Tag: revelation knowledge

How’d I miss that?

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This evening I was visiting with a friend, and we settled in on the topic of spiritual deception.

Isn’t it easy to look at others and wonder, sometimes very loudly, how people could act so weird?

I mean, how could people read the same Bible we read and come up with such outlandish beliefs?

Yes, it’s easy to think those thoughts, isn’t it?

It is until I remember some of the stuff I used to believe.

I used to believe Martin Luther (of Lutheran Church fame) wrote the Gospel according to Luke. I figured Luke was his nickname.

Honestly.

There was a time I was convinced that all Americans were Christians, and vice versa.

Funny the things we believe.

I’ve read the Bible a number of times. Parts of it I’ve read literally hundreds of times. But I’m still learning new things.

Sometimes I read a passage and it’s like I’ve never seen it before. As if God just opened my eyes to a brand new truth.

I ask myself, “How’d I miss that?”

Of course, the truth has always been around; I just finally caught up to it.

Some people believe tithing is a way to put God “to the test”. They quote a passage from Malachi where God says, “Prove Me in this…”

But it just isn’t so. Tithing isn’t the key to unlock Heaven’s resources.

Obedience is. Go ahead, look at it again, and again if necessary.

The principle of obedience and God’s blessings are throughout the scripture.

Some love to quote the well known adage “God helps those who help themselves”, as if it’s gospel.

Sorry. It isn’t.

I’ve heard a number of well meaning saints say ever so humbly and sincerely, “God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.”

Yes, He works. No, He doesn’t tell us everything He’s doing. But just because we can’t understand or explain something, doesn’t mean God is behind it.

Others wonder why they have such a hard time making ends meet when they read the Bible every day. And they pray, too.

Yet God seems to have ignored them. So apparently it doesn’t do any good to be a Christian.

That’s what some folks believe.

And yes, there’ve been times I have wondered about my life as a Christian.

“Things aren’t fair! Others get to have thus and so. They have the best houses, most money, nicest guitar (sorry, but it’s true). It’s not fair.”

But I kept reading, seeking, asking the Lord for truth and wisdom.

And He would show me a verse that revealed the depravity in my heart. I’d see things in my life such as greed, pride, narrow mindedness, and lust. I’d recognize I was too focused on this temporal life. 

Everyone is capable of believing lies. Yes, even you and I. 

If you will listen to a guy who’s believed some nutty stuff, I’ve got a tip or two that just may help you along the uncharted path known as life.

Read God’s word as if your life depends on it. But read it like it’s brand new. Be prepared to say, “How’d I miss that?”

You’ll be surprised at how much you can learn.

I am.

“The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.” (Psalm 119:130 ESV)

Eyes Wide Shut

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If we could see all that Christ accomplished for us through His death and resurrection, our lives would be forever changed.

“For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and long-suffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:9-14 NKJV)

If we could comprehend the mysteries of Christ in us, we would no longer be fearful and powerless.

Faith would never again yield to doubt or unbelief.

If we could see.

If our eyes could be opened.

But we seem to be satisfied with knowing our position in Christ, but not allowing it to alter our condition.

With eyes wide shut we declare our place in Christ; but not with the power that affects our circumstances.

With eyes wide shut our mental facilities have ascribed to the truth of God’s word, but our heart has yet to understand the meaning of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

With eyes wide shut there’s a disconnect between what Christ’s resurrection has secured and the low life we live.

With eyes wide shut we relegate all we can’t comprehend to the future, and miss seeing “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in Heaven.”

With eyes wide shut we fold our hands politely in prayer, but fail to fight the good fight of faith.

With eyes wide shut the divine nature of God is kept stored away in our “doctrinal cupboard”, unopened; its affixed label, “taste and see that the Lord is good”, having never been read, much less understood.

With eyes wide shut the world looks hopelessly for evidence of God living in the midst of His people; in the midst of us.

With eyes wide shut the fragrance of Jesus is nothing more than stale dogma.

With eyes wide shut believers quarrel, ministries quit, and the devil quickly pounces on all those who begin to hear a fresh and vital Word from God.

With eyes wide shut, that which Christ purchased for mankind goes unclaimed.

With eyes wide shut, the “glass darkly” we look through never becomes clearer, the promises never seem nearer, and the Word of God is never more than just a good book.

May God open the eyes of our understanding to behold His truth, experience His power, display His glory, and demonstrate His kingdom.

You see, in truth Jesus “spoiled principalities and powers of darkness”. In truth Jesus has been given ALL power in Heaven and earth. In truth Jesus delivered ALL of mankind from the authority of the devil and transferred them to the Kingdom of God. In truth we shall receive power when the Holy Spirit “comes on us”, and we’ll be His witnesses-declaring and demonstrating the Kingdom of God through the Name of Jesus.

With eyes wide OPEN, we will know the hope of His calling, partake of His divine nature, and go about doing the deeds of our Father.

With eyes wide OPEN, we will run and not be weary, stand in the face of adversity, and declare the Lordship of Jesus over every situation.

With eyes wide OPEN, the path of the just becomes brighter, our burden lighter, and our faith bolder.

With eyes wide OPEN, no weapon formed against us shall prosper and no fear overtake us as we relentlessly pursue the knowledge of His will and the honor due His Name.

“Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all.” (Ephesians 1:15-23 NKJV)

Open our eyes, Lord. Open them wide!

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