Spirit of Blindness

I had a dream the other night that illuminated an attack my family is under from a spirit of blindness.

Dreaming of Blindness

In my dream, I was swimming with my children at a beach that had a couple of large rocks. The rocks weren’t huge but were perfect for little boys to climb on. While my younger two were playing safely with another family member, my oldest and I wandered over to the nearest rock because he wanted to climb. He was about half way up this rock when he slipped.

I didn’t see him land because he had fallen backwards off the far side of the rock. The rock wasn’t big enough for him to be seriously hurt.  I knew there was a ledge maybe a foot down from where he was but I expected some bumps and bruises and a tear or two. I went to climb over the rock to get to him knowing it would be faster to climb this side than walk all the way around and climb up the other side to reach him. When I was about halfway up the face, just as I heard him start to cry, my hand touched the next hand hold and I found myself blind. I had instantly been overtaken by a spirit of blindness.

I called my sons name several times and was starting to panic when he reached out, touching my arm. He found me and had to help guide me down, still crying which is when I woke up.

Issues with Sight

Sight has been an issue in my house of late. My oldest, the same one I was with in this dream, has a small eye twitch that acts up when he is tired. Lately, due to increased stress, this twitch has gotten significantly worse and he has had see a few specialists to rule out any major issues. Thank God, nothing is wrong and he should outgrow this in time. But one thing the optometrist said while we were there is that he is likely to need glasses by this time next year.

My children, unfortunately, have a high likely hood of eyesight issues. Their father was almost legally blind, prior to corrective surgery. It isn’t surprising that one or more of them will end up with glasses.

The Significance of Dreams

Knowing enough about dreams and their significance, I immediately went about binding this dream. I fully believe that dreams are messages to us and that God communicates while we are sleeping. I don’t usually remember my dreams so when I do, I take them seriously and look for any thing that God might be saying.

In this particular dream, vision, or more specifically, lack of vision was being addressed. The spirit of blindness is very real. And like many things in the spirit world, what occurs in the spirit can manifest in the physical.

Warnings in Dreams

For me, this dream was absolutely a warning about how my family is under attack from a spirit of blindness. It was God’s way of revealing the enemy’s plan against my family. While I was attacked spiritually and symbolically in the dream, it is a real and definite physical attack on my child’s eyes.

I have witnessed the attack of this spirit against my family, especially extended family in recent history and watched family members succumb to it. God has revealed how spiritual blindness is affecting the physical sight, especially in terms of generational curses and how the sins of the father are passed down to the children.

I prayed diligently over my son that night for some time while he was sleeping and have since prayed over each of my children and will continue to for some time now that I am aware this is an area they are being attacked.

This warning doesn’t just end with my son’s eyes though.

A Spirit of Blindness

The Bible warns of the spiritual blindness.  The bible specifically mentions two kinds of blindness.  

For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).  Isaiah‬ ‭29:10‬ ‭ESV‬‬.

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.  2 Corinthians‬ ‭4:4‬ ‭ESV‬‬.

The first of these is a spiritual condition where God abandons us to ourselves. The second of these is a spirit of blindness that actively attacks and moves against us.

Physical Blindness

According to https://www.answers.com/Q/How_many_blind_people_are_in_the_world, there are an estimated 39 million blind people in the world and the number only goes up based on how you define blindness. Many more of us have the capacity to see enough to function normally. And yet all of us suffer from a form of blindness- spiritual blindness.

Spiritual Blindness

Spiritual blindness is a condition caused by sin that prevents us from seeing things as they truly are. When we are spiritually blind, we can delude ourselves into thinking that our sins are not sins, or are too small to matter. We start to think that we are better than others or, at least, not as bad as them.

When we are spiritually blind, the Bible has no meaning because we cannot understand the truth of God’s message.

Spiritual blindness is when we allow sin to separate us from the truth of God. In this state, we lie to ourselves. We tell ourselves such things as

• that God is not real.
• The Bible is just a book.
• Our sin isn’t hurting anyone and doesn’t matter.
• The truth is relative.
• Situational ethics are better than concrete morals.

Symptoms of Spiritual Blindness

Romans makes very clear what some of the symptoms of spiritual blindness are (Romans 1:28-32):

• Lust: dishonoring of their bodies, unnatural relations
• worship and serve creation instead of creator
• evil, unrighteousness
• Jealousy: covetousness, envy
• malice, hatred, murder
• Lies and sins of the tongue: deceit, gossip, slander
• Pride: insolence, haughtiness, boastfulness
• disobedience
• foolishness
• faithlessness, heartlessness, ruthlessness

It is easy to look at this list and see the lack of the Holy Spirit and to therefore dismiss it as for unbelievers. However, believers can fall prey to spiritual blindness as well.

In the Scriptures, Paul describes Satan as the cause of spiritual blindness in his letter to the Corinthians. “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Satan, who is the father of lies (John 8:44), aims to lead humans away from God’s truth in any way he can. The Bible calls him extraordinarily evil (John 8:44), the cause of all temptations (Luke 4:2; Hebrews 4:15; 1 Corinthians 7:5), and the destroyer of flesh (1 Corinthians 5:5). He even attempts to blind believers, seeking to trap us and cause us to distance ourselves from God through temptation, fear, loneliness, worry, depression, and persecution (2 Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 6:11; 1 Peter 5:8–9).

Spiritual blindness – What is it?

Cause of Spiritual Blindness

The problem with sin is that it is tempting. We like it. And the truth is we have a sinful nature and chose blindness all on our own. We don’t want to be exposed so we choose to hide in the darkness.

…and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. John 3:19-21 ESV

And even though the Devil does have a hand in keeping us blind, like I read back in 2 Corinthians 4:4, our blindness originates from within us. It is owing to what we want. It’s not forced on us against what we want. 

Therefore, our blindness and our deadness is a real blameworthy desire and love and preference for darkness over light. We are really responsible for these desires, these loves, these preferences that we have. They are the very essence of what is evil about us. Oh, how thankful we should be that God does not simply leave all of us in our rebellion, but instead breaks in with light so we can see and savor and embrace the glory of Christ as our supreme treasure.

The Only Solution to Spiritual Blindness, John Piper

Blinders and Blindspots

Spiritual blindness is what allows a believer to fall away from the church or justify their sins. It is what convinces an unbeliever that God isn’t real and they don’t need salvation.

Every one has spiritual blind spots. We live in a fallen world and not a single one of us is perfect. We all have sins that blind us in one area or another.

So what does spiritual blindness look like?

The spiritually blind are not motivated to rethink their theology and honestly consider that they might be wrong about God. The spiritually blind do not seriously seek after God and reevaluate their theology. They ignore the truth about God (Romans 1:19; 2:14-15). Their bad theology appeals to their own desires (1 Peter 2:17-19).

The Symptoms of Spiritual Blindness

Jesus Restores Our Sight

In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. Luke‬ ‭7:21‬ ‭ESV. ‬

Jesus is the only thing that can restore our sight. Just as our physical eyes cannot see in darkness, our spiritual eyes cannot see through sin. He removes the blinders that cause us to succumb to the spirit of blindness. This is why Jesus is the light of the world. He illuminates the truth so we can see. Jesus is the light by which we spiritually see and we must strive to see the world around us, especially people the way that God does. We must remember the promises of God and cling to them.

Jesus said, “for judgement I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind (John 9:39 ESV).”

Jesus restored the sight of many while doing his earthly ministry but he did not come to restore physical sight. Many were left blind after his earthly ministry was complete. His true purpose was to restore our spiritual sight and to restore our relationship with God by removing our sin.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12 ESV).”

I would encourage you to ask the Lord how you spiritually blind. Sit with it and see what He chooses to light up in your life.

Prayer

Father,

I know that all have sinned and I am no different. Falling short, I have failed to live up to the standard you have set for my life on a daily basis. I know that I have blinders on to areas of sin in my life.

Your word tells us that we should remove the planks from our own eyes before we point to the splinters in others. I ask that you remove my blinders that I could see more clearly and draw closer to you. Help me to be a light in the darkness, spreading the truth of Christ.

Father, I know that I and my family have been under attack recently by the spirit of blindness. I ask that you protect the spiritual and physical eye sight of myself and my family. I bind the enemy’s attacks against us and I ask for healing and restoration of all damages done in Jesus’ name.

Thank you for being the light and the truth. Thank you for setting me free from darkness.

in Jesus’ name

Brea