The Power of Seeing People
Have you ever stopped to consider just how often God shows up in your life, but you didn’t even realize it? We throw around words like “That was such a coincidence.” Or we say, “Wow, that was weird,” when something unexplainable happens. And then, when we try to tell someone else about it, we skip over the part where we had prayed for it. We forgot to say how we had been asking God to reveal Himself.
We daydreamed the moment, imagined the conversation, hoped for the breakthrough—and when it happens, we treat it like a happy accident instead of a holy answer. Let’s be honest: this probably happens more than we even realize. So here’s the question I want to place in your heart today:
What do you see? What do you see when things go your way? Do you see God’s hand, or just good luck? And when things don’t go your way, what do you see then?
Frustration? Failure? Or do you still see the faithfulness of God? How often do you take time to think about what God is doing in your life?
We’re quick to celebrate when a child uses their imagination—we put their artwork on the fridge and cheer them on. But as they grow older, something starts to shift in us. That wonder turns into critique. That freedom becomes correction.
“Stay inside the lines.” “That’s not the right color.” “Lions and tigers aren’t supposed to be purple.” We stop seeing creativity and start enforcing conformity. And sometimes, without realizing it, we do the same thing with faith. We stop dreaming. We stop noticing. We stop seeing.
But here’s the truth: God is always at work—whether you see Him or not. He’s comforting one person over here while healing someone over there. He’s answering a prayer you prayed last year and starting to stir something new this morning.
So I’ll ask again: What do you see? What do you see when you look at the sky?
When you drive by a hospital? When do you walk through your neighborhood?
What do you see when you revisit the moments that shaped you—your childhood home, your old church, your place of pain? And maybe the more important question is this: What does God want you to see?
We often miss what God is doing because we’re looking with the wrong lens—through logic instead of faith, through routine instead of revelation.
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This morning, as we work through this section of Scripture in our series What Do You See, we will see Saul gain an Encouraging friend, we are introduced to Peter’s ministry as he sees a place of strife turned into a city of praise, and observes a disciple’s legacy.
See People Through the Eyes of Grace
Acts 9:20-31
God May Change a Person’s Heart in a Moment, But it Might Take a Moment or Two for Others to Catch Up
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Our Past is Never Wasted with God, It is Used to Proclaim Life Change
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Encouragers Don’t Just See the Best in People, They Speak It Until Others Believe It Too
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Peter Sees a Person
Acts 9:32-35
Peter Sees Something “Praiseworthy” in a City of “Strife”
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When Jesus Changes Our Life, the Mat That Once Carried Us Becomes Our Testimony
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Peter Sees a Disciple
Acts 9:36-42
A Disciple Is Known by What They Believe & How They Live
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God Turns a Place of Running into a Place of Resurrection
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Today’s Takeaways:
Do you have someone who encourages you, and whom are you encouraging?
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Is there strife in your life that you are not handing over to God so you can praise Him- no matter how long it takes…
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Are you looking for an escape route instead of a place to invest in people?
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When you walk into the world this week, what will you see?
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I ask you today:
When you walk through the world this week, what will you see? Will you see an interruption—or an invitation? Will you see a stranger—or someone with a story? Will you see a problem, or a person God wants to reach through you? Because God still uses ordinary people. God still works through unlikely places. And God is still inviting us to see through His eyes.
“What do you see?” Sometimes, the most powerful expressions of God’s love come not from a pulpit, a platform, or a miracle in a crowd, but from an ordinary café, with an ordinary cup of coffee.
