“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:12-16 ESV)
The Scriptures, at least here in America, are available in many languages and/or in multiple translations and transliterations, and can be purchased at most bookstores, or wherever books are sold, or in libraries, or they can be heard read to them in videos or in audio recordings, or they can be read on the internet in multiple locations. So, at least here in America the Scriptures presently are very available to the public. And it isn’t just Christians who read them, either. Even non-Christians find them interesting to read.
And all people can understand some of what they teach, in a general sense, regarding what is obvious. But for us to really hear from the Lord, not only to understand what the Scriptures are teaching, but to know how our Lord wants us to apply them to our lives, this is where it involves the Holy Spirit, especially if the Holy Spirit is wanting to use any particular passages of Scripture to reveal to us God’s calling on our lives or to show us how those passages relate to what is presently going on in our world and nations.
The Scriptures are not to be read for intellectual knowledge, but the spiritual truths which are contained within them are to be learned by us and applied to our daily lives, by the Spirit. But the Holy Spirit may teach us a lesson from a passage of Scripture which, in context, was meant for a specific group of people at a particular time in history, and he may take that lesson and show us how that is to be applied to our lives today. But this must not go against what the New Testament teaches us.
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV
Let me give you an example of this, the story of David and Goliath. Goliath was a giant and he was a Philistine, and the Philistines were enemies of the Israelites, and so they were preparing for battle against them. And long story short, David, who was young, volunteered to fight Goliath, but not with the king’s armor, but with a sling and a stone, in the power of God. He said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel.” David “put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David.” (See 1 Samuel 17)
Now, in the New Testament we are taught to not take revenge on our enemies, but that we to love our enemies and pray for them and do good to them and to say to them what will benefit them spiritually if they will believe in Jesus. So we are not to take this that we should go hand-to-hand combat with those we regard as our enemies. But there is a spiritual lesson here about how we should deal with our enemies. We should not run away in fear and defeat, and we should not use physical weapons of warfare, either.
Instead, we are to rely upon the Holy Spirit within us to guide us in what we are to do and say, and we are to follow the teachings of the New Testament Scriptures under the New Covenant. And we are to operate in the power of God and not in our own flesh, and not according to our own reasoning, but in the wisdom and counsel of God’s Spirit living within us. And our enemy is Satan and all those who work for him and who teach lies to the people and who lead people to follow after false gospels which lead them to death.
So, in the power of the Spirit we are to fight off those lies and expose them for what they are, and we are to speak the truth of God’s word to the people, some of which are hard truths that many people do not want to hear and do not want to accept, and so many of them will fight against them. But all this is done in the power of God’s Spirit and not in our human flesh. And so those who are not of the Spirit will not receive them, but those who are of the Spirit should receive them as being of the Spirit.
Now one more thing here that the Holy Spirit just spoke to me about and that has to do with David refusing the king’s armor because it did not fit him and because God was going to fight for him, believing that God would deliver him. When we feel that we need a king to rule us to fight our battles for us against enemies that the king has determined are our enemies, but who may or may not be our enemies, and he does so with physical weapons of warfare, we are going against the teachings of the Scriptures.
And not only that, but we are putting our trust in other humans and in our military to fight what are truly spiritual battles of warfare which should be fought only in the power of the Spirit in the ways of God, and not in the ways of human flesh. We are, in essence, taking on the king’s armor instead of relying upon the Lord to fight our battles for us his way. So don’t look to other humans to be your solution to what ails our nations and this world, for they may turn out to be the enemy who are fighting against us Christians.
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
https://vimeo.com/379406352
No comments:
Post a Comment