We need a baptism of clear seeing. We desperately need seers who can see through the mist – Christian leaders with prophetic vision. Unless they come soon it will be too late for this generation. And if they do come we will no doubt crucify a few of them in the name of our worldly orthodoxy.

– A.W Tozer

Fire purifies. No matter which way you turn, if you are surrounded by fire you will be burnt.

No matter how big the rubbish pile, how soggy and wet the garbage heap, if the fire is hot enough it will purify and burn up the junk. God is described throughout the Bible as a fire (Deuteronomy 4:24, Isaiah 33:14, Malachi 3:2).

The Bible says Jesus has eyes like blazing fire (Revelation 1:14, 19:12). His eyes are pure. His eyes have fire in them. He encourages his followers to obtain from him gold refined in the fire and salve to put on their eyes “so that they can see” (Revelation 3:18). We are in desperate need for the Lord to “open our eyes so we may see” (2 Kings 6:17).

Holy fire from God is critical for our health, well-being and clear eyesight. Holiness keeps us normal. Cleanness before God is like health to the body.

In our day we have an onslaught attacking our eyes through the technological media sewer running through almost every room of every home in the land. Even among pastors and Christian leaders “porn-flu” and its sister perversions are reaching epidemic rates.

The spiritual life of many a church congregation is being sucked dry. We may boast in our ability to crank up a good show for Sunday services but the temperature is dropping in private prayer and we are in danger of going cold.

Noisy, tech savvy services can become the laughing stock of devils when we are content to function without the purifying fiery presence of his Spirit. Remember Jesus’ Spirit is fire (1 Thessalonians 5:19) – he expects nothing less than heat and clear eyes from his followers.

Jesus really does seem like a psycho surgeon. Look at his words here concerning the importance of keeping our eyes clear: “And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell” (Matthew 18:9).

And what about Job, he was considered a righteous man in his day. Look at his cry to God: “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl” (Job 31:1).

With the assault on our eyes in this world on a daily basis, from “sexting” to surfing the net, from MTV, soft porn gangsters to spellbinding novels about vampires, we need to look at something cleaner and more beautiful. The psalmist looked at the beauty of God: “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).

King David asks the question: “Who will climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?” (Psalm 24:3). Notice that the freedom ticket is clean hands and a pure heart, without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). Jesus goes on to state very emphatically that the truly happy person is the pure in heart “for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

As true followers of Jesus, how about we set the tone and raise the standard of what goes into our eyes? Let’s throw off every weight and sin that so easily entangles us (Hebrews 12). Let’s live with fire and holiness in our eyes in the midst of perversion and prayerlessness.

“I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes” (Ezekiel 36:23).

• Steven Dunne lives in Nelson with sis wife and eight children. He is the Senior leader of Richmond Baptist Church and founder of The Jeremiah Trust. He enjoys a sense of humour and good pizza.