What Blinder’s Am I Wearing?
Have you seen the blinders/blinkers that they put on the sides of horse’s bridles? Does anyone know what they are for?
They help the horse stay calm and focused on the path straight ahead or on the task in front of them. The blinders keep the horse from getting distracted or spooked by what’s happening on the sides or behind.
I think we sometimes do the same thing with our past. We wear “blinders” that keep us locked in on what we’ve done—past failures, sins, mistakes, shame, and condemnation or even maybe what people said about us.
I don’t know about you, but I will replay conversations in my mind. Or I will replay a failure in my head over and over, trying to see if there was something I should have done better?
And we are so focused on that, that we fail to see the truth of what God says in Hebrews 8:12:
“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
Why do you think we do that? Why do we want to remember what God chose to forget?
For me I think it is because I am still too focused on myself, my feelings, my insecurities. The bible calls this being focused on self “pride.”
Romans 8:7-8 says:
“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Whether it is because you think too highly of yourself, or you think you are the worst person ever. Pride is disagreeing with who God says you are. And humility is agreeing with who and what God says we are.
Getting back to the blinker/blinders. We should be so focused on what God has for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus and putting on spiritual blinders that block out the old mistakes, failures, shame, and condemnation.
Let me share two powerful examples from Scripture that show us how to do this.
First example – Jesus feeding the 5,000
(Mark 6:41): “And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all.”
The Greek word for “He looked up” is anablepo, which means “to recover sight” or “to look up and see again.” Jesus didn’t focus on the little bit He held in His hands—the five loaves and two fish.
Instead, He looked up and recovered the way He saw things from Heaven, where there is no lack—only complete provision and abundance.
Because Jesus saw Heaven’s supply, the bread and fish multiplied to match what He saw when He looked up. He gave from the fullness of what He had already seen by faith.
We have the same opportunity today. We can look at our present situation, our future, or our provision or even our identity through our physical eyes and what we currently see… or we can recover our sight and look at everything according to what God’s Word says. When we see it God’s way, our reality will begin to conform to that heavenly picture.
Second example – Blind Bartimaeus
We read in Mark 10 that Bartimaeus was a blind beggar sitting by the road as Jesus passed by. When he heard Jesus was coming, he didn’t wait to be noticed—he started crying out loudly. He didn’t let the opinions or judgments of the crowd stop him.
What made Jesus stand still? It was Bartimaeus’ persistent faith.
For a little historical background: in those days, a beggar wore a special outer garment that identified him/her as a beggar. It was like a label society placed on him, and many wore it as their identity.
But look at verse 50:
“Throwing aside his garment, he jumped up and came to Jesus.”
In that one bold act, Bartimaeus was declaring, “Jesus has called me! I am done with this old identity, I am no longer a blind beggar, because I am going to see!”
He threw off the old label before Jesus even touched his eyes. He embraced his new identity by faith.
Here’s my question to you:
Am you grabbing hold of Jesus’ promises or what He says about your identity the way Bartimaeus did? Have you decided that you will be exactly what Jesus calls you—even before you see the evidence with your physical eyes?
So often we judge ourselves and say, “I’m not who God says I am,” simply because we haven’t seen it yet in the natural.
Philippians 3:14 (AMPC):
“I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.”
Pressing forward means forgetting what lies behind. It means to stop looking at ourselves through our physical eyes and start seeing with spiritual eyes what God says about us. We speak His truth over ourselves and become all that He has already declared we are in Christ.
Today I am challenging you to take God at His Word. Speak over yourself what He is saying, even if it feels like you are lying, because you are not. You are repeating in faith what God is speaking. And keep on speaking it, no matter what. Keep speaking the things that are not, just as though they are. Believe it and you will see it.