Hello my dear friend,

I hope you are doing well. Welcome to September. How was your August?

Recently, while looking at a picture of a hill, a simple question came to my heart. Can you look at the hill and look down at the same time? The answer is no. When your eyes are lifted toward the hill, you are looking up. When your eyes are directed downward, you are looking below your level. These two directions cannot happen together. One always cancels the other.

When Looking Down Feels Easier

There are days when looking down feels easier. And looking down is not only a physical posture. It is also the inward gaze that settles on inadequacies, past mistakes, fears, disappointments, and the quiet voice of imposter syndrome. It is the place where we rehearse what went wrong, what could go wrong, what is missing, or what feels uncertain.

Sometimes that inward gaze becomes a familiar hiding place, a fortress built from our own defence mechanisms. It feels safe, comfortable, familiar, so we remain there.

Gideon did this too (Judges 6:12 to 24). When the angel of the Lord called him a mighty man of valour (Judges 6:12), he could not see it. The situation in Israel did not look like God was with them (Judges 6:13). And Gideon looked down at himself, at his limitations, his background, and the fact that he was the least in his family (Judges 6:15). The more he focused on that, the less he could look up at God and identify with who God had called him to be. He was hiding, looking down, unable to see the truth of God’s words.

Are you hiding, looking down, and not looking up?

God Still Says, “Look at Me”

Even in those moments, God gently calls, “Look at Me.” It is alright to ask Him for help (Jeremiah 33:3 ERV; Matthew 7:7 to 11 MSG), to admit that you cannot see Him clearly, and to ask for your eyes to be opened. God desires truth in the inward parts (Psalm 51:6), and He receives the sacrifices of a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17). Humility makes room for His help.

God is able to help us see. Elisha prayed for the eyes of his servant to be opened (2 Kings 6:17), and God answered. The servant became calm because he could finally see what God had already provided.

Faith does not remove questions. Faith is lived daily, moment by moment. This is why we return to what God has said and ask the Holy Spirit to bring His word alive in our hearts (Habakkuk 2:2- 4).

God speaks through people, situations, and ordinary moments. He is not silent. He is a Father. He said we should ask, and He keeps His word.

Building Sensitivity to His Voice

This is why we must build sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, paying attention to His peculiar sounds to us and listening for His voice (Proverbs 3:5 – 6 MSG). How do we do this? Stay in the word. Do not let it depart from your mouth or your heart. Meditate on it (Joshua 1:9). Sometimes you need to confess His scriptures out loud (Romans 10:8), drawing from your promise bank, because the mind can be a battlefield.

Learning to look at Him is a daily choice. Learning means it is a continuous process that grows stronger as we focus on His word, fellowship, and take steps of faith, even if they seem like baby steps.

As the song Real Thing  by Dante Bowe and Maverick City says: Baby steps, my child. To you it may be nothing, but you make Daddy proud. Your weakness is only My strength. I know you have your questions, but I am closer than you think. I promise.

These words remind us that God is not rushing us. He sees every small step, and He is present in every moment of our becoming. He cheers us on like a proud and compassionate Father, especially when we remember Hebrews 4: 14-16, which tells us that we have a High Priest who understands every struggle because He also lived as a man and now intercedes for us.

When this truth settles into our hearts, it gently redirects us. It slows the noise inside us and invites us to notice where our attention has been resting, whether on fear, failure, or striving. And in that awareness, we begin to recognise where our gaze should be, fixed on the One who understands us completely and leads us patiently. Hence, leading us to decide on whose report we will believe

Choosing the Story You Will Live By

In Romans 4:19 – 25 (MSG), we see Abraham believing God when hope seemed impossible. He acknowledged the reality of his situation, but he also remembered God’s character and faithfulness. Abraham chose to believe God.

Abraham didn’t focus on his own impotence and say ”it is hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child”. Nor did he survey Sarah’s decades of infertility and give up. He didn’t tiptoe around God’s promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what He had said . 

That why it is said, ”Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set Him right.” But its not just Abraham: It’s also us! The same thing get said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless. The sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God and set us right with God. 

Faith does not deny what is obvious. It simply refuses to let the obvious determine your posture. Faith chooses the story you will live by. Faith looks at the One who makes the promise, and you cannot look at Him while focusing on your inadequacies, past failures, or fears.

Lift Your Eyes

So lift your eyes

Look at the hill.

Look at Him.

Until next note in October, Have a beautiful September my dear Friend!. But just before then, I would like you to say this short prayer now or anytime you find yourself in the middle or looking down:

Father, thank you for the gift of your presence even when it feels like it or not.

Your word says, Lo I am with you aways and I know You don’t lie. 

Please help me to see you the way You see me

Help me to always bring this inadequacies to you

To always know I can lay them at your feet in exchange for what You give. 

Help me always know that You’ve got me and You would never let me slip

Help my heart to be centered and rooted in you, Christ My firm foundation now and always in Jesus name

Thank you Father

Amen