What We Think We Know

"The question becomes, How much of YOU are you willing to let go of to see HIM?"

A MAN can be saved and have Jesus in his heart, and then commit himself to living a clean, godly life, yet never learn to walk in the Spirit. God honors commitment. The morally clean man is precious to Him. But when anyone fails to grow, they miss out on what God desires to do FOR them and THROUGH them. I remember Minister Rick Renner talking about his years as a pastor. He had decided that must be what God had called him to do. Except, a few years later, he found himself living in his parents’ garage. Not until he moved to Russia, following a path only God could have carved for him, did he step into the fullness of God’s work in him. There are many other such stories. In the gospels, we find two brothers, fishermen, who stumble into the life of the Messiah and then go on to become the foundation of the church.

“Let God’s Spirit make you think in a completely new way.” (Eph 4:23 EasyEnglish)

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16)

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25)

There is always more God wants to do, but we must choose to follow the Holy Spirit’s instruction and not our mental reasoning. We must be aware of how much actually is mental reasoning, and of this, the deeper I go into the Presence of Him, the more I lay my thoughts at His feet, the more I learn how huge the gap is. So much is “us” and not Him. Or I should also say it this way—He is so patient and kind to tolerate how much we insert into His sermons. I mean, it’s like He’s baking a cake, but we keep dumping in flavorings. He has the recipe, and we need to ask Him for it THEN commit to follow it.

Applying this to our study of the Word of God, rinse and repeat. The more we will reread the Truth of the Word, the more we will see and He will reveal. This applies to doctrines, to behaviors, to trust in His character and fully knowing Him, and to what we think are simply factual stories. Nothing in the Word of God is only factual. Even the structure of it is Spirit done, what is placed where and in what order. The verse numbering is not by mistake nor the words originally used and the words of various translations. All of it is Spirit.

Chapters in the gospels are arranged to present Truths. Stories in chapters present further Truths. The differences between the four gospels are not by mistake, nor at the whim of the author, but are Spirit-led. The question becomes, How much of YOU are you willing to let go of to see HIM? It would surprise you how much pride we take in what we think we know. And how much we are willing to defend it in the face of God. Because here’s what we miss—He will let us defend it and not reveal to us what would change us forever. Taking this simply, someone can see Jesus and believe He’s real and never accept Him into their heart. The Spirit will continue to tug at their heart, but He will not defy us. That’s human behavior. We see what some believe and get in their face to correct them. This is never Him, even in a sermon. We’ve fashioned Him into the statue we want to worship. He’s asking us to come up higher, to look more fully, and to do it through His eyes. With people. With worship. With Jesus.


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com