Most have heard the familiar phrase, “Seeing is believing” or “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

But what if the exact opposite is true? What if believing is actually seeing?

 

Four years ago, I was assigned a passage of Scripture for a 5-minute message I was to give for a ministry class I was taking. That passage was John 4:46-53. At the time, two of my friends were close to death, and I had been contending in prayer for their lives. So from the moment I began to read my assignment, I knew the Lord was speaking to me, but I had to walk through an offense in my heart to receive all He was saying.

 

First, Some Background On This Passage:

In John 4:46-53, Jesus is returning to Galilee where He previously turned water into wine. He had just come from Samaria where the Samaritan woman—and many in the town—believed in Him, based purely on His words. A royal government official, thought to be from Herod Antipas’s court, approached Jesus in desperation. The first two verses start out with…

“So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death,” (John 4:46-47,  NKJV.) 

 

Let’s stop here for a moment.  

This man’s son was dying. As a royal official, he would have had every available resource at his disposal. He realized that what he possessed was not enough, and he recognized his need for Jesus.

We often have to come to the end of ourselves to see the miracle. We are so accustomed, especially in countries like America, to exhaust every available resource—often before turning to God. But what if we humbled ourselves and came to Him first, knowing that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father, and that we are nothing without Him?

This official heard that the man Jesus, who turned water into wine, was in town. He somehow understood that if this Jesus could turn water into wine, then He could heal his dying son. He had eyes to see what could be possible with Jesus. 

Again, many are familiar with the saying, “Seeing is believing.” But I would like to suggest that, in Jesus, the opposite is true. Believing is seeing.

Believing is seeing the possibility. And…Believing is seeing, rightly, our need for Jesus for that possibility. (v. 46-47) Because, “All things are possible to him who believes!” (Mark 9:23.)

 

At the time, I knew healing was possible for my friends. And I knew the Lord was the only one able to perform it. I had seen enough miracles in my lifetime to know that. I had, in fact, been healed of a heart defect, myself. But that is for another day.

 

Let’s start back up in John 4:48-49…

48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” 49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”

When I read these two verses, I began to cry. In my mind, the official wasn’t asking for a sign to believe. He wasn’t asking for a wonder to share around the campfire to impress his friends. He was pleading for the life of his son.

As I said, at the time I had two friends close to death. Without a ‘sign’ or a ‘wonder’—God’s miraculous intervention—they would die. So all I could see in this passage was this offensive statement of Jesus’, looming in front of me and refusing to budge. It seemed so inappropriate for the circumstances, and it appeared to go against Jesus’s very nature.

Through my tears, I said to the Lord, “I believe in You without a sign, but without one my friends are going to die.”

He didn’t answer me in the way I expected. Instead, He reminded me of John 6:53-58, where He told a crowd that they had to “eat His flesh and drink His blood to have eternal life.” He didn’t qualify His statement to them. He didn’t explain that He was speaking metaphorically. He knew the people were assuming He was speaking of cannibalism, which was against the Law of Moses. And He knew that the people were judging Him falsely. Yet He simply made this statement and let it stand. And the crowd—many of His followers—rejected and abandoned Him as a result.

Then He turned to his disciples in John 6:61 & 67 and said, “Does this offend you?...Do you also want to go away?” And Peter answered Him in verse 68, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Only you have the words of eternal life.”

You see, believing is not only seeing the possibility, or seeing our need for Jesus.

Believing is seeing past the offense. (v. 48-49)

 

Believing is trusting in God’s goodness and power—no matter the circumstances and no matter the results. I received my Scripture assignment on Oct. 8th. I cried all day long and wrestled through my offense with God. My friend, Michelle, received an incredible miracle on October 9th and was released from the hospital on Oct. 10th. Yet my friend Mark (who I had known since 1978 and called my “little brother”) died on Oct. 13th.

With one, I got my miracle. With the other, the miracle came in another form, and my friend is now with Jesus.

Matthew 11:6, “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

It’s so easy to seek the gift—the miracle—over the Giver. We can easily seek the ‘wonder’ over the Wonder standing in front of us—the Lord. We can treat Him like a genie in a bottle and get angry or offended when He doesn’t perform in the way we hope or expect Him to. But He is good—always. And believing is seeing that. Believing is knowing, in your heart of hearts, that though you may not understand, though the answer you desired may not have come, He is good. He is kind. He is all-consuming love. And He will wipe every tear from our eyes in the end.

 

Let’s continue in John 4:49-50…

49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies! 50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 

You see, the nobleman saw past any offense he could have taken to the man standing before him. Before him was the One who turns water into wine. The One who saves the best for last. Before Him was the One who possesses all authority, yet uses that authority to extravagantly bless His children. He saw before him the One who can’t help but be compassionate and selfless, using His power to serve rather than to be served.

You see…Believing is seeing the true nature and character of God, (in spite of the circumstances or outcome.)  (v. 49-50) 

Like Peter who said in John 6:68, “Where else would I go?”, the nobleman believed in Jesus’s power and good character, and it caused him to instantaneously obey. Jesus said “Go,” and he went. He went before he knew he had what he came for. He went before having evidence that his request was granted. He somehow understood that he could stand on Jesus’s word.

 

Look at John 4:51…

51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”

As he went in faith, in the hope of the promise, he was met with the news. The impossible had bent its knee to the words of Jesus.

Believing is seeing the impossible bend its knee. (v. 51)

 

Pick back up in Verses 52-53…

52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.

There are two things I want to point out from these last two verses. The first is that the nobleman had eyes to see that it was Jesus, alone, who healed his son, and he gave Him the credit.  How many times have you seen someone get their miracle and not recognize the God who gave it to them? They pray or accept prayer, and when the miracle comes, they attribute it to medicine, the doctors, their own wisdom, and even coincidence.

BUT…
Believing is seeing the miraculous hand of God and attributing it to Him, alone. (v. 52-53A)

 

Look at how this story ends…

The faith of the nobleman brought salvation not only to himself, but to his whole household.

Verse 53 says, “And he himself believed, and his whole household.”

When we share our testimonies of what God has done, we reap the fruit of that testimony in the lives of others. When we sow belief, we reap it. Not only in our own lives, but in the lives of our loved ones.

Believing is seeing the fruit of our faith. (V. 53B)

 

I want to encourage you…

Let’s flip the old adage of “Seeing is believing” on its head. In Jesus, “Believing is seeing!”

 

Believing is seeing the possibility.

Believing is seeing, rightly, our need for Jesus.

Believing is seeing past the offense.

Believing is seeing the true nature and character of God, (in spite of the circumstances or outcome.) 

Believing is seeing the impossible bend its knee.

Believing is seeing the miracle and attributing it to God, alone.

And Believing is seeing the fruit of our faith.

  

If you are willing, I would love to lead you in a prayer of repentance for the places where you have said in your heart that “I’ll believe it when I see it.” For the places where you may have chosen, like I did, offense with God over standing on the truth of His beautiful nature and character. For the places where you have possibly accused Him of wrongdoing in your heart, when you haven’t received what you hoped, expected or prayed for. 

Are you willing to trust Him before the answer comes, before the miracle manifests in the natural, and even if it never does on this earth? Like Peter, will you say, “Where else would I go? Only You have the words of eternal life”? (John 6:68)

Will you give Him your “yes,” afresh? Will you believe that you might see? If so, I would love to pray over you.

 

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, we repent for our unbelief. We repent for our offended places. We repent for the places in our hearts where we have accused You of wrongdoing; where we have accused you for being contrary to Your true nature and character, because of our own misunderstanding.

Lord, would you release to us a gift of faith; a gift of believing for the impossible? Lord, help us to trust and obey You when we don’t understand. Give us eyes to not only see the miracle, but to attribute it to You, alone. Lord, give us an unshakable hope for the fruit to come forth from the seeds of faith we have sown—even the seeds of faith that have appeared to fall on dead soil. We trust that You not only have fruit for us, but fruit for our household and those who we love. We give You our “Yes,” Lord. We believe. Help our unbelief. Help us to “believe that we might see.” In Jesus’s name, Amen.

 

New BOOK RELEASE…

As stated above, when we share our testimonies of what God has done, we reap the fruit of that testimony in the lives of others. To read the testimony of my son’s and my darkest hour—and the strategy God gave us to walk through to complete healing and freedom—check out my book. And may our victory be the launching pad for yours!

 “DON’T CHEAT THE BUTTERFLY: A Battle, A Strategy, and A Mind Transformed.”
Available in Paperback, eBook, and Audiobook on February 11th, 2025.