◄ ►

Foundations of Spiritual Knowledge

God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. (1 Corinthians 1:20 NLT)

It is true that we may have a tremendous amount of knowledge and information as this world can give it, and yet the wisest, the wealthiest in knowledge or in any other way, coming into Christ has got to learn the ABC in spiritual things.... It will not be long before we are made to know that we do not know anything. The Lord said: ow hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God!I think if He had been in another world from the one in which He was at the time, if He had been in the Western world He would probably have said: ow hardly shall they that have knowledge enter the Kingdom.The boasted knowledge, wisdom, and intellect of the Western world is the great obstruction to the Kingdom. It is not prepared to know anything. When Paul got outside of the Jewish world, that was the kind of thing he was saying all the time, that the wisdom of this world was the great hindrance. With the Jews, gain along the line of wealth; to the Gentiles, gain along the line of knowledge was the hindrance, and anything that appertains to nature has to be set aside. It is a hindrance to our coming into the Kingdom.

The longer we live in relationship to the Lord the more we know that we know nothing. One piece of knowledge we have is that we do not know anything at all, and we are just longing all the time to get some knowledge. There is no royal road to spiritual knowledge, we have to start right at the beginning and learn the things of the Lord as we go along. When we start as young Christians we do think that we know something. But, of course, that is the folly of youth. We are learning everything all over anew. With all the knowledge that we might have naturally, if it should be anything, it does not count here. Spiritual knowledge is a different thing. We have started all over again, but when we accept that place: "Now I have everything to learn, I am open and eager to learn, I know nothing," then the Lord can teach. It is the proud one that never learns anything. The Lord show us what it means to begin, what the meaning of the Cross is in our end to the old and beginning to the new.

The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.

To you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, … “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” § The way of the Lord is strength for the upright, but destruction will come to the workers of iniquity.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear! § Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. § The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. § If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God. § Whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance.

He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God. § You are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. § My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

Hos. 14:9;  1 Peter 2:7,8;  Prov. 10:29;  Matt. 11:15;  Ps. 107:43;  Matt. 6:22;  John 7:17;  Matt. 13:12;  John 8:47;  John 5:40;  John 10:27

Everlasting Father.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!

I and My Father are one … The Father is in Me, and I in Him. § If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. § Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” § Here am I and the children whom God has given Me. § He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. § “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” § Before Abraham was, I AM. § God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

To the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.” § He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. § In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Isa. 9:6;  Deut. 6:4;  John 10:30;  John 10:38;  John 8:19;  John 14:8–9;  Heb. 2:13;  Isa. 53:11;  Rev. 1:8;  John 8:58;  Ex. 3:14;  Heb. 1:8; Col. 1:17;  Col. 2:9

His Patience

Tribulation worketh patience" (Rom. 5:3).

The source of our Christian life is a Person, and the growth of that life in us is a gradual process - comparable to a grain of wheat, or a branch in the vine.

"A person whose ancestors for three or four generations have all been Christians, may inherit their virtues; but although affecting his life for good, they do not count before God as righteousness, for they are not the fruit of the directly imparted divine life. A believer may thus inherit patience, and although he may be but a babe in Christ, he is seen to be more stable than a more advanced believer, because whatever goes wrong he stands unruffled.

"To empty him, the Father puts him in circumstances where his natural patience' fails. After repeated failures of his natural virtue of patience, he realizes that it is not enough to meet all trials, and carry him triumphantly through them all. Then he turns to the Father to give him His own unfailing patience." -E.R.

"Spiritual growth is from stage to stage. There are great days, days of decisive battles, days of crisis in spiritual history, days of triumph in Christian service, days of the right hand of the Father upon us. But there are also idle days, days of apparent uselessness, when even prayer and service seem a burden. Are we, in any sense, renewed in these days? Yes, for any experience which makes us more aware of our need of the Father must contribute to spiritual progress, unless we deny the Lord who bought us." -W.G.S.

"It is not a man's thanksgiving that he has been set free from suffering; it is to be thanksgiving that he has been set free through suffering. Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress' (Ps. 4:1)."

"For you surely know that what is genuine in your faith produces the patient mind that endures" (James 1:3, Wms.).

Governed by the Spirit

Spiritual Renewal