The Presentation Christ Sees

🕊️ Peace & Blessings 🌻 Brothers & Sisters In Jesus Christ,

There are seasons in our walk with Jesus Christ where we can feel pressed, stretched, disoriented, and uncertain. We know God has spoken promises over our lives, yet we do not fully understand how those promises will come to pass. During these moments, it can be easy to focus on what we see in the natural. We may look at our finances, our appearance, our relationships, our position, or our circumstances and begin measuring ourselves according to standards that God never intended us to live by.

This is one of the reasons Jesus taught us not to worry about what we will eat, what we will drink, or what we will wear.

Matthew 6:31-33

His message was not that these things have no value, but rather that they were never meant to define us. The world places tremendous emphasis on presentation, status, image, and appearance, yet God has always been concerned with something much deeper. While man focuses on the outward vessel, God focuses on what is being formed within it.

“For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7

The enemy understands this, which is why there is a constant attempt to pull our attention back toward the flesh. He wants us to believe we are too much in one area and not enough in another, keeping us focused on imbalance rather than identity in Christ.

This is why identity in Christ becomes the foundation of how we see every season.

God does not call us to be consumed by our weaknesses, shortcomings, insecurities, or limitations. Rather, He allows us to become aware of them so that He can work within us, shaping, refining, and strengthening what is lacking. These are often seasonal restraints, places the Lord permits for a time as part of His teaching and formation. They are not permanent identities, but temporary spaces of growth. When His work is complete, He calls us to walk out of them in His timing, not remain defined by them.

Because God exists outside of time, He sees the beginning and the end at once. What we experience as a process, He already sees as completed according to His purpose. This is one reason He often uses time, seasons, and circumstances to reveal what is hidden within us, to mature our faith, and to prepare us for what lies ahead. While we are focused on where we currently stand, God is often revealing where He is leading.

Each of these seasons is part of a larger shaping process God uses to form Christ in us.

This is also why He teaches us to run our own race with patience toward the rest He has already prepared for us. Time is not something that rushes Him, nor is it meant to break us. Instead, it becomes the place where His character is experienced in us, especially His long suffering, His mercy, and His steady patience. We are not called to despise small beginnings or belittle the slow unfolding of growth, because what appears small in the natural is often the very foundation of what He is building in the Spirit.

“For who has despised the day of small things?”

Zechariah 4:10

The season is not the destination. It is the pathway through which the Lord accomplishes His work within us.

“Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

2 Corinthians 12:9

The enemy wants us to evaluate ourselves according to worldly measurements rather than according to the identity we have been shown, given, and established through Jesus Christ. Yet when we choose Christ, our lives cease to be centered upon ourselves. The journey becomes less about what we can accomplish and more about what God desires to accomplish through us.

Many believers do not realize that God often uses seasons of weakness, uncertainty, and waiting for a specific purpose. If we already possessed everything the world admires, people would naturally focus on the blessing rather than the One who gave it. If we had unlimited resources, perfect health, flawless circumstances, recognition, influence, and success, many would attribute our testimony to what we have instead of who carries us through life’s challenges.

This is why God often allows His strength to be displayed through vessels that appear weak according to worldly standards. When Christ sustains us through hardship, when He gives peace in the midst of pressure, and when He provides joy during seasons of waiting, people are forced to acknowledge that something greater than human effort is taking place.

“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’”

2 Corinthians 12:9

Many times we hear the promise long before we see the fulfillment. We know what God has spoken, yet our current circumstances appear to tell a different story. This can become frustrating if we forget that God is far more concerned with preparation than speed. The Lord is not simply interested in bringing us to a destination. He is interested in transforming us along the journey.

This is why Scripture warns us not to despise small beginnings. Every season serves a purpose. The waiting season teaches patience. The wilderness teaches trust. The testing season reveals what still needs refinement. The process itself becomes part of the promise because through it God develops character, wisdom, discernment, endurance, and dependence upon Him.

“For who has despised the day of small things?”

Zechariah 4:10

As we grow, God often allows us to revisit environments, relationships, and places that knew us before He transformed us. This can be uncomfortable, because some people remain attached to a former version of who we were or who they wanted us to be. They remember our mistakes, failures, weaknesses, and limitations through a blurred or limited perception of our past identity. Rather than recognizing what God has done, they attempt to confine us to the identity they have always associated us with, instead of acknowledging the new identity God has established and made evident through His work in us.

This is not a new experience. Even Jesus encountered this when He returned to His hometown. Those who knew Him according to the flesh struggled to recognize the authority and wisdom operating through Him. Their familiarity became an obstacle to their understanding.

“But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.’”

Mark 6:4

What we must understand is that growth often reveals more than it changes. As God elevates us, develops us, and matures us, He begins exposing influences that may have always been present but previously went unnoticed. This is why Jesus instructed us to know people by their fruits. Not for judgment, condemnation, or superiority, but for discernment. Observation allows us to navigate wisely while continuing to walk in love.

“You will know them by their fruits.”

Matthew 7:16

One of the greatest lessons believers learn during transition is the difference between reacting and responding. The enemy constantly seeks to create emotional situations that pressure us into making decisions from the flesh. He wants us angry when we should be patient. He wants us fearful when we should be trusting. He wants us distracted when we should be focused upon Christ.

This is why Scripture repeatedly instructs us to walk in the Spirit. To walk in the Spirit does not mean we no longer have emotions. It means our emotions no longer lead us. We learn to bridle the flesh rather than allowing the flesh to bridle us. We learn to respond through wisdom rather than react through impulse.

“Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

Galatians 5:16

This same reality is seen in how focus determines stability in every situation.

Much like Peter walking on the water, our success is not determined by our own strength. Peter’s ability to walk on water was directly connected to where his focus remained. As long as his eyes were upon Jesus, he continued forward. The moment he shifted his attention toward the storm, fear began to overtake him.

In every season of growth, whether we are being refined internally or reintroduced to environments that no longer reflect who we are becoming, the challenge remains the same. We are continually being invited to live from identity rather than reaction, from truth rather than perception, and from what God has established rather than what others remember. The pressure to return to old definitions will always exist, but it is not meant to redefine us; it is meant to reveal where our focus truly rests.

The same principle remains true for believers today. The enemy wants our attention. Jesus wants our trust. The circumstances will always attempt to compete for our focus, but victory is found when our eyes remain fixed upon Christ rather than upon the waves surrounding us.

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”

Hebrews 12:2

God Bless You On Your Journey, In The Mighty Name Of Jesus Christ Of Nazareth. 😇🙏🏽

*Originally shared on social media*