Spiritual Blindness and the Power of Faith

Spiritual blindness prevents many from understanding the truth of the Bible and the message of Jesus.

### Understanding Spiritual Blindness and the Power of Prayer
* 👀 Many individuals choose to deny the truths presented in the Bible, despite **overwhelming evidence and historical proof**, due to their desire to **avoid accountability for their actions**.
* 🔍 The speaker reflects on their own journey, admitting that they once **resisted belief in God to maintain autonomy**, which ultimately led to **personal destruction**.
* 🙏 The Bible emphasizes the concept of **spiritual blindness**, suggesting that true understanding of God comes only through **spiritual rebirth**, as highlighted in the New Testament.
* 📖 In John 8, Jesus explains to the Pharisees that their inability to understand Him stems from being **deceived**, while Paul, in 2 Corinthians 4:4, notes that "**the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers**."
* 💔 The speaker argues that many people are **enslaved to worldly desires**, such as greed and identity in sin, which prevents them from recognizing the **freedom offered through Christ**.
* 💡 Paul prays for a revelation of knowledge in Ephesians 1:17, emphasizing the **importance of spiritual awakening**, a transformation that the speaker **personally experienced**.
* 🛡 The speaker encourages listeners to **share the truth of the Gospel** and to **pray for those who are lost**, acknowledging that **spiritual warfare plays a significant role** in understanding these truths.
* 🌟 Ultimately, the speaker underscores the **power of prayer** and the necessity of recognizing **God’s sovereignty**, urging others to engage with the Bible's teachings **seriously** and to seek a **personal relationship with God**.

have you ever noticed that no matter how much evidence you can share with somebody, no matter how much logic and reason you can use, their own argument, and no matter how much historical proof you can share for the Bible, most people just want to deny it. People do not want to believe what the Bible says, and they do not want to believe what Jesus said about himself. In many ways, this is someone's own fault. They do not want to actually research these claims because they do not want to be held accountable for their actions. Um, I know for me, I did not want to believe in God because I didn't want there to be a higher authority above me. I wanted to be my own God, make my own decisions, and it eventually led towards my own destruction. I'm very grateful that God revealed himself to me and changed all these things, but in other cases, the Bible talks a lot about, um, essentially a spiritual blindness and that we can't even understand the things of God until we have had a spiritual rebirth. You've

probably heard the term a born-again Christian or, you know, like the renewal of your mind. These things, the Bible talks a lot in the New Testament about, um, through our Salvation, we're given the spirit of God and a revelation of God to fully understand the things of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. In the Book of John, John chapter 8, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees, and he actually tells them straight up to their face why they cannot um believe him, why they can't understand what he's saying. So here it says, Jesus said, 'Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe.

me so in that moment. He literally tells them straight up, You are deceived and you do not believe me because you are deceived. And if we go further into the New Testament, Paul writes a lot about these things. I'm going to share here in 2 Corinthians 4, um, verse 4. Paul writes, In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. So if we kind of break down what Jesus is saying and what Paul has shared here, he's saying that Jesus is saying, You cannot understand me. I'm telling you the truth here, and you can't understand me because you're sons of Satan. And then Paul's saying, The God of this world has blinded them so they can't see this. The Bible talks about um, how the devil has a lot of dominion and control over the Earth essentially. He wanted to be like God and

so God said, Okay, here's your shot. See what happened. And so that's why the culture and all these things follow these patterns. If you kind of notice, like, we're not as a culture, we're not actually free. Like, everyone likes to say we're like the most free, the most liberal, the most set free from these things. Everyone is a slave to something. And if you're not a slave to Christ, you're not a slave to the things of God, you're a slave to this world, you're a slave to sin. That's why so many people worship things like sex. Their identity is found in sex, in money, in greed. These things control them. And the Bible says that we can be set free from these things when we're born again. And so to go a little further, Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 17, he says he's praying. He says that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the

knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power. So, that's essentially Paul is praying that you can have a revelation, spiritual Revelation, an Awakening of your mind, and that's really similar to what I experienced when I prayed to God in my kitchen. It was overnight, or more so instantaneously, a renewal of my mind. I went from being like an atheist, sex-worshiping, greedy, idolatrous, bisexual man in one moment. I prayed to God, the spirit of God entered me, and I was completely renewed. I had a revelation, and I could see all these things. It's like I woke up in The Matrix, mat is how I've explained to everybody. It's like God slapped me in the face. I was like, whoa, I get it all. And but

because many of the world is deceived. It's written that the God of this world, Satan, has blinded the eyes so that we cannot believe, we cannot understand this. And this is super interesting because as you go deeper into this, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 23. He's talking that God is honored and glorified through these things. Here it says, But we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than man, and the weakness of God is stronger than man. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of this world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are

Mighty, so if you can, if you can understand that God is essentially saying God has chosen almost outlandish stories, outlandish things throughout the Bible to humble the wise, to humble those who think they're mighty and so much smarter than God, too smart for God. He's um, you know, like stories like Jonah and the well, um, The Book of Job, the you know, marching around the walls of Jericho to fall down when they play trumpets. These things don't make sense to the secular worldly man, and it makes sense because you are, as a secular man, secular human, you are enslaved to the world. So the things of the Bible can't even make sense to you. In 1 Corinthians 1:18, it says, For the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. So a lot of times, you legit hear, you know, people saying Christians are idiots.

Christians are so narrow-minded, and they can't understand things. And you know, even in comments on my YouTube videos, people are telling me I'm wrong, I'm stupid, or this is unfortunate that I became a Christian. And it makes so much sense, um, literally according to the Bible. These people cannot understand this thing. And for me, I'm very grateful that I have encountered God that has changed my life. But I know that probably many people watching this are watching thinking, How can I reach my friend? How can I speak to my friend? One, we can always speak truth, always share the truth of the Bible and the wisdom and knowledge found in the Bible. Um, but two, I believe it is a spiritual thing. I believe that we must pray for these people. Um, I know that people had been praying for me literally since my birth. I knew that people had been praying for me, uh, especially in the past 10 years of my life, super wandering in the world, becoming a slave to the world and to sin.

people were praying for me daily, and I believe that it's because God listened to these prayers. He had a plan in action, and he was able to encounter me and change my life. In the same way, we can pray for our friends and family, or whoever that are lost and do not understand these things. Yes, it is our choice as a human. God gives us the free will to accept him, deny him, to harden our hearts, or to soften our hearts towards him. But it is also a spiritual thing because the Bible talks about principalities that can control the world. There are different demons and different regions that each have control and dominion over, and that's why a lot of the Bible is almost like warlike written in the way they phrase things. It says like put on the armor of God, like protect yourself, go against these things, fight. It says like endure through these trials because it's not just, Oh, God blesses you and

you're all good for life. You have an enemy that is here deceiving you, trying to lead you anywhere from the truth. And that's something I had a revelation of, and I'm so grateful that God showed me, and I'm able to share it with you. So, I would say always speak the truth. Everything that you say must be true, but not everything that is true must be said. I heard that on a podcast. I think Jonathan Puda shared it from somebody else. But me saying that, I'm saying everything you can share with your friends, like the most loving thing you can do, is share the truth with them, which is that Jesus is who he says he is, that there is a hell, that we will all be judged for our actions, and that God truly loves them. He loved them to the point of dying on a cross. He became man and died on a cross. But I also would encourage you to pray daily. I believe there's a lot of power in prayer.

and that is kind of neglected. And when you're praying, something that may help strengthen your prayers and the reference of what you're doing when you're praying. Think of God. Think of who God truly is. He's not just some guy in the clouds with a beard. God the Father is described as pure light. He dwells on a throne of pure light in heaven, and thunder and rainbows and lightning are like shooting out from behind God. And we can't even approach Him. Like, we will literally, it's like looking at the sun makes us blind. Imagine walking up to God. So think of that all-powerful being who has the universe in His hands, who breathed out, spoke the universe into existence. And when you're praying, imagine I'm in the throne room of God, but only because of the sacrifice of Jesus. You can have that one-on-one communication with Him like in the Old Testament. That's what all the rituals and all these things, the sacrifices and the weird, um, you know, toga, not toga, but

the garments that they would wear, and they had these patterns that they go to, to go to the Holy One place in the temple, to speak to God and atone for the sins. That veil has been torn, and we now have straight access to God. The spirit of God listens to us, and our prayers have power. So, I hope that maybe some of these Bible verses help kind of connect pieces and help give you a little bit of insight into why some people cannot even understand the Bible. They do not even believe the Bible, and yet, yes, it is our due diligence to take the claims of these things seriously and all religious claims. Like, there's obviously a reason these things are written. They're not just made up by man. There's been some... these people have encountered something. I believe that other religious teachings and writings are not the truth because Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And when you look at the historical evidence and claims of the Bible compared to other religions, it

just doesn't even hold weight, you know. But I hope that encourages you. Thank you for listening. Um, if you got any questions, leave them in the comments. I'll try and get back to you. And if you want to hear more preaching, more teaching, um, more stuff I can share with you, consider subscribing, and I'll be really grateful for that, and especially thankful for God using me to reach others and spread the word. Thanks. [Music]

This is Why Some People Cannot Believe the Bible

BrushFIRE

Many people reject the evidence and logic supporting the Bible and Jesus' teachings, often due to a desire to avoid accountability for their actions.

The Bible discusses spiritual blindness and the need for a spiritual rebirth to understand God's truth.

Jesus and Paul both emphasize that deception and blindness are significant barriers to believing in God and understanding His message.

The speaker emphasizes that everyone is a slave to something, whether it's sin or worldly desires, and true freedom comes from being a slave to Christ.

Paul’s prayer in Ephesians highlights the need for spiritual revelation and awakening to understand God's calling and power.

The speaker shares a personal transformation experience, describing an instantaneous renewal of mind and revelation from God, contrasting it with the world's deception and God's choice of the foolish and weak to shame the wise.

God's Outlandish Stories and Their Impact

God uses unconventional stories in the Bible to humble the wise and challenge worldly perspectives.

The message of the Cross is seen as foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God for those being saved.

Prayer and sharing biblical truth are essential in reaching out to those who are lost and struggling to understand God's message.

There is an enemy deceiving us, but speaking the truth and sharing God's love is essential.

Prayer is powerful and often neglected; envisioning God's true nature can strengthen our prayers.

Jesus' sacrifice allows us to have a personal relationship with God, offering one-on-one communication.

The torn veil symbolizes our direct access to God, with the power of prayer and the Spirit of God listening to us.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of taking religious claims seriously, as they are rooted in genuine encounters.

They believe that Jesus is the ultimate truth and that the historical evidence of the Bible holds more weight than other religious teachings.