Our relationship with the Holy Spirit begins as we are drawn to Christ and we receive the Son of God, his shed blood. We repent of our sins and make Jesus Christ the Lord and Master of our life. In receiving salvation, we have a work of the Holy Spirit that creates in us a clean heart. A new heart according to Ezekiel 36:26, which says “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh”.
From there, we have the ongoing promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit for empowerment in life and service. As we continue our relationship with God in and through the Holy Spirit, we see that we have possibilities of neglecting and missing his grace in our life. This is shown in the church of Laodicea. In Revelation 3: 14-17 says, “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, these things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked”.
Notice this church was self-satisfied. They were materially rich in that era of the church age and yet the Lord said you are blind, poor and naked. You are miserable. This is a church that started out born again and acknowledging Jesus. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was a part of their life to, and yet they had become blind, not physically, but spiritually. Here is how he describes the remedy in verse 18, “. I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see”. The Lord is giving us today a promise, a power that when we are spiritually blind, we are not recognizing God’s present with our spiritual eyes. That means just as we have five senses in the natural, we have five senses in our spiritual man. The bible says our spiritual man is made and born in the image of him who created him. We have the ability to hear, see, smell, taste and touch with our spirit as well as in our flesh. In this case, this church lost the ability to see.
In the realm of the spirit, we are to see God’s presence first. We are to see the working of his word, the spirits of men, and even demon spirits working. We have a great faculty, as the ability to see is genuine and enriches our lives so much. Our ability to see spiritually is invaluable. Notice what the Lord said to the church that had become poor, naked and really lost their fever for God. He said anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see. That means that we can have sight, lose our vision and site and then have it restored.
When I came back to Bloomington in the 80’s, I was drawn to minister and help serve at the old 16th Pentecostal Assembly. A 40 by 60 sanctuary, built in 1928 the building needing a new roof and repairs. It was an aging congregation of almost a hundred people, with no youth. Yet, I saw a goldmine! I could see hundreds, thousands coming to be saved and healed with families strengthened. A spiritual hospital for the sick. Now many years later we are beginning to see the fruition of that “Goldmine”!
What is the eye salve? Apparently in that area of Asia Minor is Laodicean there was a literal eye salve that people came there to drive out infections of mucus or infections in their physical eyes. The Lord is using that same analogy spiritually, not a physical cream that we put on our physical eyes, but rather an eye salve that the Lord brings, which is the power of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Just like we take cream to put it on our eyes or eye drops, to hopefully, clear up blurriness or whatever might be affecting us. We are to spiritually take eye salve, the ability of the Holy Spirit and put it on our spiritual eyes. We are to anoint our eyes with the Holy Spirit, the eye salve of God’s presence that our vision can be restored again.
I want to encourage you that if you have lost your vision in Christ you can regain in. The way to do this is to take the eye salve of the Holy Spirit in your heart and directly apply it to your spiritual eyes so that you can begin to see again into the realm of the invisible. Then we have a promise to focus on why we do this.
In revelation 3:20, it says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me”. Jesus wants our eyes open foremost to see him and to enter into an intimate fellowship with him. He wants us to enjoy a long extended meal on a daily basis with the wonderful Savior, the unfailing Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and the Son of the Living God.
I pray today that your eyes are anointed with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the eye salve. That you regain your vision and that if you already have your vision it becomes sharper/clearer and to see at greater distances. To see ahead even into the realm of the future, as by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We speak this and pray this for you now in Jesus name, Amen.
Blessings,
Pastor Kim
