understand what Elijah saw, the Bible said, He said fear not. Fear not. And that's what God wants to get in somebody's heart who needs the protection of God in the situation and season that you're in.
And the Bible said, fear not for they that be with you are more than they be with them. Don't fear their attacks. Don't fear the schemes of the enemy. Don't fear the attacks. The Bible said in Psalms, He said I will not suffer your feet to be moved. I'm not going to let the enemy uproot you and throw you out of everything I've given you, but you're under divine protection. Do you want God's protection on your life and family in a new year? There's something about fasting and praying that I believe not only will open your eyes to provision, open your eyes to direction, but it will open your eyes to the protection of the Lord. I'm so thankful today for the protection of the Lord.
I went to the Georgia Aquarium one time with my kids and was walking through that one little tunnel. I'll never forget it. They got a little tunnel or a big tunnel, and it's got sharks and it's got deadly predators. It's got a Great White shark and different sharks, and you're walking through it, and you're looking up, and you can see all these sharks that could just really do damage to you, but it's like you're in a tube, and there's something between you and them. That's the kind of protection I'm talking about. I have to have it. I know the enemy would kill me. I know he would love to just stop and wipe me out and my family, but I believe in divine protection.
And then lastly, I believe in God's divine visitation. That's why the Bible said that they were marching, and they were walking with Jesus in Luke 24. They had assembled themselves in an Upper Room, and the doors were shut, and Jesus shows up, but they didn't know who He was. They didn't recognize Him, and then when He broke the bread, the Bible said, their eyes were opened, and they saw Jesus and then He disappeared. In other words, God can open your eyes while you fast and pray to a fresh new visitation of Jesus Christ.
Isn't that why we fast? When it's all said and done, we're not fasting for anything but Him. He is our provision. He is our direction. He is our protection, and what we really are saying is, God, open my eyes to a fresh new visitation. I want you to visit my home. I want you to visit my life. I want Jesus in my business. I want Jesus in my home. I want Him. Fresh. A fresh visitation. I want the power of God.
So, Hagar had her eyes opened to the provision of God, and we know that Balaam had his eyes opened to the direction of God. Elijah and his servant had their eyes opened to the protection of God. The disciples had their eyes opened to a visitation of God, and it's time for you to have that kind of encounter with God, and as you fast and as you pray, we just decree this a fast where God opens the eyes of our understanding to the hope that is before us, that we see the future not in fear, that we see the future not in condemnation, that we see the future not in worry and stress and anxiety, but we see the future in hope, faith, and love. And you can see things when God opens your eyes that other people can't see.
I read an article one time about seeing eye dogs and how they train them, and they said the number one difficulty with a seeing eye dog, you know the dogs that blind people use, they said the number one challenge is to get the dog to view life not from down where he is, but he's got to look further out, and he's got to see through his master's eyes. When we fast and pray, we can start seeing things through the Master's eyes. Hallelujah. Our Master is Jesus. And so I want to pray with you in closing.
Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, I ask you today to open the eyes of people as we fast, as we pray, as we enter into 21 days of consecration, fasting, and praying. Seeking your will, you will release provision, direction, protection, and a divine, fresh visitation of the power of the Holy Spirit in our churches and in our lives, in Jesus's name.
I believe that and if you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, this is your moment. This is why He came into this place and began a cycle of suffering like we can't even imagine that would ultimately lead to His death on the cross. His blood spilled out for you. So, right where you are at the beginning of a new year, just say, Jesus, come into my life. Lord, I'm so empty. Open my eyes. Maybe you've got doubts. It's okay. Maybe you don't really know who God is, but you keep hearing about Jesus. Ask God to open your eyes. Ask Him to open your eyes to who Jesus is. He is the Son of God. He is your Redeemer, your Savior, the one who can heal your body. Open my eyes, oh Lord, to see a future of hope, of joy, of life, of faith in Jesus's name. Pray this prayer.
Jesus, come into my heart. Cleanse me, forgive me, and open my eyes in Jesus's name.
He heard you. Go to the phone. Dial the number on the screen or send us a message, an email, and we'll help you in your new walk. If you want to join us on this fast, we have all the material you can imagine. I'm going to be your fasting coach. You sound scared. I don't know what to do. God's going to open your eyes. You just jump in here and do it and watch what God will do. You can find out every detail of different kinds of fasts.
Ask God what kind of fast you want to do. But I'm going to tell you something. This is the hour to seek God's face. We're facing so many things in this Nation, and we need a move of God. We need our eyes wide open in times like these to discern the will of God for our lives and for our families. So, I encourage you to do that. It's going to be a glorious fast, and you're going to be part of it. Can't wait to see what God's going to do, and we're going to see it. These eyes are going to see wonderful things, in Jesus name.