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There are moments in history when heaven leans close, when the Spirit presses upon a generation with unusual intensity, and when the people of God must rise into a higher dimension of sight. We are living in such a moment. Isaiah’s ancient cry still reverberates: “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” Darkness may cover the earth, but glory is rising upon a people who refuse to merely look, they choose to SEE and know their God.

The barn owl, has a heart-shaped face and captures even the faintest glimmer of light and amplifies it. What a picture of Spirit-filled believers in a dim world. God is raising up men and women who can take the slightest whisper of revelation and magnify it into understanding, direction, and prophetic clarity. Don’t just look, but SEE.

Scripture is filled with God asking His prophets, “What do you see?” Jeremiah saw an almond branch. Amos saw a plumb line. Zechariah saw lampstands and olive trees. These were not natural images, they were spiritual realities perceived by spiritual eyes.

Jesus spoke in parables not to confuse but to divide between those who merely observed and those who truly perceived. He said of the crowds: “They look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t understand.” Their hearts had grown calloused. But to His disciples He declared: “Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.” Paul prayed that the eyes of our heart would be enlightened. This apostolic burden still rests upon the Church that we would SEE the hope of His calling, the riches of His inheritance, the surpassing greatness of His power, and our true position in heavenly places. Seeing is the posture of those who walk with God, but it comes with the intentionality of waiting on and entering the presence of the Lord.

When Israel came to Hebron to crown David, the nation shifted. But only one tribe understood the times and knew what Israel should do: Issachar. (1 Chr 12:32) In every generation, God raises a remnant with prophetic perception to discern governmental shifts, spiritual alignments, and divine timing. We are in such a year. A year of seismic shifts. A year of contrast. A year where heaven marks the difference between light and darkness, truth and deception, Kingdom and world. This is the hour to come up higher.

John saw a door standing open in heaven and heard a trumpet voice: “Come up here, and I will show you…” Elevation precedes revelation. John G. Lake once cried out that the Church must stop digging its nose in the ground and lift its eyes to the throne, to the glorified Christ, risen with all authority. Throne life. Throne love. Throne power. Throne perspective. We must keep going higher. No matter our age, history, or circumstances, there is more.

Paul pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:14) Simeon waited with unwavering faith until he saw the Consolation of Israel. Anna fasted and prayed for decades until she beheld the glory of God in the face of a child. In a massive temple complex, only two people recognized the Son of God. Seeing is rare, precious and costly.

Peter nearly missed the next move of God when he said, “Never Lord, never will I eat that unclean food.” Sometimes the very traditions we hold on to can rise up and hinder us from stepping into the new thing God is calling us to embrace. We have to be careful. Throughout history, the fiercest resistance to a fresh move of God has often come from those who were deeply invested in the previous move of God. When the Lord begins to shift His methods, His timing, or His expression, it can offend the expectations of those who assume He will always move the way He moved before. And because the new does not look like the old, they oppose what God is doing, without realizing they are fighting the very thing they once prayed for. Jerusalem missed her day of visitation because they did not perceive or understand the timing of God. They did not recognize the Son of God when He was in their very midst! Jesus wept over a city that could not see. “You did not recognize the time of your visitation.” Oh Lord, may that never be said of us. May we have eyes to see!

Elisha prayed for his servant: “Lord, open his eyes.” Suddenly his servant saw chariots of fire surrounding them. In the same moment, the opposing army was blinded. Isn’t this an interesting point that sight and blindness can occur in the same hour, depending on the posture of the heart.

Nicodemus came at night, still in the dark, and Jesus told him plainly: “Unless one is born again, he cannot SEE the kingdom of God.” New birth produces new vision. For prior to salvation, a person may look at spiritual things but he cannot perceive them. When the Spirit of God regenerates the heart, when the Spirit of God enters into the human spirit, the veil lifts, the eyes see, the heart perceives, and the Kingdom becomes visible.

“On January 6, 1850, a snowstorm almost crippled the city of Colchester, England; and a teenage boy was unable to get to the church he usually attended. So he made his way to a nearby Primitive Methodist chapel, where an ill-prepared layman was substituting for the absent preacher. His text was Isaiah 45:22: “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” For many months this young teenager had been miserable and under deep conviction, but though he had been reared in church (both his father and grandfather were preachers), he did not have the assurance of salvation. The unprepared substitute minister did not have much to say, so he kept repeating the text. “A man need not go to college to learn to look,” he shouted. “Anyone can look—a child can look!” About that time, he saw the visitor sitting to one side, and he pointed at him and said, “Young man, you look very miserable. Young man, look to Jesus Christ!” The young man did look by faith, and that was how the great preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon was converted.” (The Bible Exposition Commentary)

A child can look. Anyone can look. But only the spiritually awakened truly SEE. Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up and suddenly he saw the condition of his own soul. Revelation always reveals God first, then us. John wrote: “We will be like Him, for we will SEE Him as He truly is.” Seeing transforms us and our situations.

Throughout history, lovers of God have dared to dream impossible dreams, pray impossible prayers, and believe a God of impossible power. They leapt off cliffs of faith and marked their generation. Now it is our turn. God is raising a remnant who will see with spiritual eyes, walk in glory, impart faith, confront empty philosophies, live in the supernatural realm, and call forth things that are not as though they were.

Bonnie Jones, widow of the prophet Bob Jones, revisited Bob’s 1984 visitation, where Jesus told him to pray for three things, the last being POWER. We are approaching the greatest demonstration of God’s power we have ever seen.

Bobby Conner said that the Lord told him, “I finally found me people weak enough to work in, and he said, not weak in morals, not weak in ethics, not weak in character, but weak in their own ability. I found me a people that embraced John 15:5 ‘Without Me you can do nothing.’ ”

Naphtali means “my wrestling.” Naphtali was a tribe sitting in darkness until a great light came. Jacob prophesied that Naphtali would be a swift messenger bringing good news. We are that messenger generation. We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, called out of darkness into His marvelous light. Shine on! The glory train is coming. The temple, our lives, will be filled with His radiance.

“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” (Is 60:1)

This is a significant year. A year where the decisions we make will shape the rest of our lives. We have determined we are not holding back. We are wrestling like Jacob until the blessing breaks through. We expect His glory. We expect His presence. We expect His power. The water levels are rising. Hunger is increasing. Thirst is intensifying.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. (Matt 5:6)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote: “Earth’s crammed with heaven… but only he who sees takes off his shoes.” Most people pluck the blackberries. But the remnant sees the burning bush.

I see a Nor’easter in the Spirit, winds of change sweeping across the land. The wind blows where it wishes, and so it is with those born of the Spirit. Hope is rising. Hunger is awakening. Darkness is being pushed back. Eagles are ascending. The curse is broken. The blessing is released.

This is not a time to shrink back. This is not a time to let past circumstances weigh you down. It is time to soar. A time to rise. A time to perceive. A time to SEE. God is on the move in the nations, in your community, in your home, in your life. Don’t just look but SEE.