To Fix My Gaze

So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

—2 Corinthians 4:18 (NLT)

Heavenly Father,

Help me look beyond the troubles that I see pressing in around me and help me to fix my gaze on the things that I cannot see—those things that will last forever, but can only be known by faith.

Help me to realize that the troubles that I face today are temporary and will soon pass away—just as everything that I now see with my eyes, will one day be gone.

Help me to set the eyes of my heart on those things that I cannot see with my physical eyes—things which are timeless and deathless, which bring me eternal life, and are infinitely more real than those things I see with my eyes.

Thank You that this life is not all there is—with its sickness, pain, suffering, persecution and injustice—but that even while I am here, You will use the hardships that I face to bring me good, and will one day set all things right, if I will surrender my will to Yours.

Keep me forward thinking to that which awaits me—not in order to escape the troubles that I face, but to keep them in perspective with the great plan that You have for my eternal destiny with You—as You keep me at peace and sustain me through every hardship I face.

Help me look beyond the troubles that I see pressing in around me and help me to fix my gaze on the things that I cannot see—those things that will last forever, but can only be known by faith.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.