Seeing Christ -- Part 1

One of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced is seeing my Lord and Savior in my mind's eye, doing what He does best: healing lives and making all things new again.

I learned many years ago, quite by accident, how I could see Jesus Christ through the eye of faith.

By the end of this series of posts, you will, too.

First, what is the eye of faith?

In Ether 12:5, Moroni teaches:

"And it came to pass that Ether did prophesy great and marvelous things unto the people, which they did not believe, because they saw them not."

They would not believe his words because they could not see the things he was prophesying.

In verses 18 and 19, Moroni goes on to say:

"And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore, they first believed in the Son of God. And there were many whose faith was so exceeding strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad."

Interesting verbiage here.  To me, these people strongly hoped for something they had never seen (Hebrews 11:1).  This belief "in the Son of God" was so strong, that they first beheld Him with an eye of faith (their spiritual eyes).  This faith evolved to where they were able to pierce the veil, and behold the Son of God with their physical eyes.

First spiritual, then physical.

Is there a precedent for such a sequence?  Absolutely.  Go mark up Moses 3:5:

"For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth."  

(Note I said "mark", not look.  The implications of Moses 3:5 surpass the contents of perhaps 10 blog posts).

How can we spiritually create seeing the Son of God?

In the September 1974 Ensign, author Stephen Covey described a terrific way we could spiritually create things while nourishing the word of God.  The technique is based on one word: Visualizing.

"This means to see in your mind’s eye the characters and events portrayed in the scriptures. Such an empathetic effort will help you understand the situation that produced the teaching. Then you can relate that situation to yours and distill the universal principle that may apply in both.

When you visualize, you’re exercising faith. Visualizing is a powerful mental process, one of man’s unique endowments. Most of us neglect this power. Realize it or not, control it or not, the spiritual creation precedes the physical creation in all things. Most of life’s battles are lost in this private phase."

Later, in his book "The Divine Center," Covey went on to say that "I believe that most of us horribly neglect this creative power within us. We live too much out of our memories, too little out of our imaginations. Realize it or not, control it or not, the spiritual (mental) creation precedes the physical creation in all things. Always begin with the end in mind. Most of life’s battles are really lost in private, not in public."

Alma (who was also a pretty big fan of the eye of faith) said:

"And thus, if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life." (Alma 32:37-40)

Hmmmm, cool. Looks like we have a hint: if you will nourish the word, and look forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, you can pluck of the fruit of the tree of life.  And like Lehi and Nephi, you will be glad.

In my next blog post, we'll describe a possible scenario where you can try this principle out for yourself.