New topic: Pray with Us for Struggling Christians and Persecuted Church. Remember you can still pray for Families and the Church.
Good morning.
What is the reason we exist as Christians? Is it only to get to heaven and avoid hell? When we were born again, our spirits became alive to God. Before it we did not understand the things of God, but since the moment of rebirth our understanding of the spiritual world is opened, the veil is removed. People desire all kinds of adventures – sky-diving, scuba-diving, a night out in town, having the house redecorated, watching an exciting movie or buying something new.
The adventure of the spiritual man, however, is getting to know the Lord. I’ve been an adventurous man before, but as my relationship with the Lord developed, I started to lose interest in worldly things. To me it became great fun receiving a revelation from the Lord, and I spend more and more time seeking His presence and obeying Him so that He may give me more revelation (John 14:21 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%2014:21&version=NIV1984). Seeing Him in action in my life, and those of others I read about and minister to, bring amazing joy.
1 Corinthians 2:9-16:
9 “However, as it is written:
‘No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him’”—
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him’”—
The good question is whether we actually seek to see, hear and conceive the abovementioned. Are we really interested to discover who the Lord is and what He plans for our lives? How about you?
10 “but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.”
The word is ‘has’. The revelation is already there for us to grasp, but we need to be in the position to grasp it.
“The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths to spiritual man.”
This is the position we need to be in – in the Spirit. We need to be spiritual. We know the quote: ‘he is so heavenly minded that he is no earthly good’. Well, the choice is ours – do we want to be spiritual or worldly. If we are worldly we’ll understand the world, but if we are spiritual we’ll understand God and He will reveal to us what we need to understand about the world. We’ll learn from the Holy Spirit Himself, which is much better than any human can give us.
14 “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things,”
How can this be? We are not allowed to judge, are we? In order for a spiritual man to minister effectively he needs to judge where a person stands in relation to the spiritual realm. It’s more to do with discernment than with condemnation.
“but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:”
The spiritual man has made himself subject to the Lord and is accountable to Him who will judge our actions. I.e. we should not try to please man for their approval, but God for His.
16 “‘For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?’
But we have the mind of Christ.”
If we allow Christ, living in us, to manifest through us, whose mind is doing the actual thinking then?
Lord, teach me how to be spiritual.
Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.
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