August 19, 2025

Picture the Promise

Trump’s Meeting with European Leaders

I have an encouraging and insightful teaching from my brother, Tim, for today’s post. However, first I feel I must address the meeting that occurred yesterday with President Trump, President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, and other major leaders in Europe. 

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 million people have been killed in the Russia/Ukraine war over the last three years. These are staggering numbers. Also, it is estimated that upwards of 20,000 children have been kidnapped and taken to Russia in order to reeducate and indoctrinate them. Putin is a very cruel and evil man. 

After yesterday’s meeting, there seemed to be guarded optimism that a peace deal is possible. President Trump called Putin after discussing security guarantees for Ukraine with the European leaders.

“I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy,” the President wrote on Truth Social. “After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself,” Trump said, calling it a positive “early step for a war that has been going on for almost four years.”

Trump placed the call to Putin after the discussions at the White House with the European leaders, “which ended in a further meeting in the Oval Office.

During the meeting we discussed Security Guarantees for Ukraine, which guarantees would be provided by the various European Countries, with a coordination with the United States of America,” Trump wrote.

We must continue to pray fervently for these ongoing talks, asking God to bring a peaceful end to this horrible war.

Tim’s Message

In Ephesians 1:18 (NKJV), Paul prays that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened. “Enlightened” comes from the Greek word photizō, meaning to light up or give light, thus to enlighten.(1) You can see the similarity to our English word “photo,” and both words do indeed originate from the same root word, phos, meaning light. It’s easy to see the connectedness of these terms: photos are produced by literal light entering through a camera’s shutter, burning an image onto a negative; enlightenment occurs as figurative light enters the mind, bringing understanding. 

To assist us in our faith, Holy Spirit will sometimes inspire a “photo” or picture in our hearts and minds. These images serve as faith reminders and igniters that help us declare and confess God’s promises; they give focus to our faith. They allow us to “see” and meditate on God’s promises. Faith is a function of the spirit, but the mind must also be renewed and brought into agreement with His Word. The two must be in harmony. If not, the mind will hinder the process; we can’t be picturing the opposite of what our faith is believing for. Thus, Holy Spirit will often prompt an image to serve as a spiritual photograph, helping us in this process.

In Joshua 6, we see a powerful example of the Lord inspiring a picture of a promise fulfilled.

Forty years after leaving Egypt, Israel was finally on the verge of stepping into their promised inheritance. Their journey had required an enduring faith. Now, standing before them was Jericho, the first city they would encounter after crossing the Jordan River. It could not be avoided, but had to be taken.

Jericho, however, was no ordinary city. As one of the most fortified strongholds of its time, its walls stood 54 feet high and 24 feet thick, broad enough for two chariots to ride side by side on the tops. Its defenders were seasoned warriors, men of valor. Joshua, having spied out the land years before, knew firsthand just how formidable Jericho was. Now he stood on a hillside, looking down on the city, seeking direction from the Lord and wondering how such an impenetrable place could be conquered.

At that moment, the Lord appeared to Joshua dressed as a warrior, with a drawn sword. Joshua asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” The Lord didn’t answer the question directly. Instead, He gave a declaration. Joshua 6:1–2 (NKJV) tells us:

“Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, ‘See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.”

God didn’t say, “Look at Jericho.” He said, “See, I have given it into your hand.” That’s a key difference. God didn’t want Joshua to focus on the natural circumstances. He was calling him to see with the eyes of faith. The Hebrew word for “see” is raah, which means to see, both literally and figuratively–to perceive, to envision, to gaze upon in the mind, even to dream.(2) God was telling Joshua: “Picture Jericho already in your hands. Envision it as done. See it as conquered.”

The word “hand” is also significant. In Hebrew, it is yad, which can also be figurative, used for holding power and authority.(3) God was saying, “See Jericho already under your power and authority.” Regarding this verse, in the footnotes of The Passion Translation, it says: “Faith will see ‘what is still unseen’ (Hebrews 11:1). God gave Joshua a promise upon which to rest his faith.”

This was not about natural sight; it was about supernatural vision, a photo, if you will. Joshua was told to see the promise as fulfilled before it physically happened. Picture the walls down, the enemy scattered, and the victory won! As he aligned his vision with God’s promise, his faith was assisted and activated. 

This is a tremendously helpful principle for us: See the promise fulfilled! God often gives us a picture, not in the natural but in our spirit, that becomes a photograph of the promise. Romans 4:17 (AMP) says that God “calls into being that which does not exist.” In other words, He speaks about things that don’t yet exist in the natural realm as if they already do, knowing His words have the power to bring them into reality.

This is the essence of faith. Hebrews 11:1 tells us faith is the substance of things we hope for, the evidence of things not yet seen in the natural realm. Some translations of this verse refer to faith as the title deed, the proof of ownership before the promise is visible naturally. Even when nothing appears to have changed in the natural, faith gives substance to what we hope for. It allows us to speak and act as though the promise already belongs to us. How can we talk about things that don’t yet exist? How do we describe what we haven’t seen? By seeing with spiritual eyes that have been renewed and trained by the Word of God, picturing what our faith is producing.

See your faith working. Envision the promise fulfilled. Picture yourself walking in healing, freedom, provision, and victory. Meditate on it. Daydream about it. Gaze upon it in your heart until it becomes more real to you than what your natural eyes see. Align your heart, mind, and mouth with God’s Word. Agree with His truth. When you see the promise clearly, you can decree it boldly, and your faith is positioned to grow and produce.

Take a spiritual snapshot of your breakthrough, your healing, your deliverance, your answered prayer, and keep it before your eyes, your faith photo. Let that become a photo that encourages your faith. 

Pray with me:

Lord, help us see a picture of the promise fulfilled within us, sparking faith. Give us divine photographs, enlightened visions of inheritance, healing, provision, and power. Let us “see” healing and provision flowing. Let us “see” victory and breakthrough, our Jerichos falling before us 

We will see it, and we will say it. Cause our faith to rise above all opposition, enabling us to thrive in the realm of the unseen. Teach us, Holy Spirit, to picture the change, declare the promise, and walk in the power of Your anointing.

And Father, we continue to ask You to take action from heaven regarding the war in Ukraine. The toll in human lives has been unimaginable. Give NATO leaders and President Zelenskyy wisdom to know how to deal with Putin. Show them where to be firm and unyielding, and where to yield. Keep them united. And do something to move Putin. His heart is hard and wicked, but overrule him. Cause him to back off. Then, remove this evil man from rule. And we ask Your help in freeing the 20,000 kidnapped children. 

In Jesus’ name, amen. 

Our decree:  

We declare that our faith is activated, and we can see our promise fulfilled. Healing, deliverance, and victory are ours now in Jesus’ Name!

Today’s post was contributed by my brother, Tim Sheets. You can learn more about Tim Sheets here.

Click on the link below to watch the full video.

---

1. James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), ref. no. 5461.

2. Ibid., ref. no. 7200.

3. Ibid., ref. no. 3027.