Imagine you’re standing in front of two doors.
Behind the first door is everything you can see right now. Your bank account. Your grades. Your current friends. All the problems you’re facing today.
Behind the second door is something different. It’s what God says about your future. It’s the person you could become. It’s the life you could have.
Most people only open the first door. They look at what they can see with their eyes. They make decisions based on their current situation.
But here’s the problem. Everything behind that first door keeps changing. Your bank account goes up and down. Your grades change. Your relationships change. Nothing stays the same.
The Bible warns us about living this way. It says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
In the original Hebrew language, “perish” means to be destroyed by not knowing better. To go under. To be stopped.
Your life isn’t random. It’s the result of what you’ve allowed into your heart. If your outside world is falling apart, it’s because your inside world fell apart first.
To win in life, you need to learn how to see with more than just your physical eyes.
1. Two Different Ways to See
There are two ways to look at the world.
A. Seeing with Your Eyes
This is seeing with your physical eyes. You look at your current situation. You see your problems. You notice what you don’t have.
The problem? All of this changes constantly. What you see today will be different tomorrow.
B. Seeing with Your Heart
This is seeing what God says is true. It doesn’t change. It’s the real truth. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:18,
“We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.”
This sounds backwards. How can you look at things you can’t see? You do it with your heart. You focus on what God’s Word says instead of what your eyes show you.
Renowned Bible teacher Keith Moore says it this way:
“We don’t walk by what we see with our eyes. We live by what we see with our hearts.”
2. How Trust and Pictures Work Together
Think of trust in God like a construction worker. Trust builds things in your life. But even the best construction worker needs a plan. They need something that shows what to build.
Your inner picture is the plan. It’s the image in your heart of what you want to happen.
Here’s how it works: You won’t get more than you can picture in your heart.
Many people pray unclear prayers.
- “God, help me in life.”
- “God, make things better.”
These prayers don’t give your trust a clear picture to build. It’s like telling a construction worker, “Build me something nice.” They can’t start without specific plans.
Before you can hold something in your hands, you need a clear picture of it in your heart. Get specific. What exactly do you want? Write it down. Picture it clearly.
3. The Jacob Method
There’s a story in the Bible about a man named Jacob. He needed his uncle’s flocks to give birth to flocks with certain markings. So Jacob took tree branches and peeled off the bark. This made white streaks on the branches.
He put these branches right where the flocks would drink water. When the flocks looked at those streaks while drinking, they had babies that matched what they were looking at.
This story shows us how things work in our lives. The branches represent God’s Word. You need to find Bible verses that match what you want to create in your life.
Want to be healthy? Find Bible verses about healing. Want to do well in school? Find verses about wisdom. Want better relationships? Find verses about love and friendship.
Then put those verses right in front of your eyes. Read them every day. Memorize them. Think about them constantly.
What you focus on is what you will create.
4. You Become What You Look At
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that we are changed into the image of whatever we look at.
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (NKJV)
This doesn’t happen overnight. It’s slow. But it always happens. If you keep looking at negative things, you’ll become negative.
If you keep looking at God’s promises, you’ll become more like those promises.
Watch Out for Lies
The enemy wants to paint a bad picture in your mind. He wants you to see yourself as a failure. As someone who can’t succeed. As someone who’s not good enough. He’ll use mean comments. Bad memories. Your own negative thoughts.
Here’s the key: What you allow, you will eventually become like. If you let thoughts of defeat stay in your mind, you’ll start acting them out in real life.
How to Change
Want to change who you are? Change what you’re looking at. Stop staring at your problems. Start staring at God’s Word.
In 2024, scientists studied people who spent 20 minutes daily looking at positive, true statements about themselves. Their brains actually changed in just 8 weeks.
5. Choose Your Friends Carefully
Your friends affect how you see yourself. The people around you shape what you think is possible. You can tell who someone hangs out with just by listening to them. They start to talk the same way. Act the same way. Think the same way.
The Bible warns,
“A companion of fools will be destroyed.” – Proverbs 13:20 (NKJV)
This is serious. We become like the people we watch closely. If you don’t want to end up like someone, stop spending so much time with them.
This includes:
- Who you follow on social media.
- What videos you watch.
- Who you hang out with at lunch.
- Who you text the most.
Be picky about who gets into your mind and heart. Choose friends who help you see what’s possible, not drag you down.
Building Your Tomorrow Today
Throughout the Bible, people who trusted God a lot also saw big possibilities.
- Abraham looked at the stars and saw a whole nation of descendants.
- David looked at Goliath and saw a defeated enemy before he ever threw the stone.
- Joshua looked at Jericho’s walls and saw them fallen before anyone marched.
When God gives you a picture of your future, it’s always bigger than what you can do on your own.
If you can do it yourself, it’s your idea, not God’s. God’s plans are designed to be impossible for you. That way, you have to trust Him. That’s when His power shows up.
Your future is being built right now. Every thought you think. Every image you allow in your mind. Every promise you focus on.
Here’s a test: If your trust in God started building exactly what you’ve been looking at for the last 30 days, would you like the life you’re about to get?
Your Next Step
Ready to learn how to see with your heart? Start here:
- Pick one area of your life where you’ve been trusting what you see instead of what God says.
- Find three Bible verses that talk about that area.
- Write them down.
- Read those verses every day for 15 minutes.
- Picture yourself living those promises.
What you see in your heart will become what you hold in your hands. Start seeing beyond your eyes today.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q. What does “beyond sight” mean?
A. “Beyond sight” means seeing what’s really true instead of just what your eyes show you. It’s focusing on what God says is real, not just your current situation.
Q. How is seeing with your heart different from seeing with your eyes?
A. Seeing with your eyes shows you temporary things that keep changing. Seeing with your heart shows you truths that never change. One is based on your situation. The other is based on God’s Word.
Q. Can anyone learn to see this way?
A. Yes! Learning to see with your heart is like building a muscle. You build it through practice.
- Read the Bible regularly.
- Think about God’s promises.
- Watch what you look at.
It gets stronger over time.
Q. What is the Jacob Method?
A. The Jacob Method means finding specific Bible promises that match what you want to happen in your life. Then you put those promises in front of your eyes every day.
- You read them.
- Memorize them.
- Think about them.
Q. How long before I see results?
Most people notice their thinking changing in 2-4 weeks. Real-life results usually come in 8-12 weeks. The key is doing it every day, not just once in a while.
Q. Why do I become like what I look at?
The Bible says you slowly become like whatever you keep looking at. If you look at God’s truth, you become more like that truth. If you look at negative things, you become more negative. You become what you focus on.
Q. How do I protect myself from bad influences?
A. Stop bad thoughts as soon as they come. Choose your friends carefully. Be picky about what you watch. Be picky about who you follow online. Fill your mind with God’s Word every day. What you allow in will shape who you become.
Q. Why isn’t my trust working?
Trust needs a clear picture to work with. Unclear prayers like “help me” don’t give trust anything to build.
- Get specific.
- Know exactly what you want.
- Find Bible verses about it.
- Give your trust a detailed plan.
Q. Do my friends really affect how I see things?
A. Absolutely. You become like the people you spend the most time with. They affect how you think, talk, and see the world. Choose friends who help you see God’s truth, not just current problems.
Q. What should I do first?
A. Pick one specific area you want to change. Find three Bible verses about it. Read them every day for 15 minutes. Picture yourself living those promises. Start today, not tomorrow.
