What Does God See in Me?

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Daily Devotional — Wednesday, November 11, 2026

Icy-blue image of open hands receiving soft light, representing the Heart Change principle that value cannot be achieved but must be received from God and through healthy connection.

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” — 2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV

Heart Change Insight

It's one thing to recognize that something in my life isn't working. It's another thing to begin seeing what God intends instead.

If all I can see is what's wrong, recognition can leave me discouraged. I may become more aware of the fear, isolation, bitterness, control, or self-reliance that has been flowing through me, but awareness by itself doesn't give me a new direction.

In Releasing God's Life Through the Hearts of Men, Chapter 14, I describe another part of recognizing: learning to see what I call biblical reality. We need to become aware not only of where we are, but also of where God is leading and what His life can produce in us.

That doesn't mean I sit down and invent an inspiring picture of the person I would like to become. It isn't positive thinking or self-improvement with Christian language attached to it. This kind of vision grows out of spiritual communion. As I connect with God, I begin receiving His perspective instead of simply building my own.

What Does God See in Me?

Sometimes we assume that because something has been true for a long time, it must simply be the way life is supposed to be. We become accustomed to certain thoughts, reactions, and relationships until we stop questioning whether they're healthy or whether God intends something different.

Past experience can become our definition of reality.

What is and what God intends are not always the same thing. Not everything that has happened to us represents God's will, and not every spiritual flow that feels normal reflects His life.

That's where connection begins to change what we see.

God's intended reality is consistent with His character. His Spirit produces love, joy, peace, and the other fruit that reflect His presence. When those things are missing, the answer isn't to manufacture them through willpower. It's to recognize the difference between what has been flowing through us and what becomes possible as we receive from Him.

Fear produces one kind of flow. Bitterness produces another. God's life produces something different.

Seeing Possibility in God

My potential isn't activated because I finally discover enough personal strength. It is activated and completed through the ongoing presence and strengthening of God.

In The 7 Laws of Heart Change — Vision, I explain that vision isn't about independently deciding who I want to become and then striving hard enough to make it happen. It's about becoming able to see what God intends and receiving His life as He leads me toward it.

When I begin recognizing what God intends, I don't have to figure out the entire future. I can start with two questions I often encourage people to ask: What is God saying? What is God doing?

Those questions shift my attention away from everything that's wrong and toward God's activity in the present. Maybe He's helping me recognize a pattern I've accepted as normal. Maybe He's showing me a healthier way to respond or inviting me to receive something I've been resisting. As I recognize what He's doing, I can begin cooperating with Him rather than trying to manufacture change myself.

Second Corinthians 3:18 describes transformation this way: as we behold the Lord, we are being transformed into His image by the Spirit of the Lord. The direction is clear, but so is the source.

Maybe I've lived with anxiety for so long that I can't imagine not being ruled by fear. Maybe years of protecting myself have made openness and connection feel almost impossible. Or maybe I've reacted the same way for most of my life and quietly assumed that's simply who I am. But none of those familiar patterns necessarily represents God's intended end.

Recognizing God's intended reality doesn't mean denying where I am today. It means refusing to assume that my present condition is all God intends for me.

That leads me to a different question: What does God see in me? Not simply what needs to change, but what He intends to develop as I receive His life and cooperate with Him.

Maybe He sees an area that has been dominated by fear but was created to carry courage. Maybe He sees a relationship that has been shaped by control but could begin to reflect peace. Maybe He sees something in me that has been buried under years of self-protection and knows what it can become when His life begins flowing there.

I don't have to produce that future.

I need to stay connected enough to recognize what God intends, receive what He supplies, and cooperate with the next obedience He puts in front of me. That's how biblical reality begins to replace the patterns I've come to accept as normal.

Reflection

Where have you started assuming that a familiar pattern is simply “who you are,” rather than asking what God intends?
What do you sense God may be saying or doing in that area right now?

Prayer

Father, help me see beyond the patterns I’ve accepted as normal. Show me what You intend to develop in me as I stay connected to You. Teach me to recognize what You’re saying and what You’re doing, and help me receive what You supply instead of trying to manufacture change on my own. Give me courage to cooperate with the next obedience You make clear. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Today's Step of Obedience

Pause before one decision, conversation, or familiar reaction today and ask: “What is God saying? What is God doing?” Then choose one response that cooperates with what He is showing you instead of automatically repeating the old pattern.