Walking in the Spirit (Part 4)
Learning how to Seek and Gain Spiritual Wisdom
Seeking and gaining wisdom go together like a hand in a glove. You cannot gain wisdom without seeking and if you seek the Lord with all your heart, you will gain wisdom. We examined the parable of the sower so that we can understand what the scriptures teach about the word. Everything in the Christian life is founded upon the word of God. Each time you are commanded to study, it is a command to study the word. Each time you are told to get knowledge, it is knowledge of the word. This is where your greatest disciplines will come into play. You must first set your heart to know the word and then based on the knowledge you gain, apply what you learn to your life. If you sit apathetically, the word sown in your heart will be snatched away. If you put your selfish ambitions above the word, you will wither and fall away. If you allow the cares of this life or the deceitfulness of riches to take over your life, the word will be choked. These examples are the people Jesus spoke of when He said, “Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him”. However, if you receive the word, apply it to your heart and seek understanding, the Holy Spirit will produce fruit in your life and you will grow. This is the person Jesus spoke of when He said, “Whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance.” Your willingness to set your heart to seek and apply what you find in the word will determine which of these two you will become.
Let’s examine three primary scriptural principles on seeking.
God first calls and then we either respond or reject.
According to the scriptures, you cannot find God without seeking with all your heart. Look at these two passages:
Jeremiah 29:13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
Deuteronomy 4:29 "But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
This concept of seeking God with all our heart has been completely lost in the modern church. We as believers are commanded to seek God. Only through seeking can we obtain the rewards God has stored up for us. Look again at a passage we looked at earlier in this study in Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
We will examine how faith applies shortly; first lets draw our attention to the principle of seeking. It is not merely seeking in a casual sense, but a diligence of seeking the Lord. It is not those who seek God at their convenience, but those who diligently seek and seek with all their heart. Let me state this plainly – if you do not seek with all your heart, you will NOT experience God. This lack of depth in the average Christian’s life has given occasion for multiple anti-Christian sects to rise up within the church. Contemplative prayer, mystical Christianity, Word of Faith movements and other unbiblical practices have gained ground because the members within the church are starving for something real. Emptiness is the end result of all these movements, but the façade presented to the church promises excitement and relevance. From the outside these have the appearance of being real, but they are contrary to the word and are filled with deception..
Excitement seems real when it is new, but exciting practices can only carry you while the emotions are running high. As the emotions fade, emptiness follows if it is not truly based on the word of God. Nothing can fulfill your life like truly experiencing God. You cannot experience God by mystical practices or energy charged services. You experience God by getting to know God by seeking Him through His word and living by His word as you walk in the Spirit. This is the only way to experience God. Anything else is an empty shell.
Equally important is that you must understand that knowledge of the word does not reveal God without the Holy Spirit drawing you and working in your life. It is impossible to seek God without God first drawing our hearts by His Spirit. Consider Romans 3:
10 As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one."
You cannot seek God unless God intervenes within your heart to draw you to Himself. This is explained further in Romans 8:
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
Your carnal mind, that which is born within our human nature, cannot be subject to God. You can curb your behavior, but even this is done out of self serving motivations. We give because it makes us feel good; we keep the laws because we do not want consequences and because we want to view ourselves as a good person. Ultimately, when we boil it down, we cannot seek God without God first seeking us and drawing us to Himself. These two passages explain it well:
John 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Psalm 27:8 When You said, "Seek My face," My heart said to You, "Your face, LORD, I will seek."
In both the Old and New Testaments, we are told that God first draws and then we respond to that drawing. Some respond by saying, “Your face, LORD, I will seek”, some will respond with apathy and some with out right rejection. Most of the church responds with apathy. We may not make a conscious decision to reject God’s call, but most will push that call to the bottom of their priority list. Our lives are crowded with worthless things and because our value system is in disarray, we put what is passing away ahead of what is eternal. Until you respond to God’s call and consistently make seeking God the most important thing and the highest priority of your life, you will not experience what it truly means to walk with God.
We must seek in faith.
Let’s visit Hebrews 11:6 again so we can examine the first part of this passage:
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Either seeking is by faith or it is a human effort. Human effort cannot produce fruit in our lives. Faith is believing God to the point of placing our trust in Him. The simplicity of the gospel causes many to overlook basic principles. We are like Naaman the leper. This commander of the Syrian army came to Elisha because he heard of the power of God and hoped to be healed of his leprosy. He left frustrated because instead of a great ritual and pompous words spoken over the wounds, he was delivered the word from a servant. He was given a simple task of washing seven times in the Jordan river. He initially rejected this word and went away in a rage. Some of his men stated, “If he had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? Why not obey if you are simply told to wash and be clean?”
Doesn’t the average Christian do the same thing in this age? We try to make faith into a mystical experience. We flock to those speaking pompous words and through great drama persuade people to follow after them. The church follows mystics into their occultic practices of so-called Christian meditation, worldly lusts and New Age practices. We want to do something great and stand victoriously at the top of a hill, when the simplicity of the gospel is this – believe God. Abraham believed God and his faith was credited to him for righteousness. God made Abraham righteous because Abraham believed God. Abraham did not say, “I believe” while acting in apathy and disobedience. Abraham immediately acted as God commanded without letting doubt or apathy squelch his faith.
If you believe God, you will seek Him. If you don’t believe God, you will not seek Him. If you do not seek God, you do not have biblical faith. We can sugar coat this if we want, but when we honestly look at our lives, we will either act in faith, or act in disobedience. Apathy is disobedience. We have a promise that if we seek, we will find. If you truly believe God’s promises, you will seek His wisdom, righteousness and His kingdom.
I said earlier that seeking and wisdom go hand in hand. Wisdom is the instruction of God. If you walk in wisdom, you will walk in all of God’s ways. If you lack wisdom, God has promised that He will give it to you. Look at James 1:5-7
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
If God has promised to give wisdom to those who ask, why do we not see the members of our churches walking in wisdom? Almost everyone who sees this passage will ask for wisdom, yet most will still not find it. Why? You must ask in faith. If you doubt, you will not receive anything from the Lord. What is faith? It is believing God to the point of trusting Him. If you ask in faith, what will you do? Will you ask and sit apathetically waiting for something to fall into your lap? If you do, you will not find for the Lord has said, seek and you will find. If you do not seek, you will not find. If you truly believe God, you will ask for wisdom and then set your heart to find it. I know that God is the provider of wisdom and He wants me to have wisdom; therefore, I will ask God to reveal it to me while seeking for it with all my heart. Jesus gave us a key to understanding this principle in Luke 11:5-13
5 And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 'for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; 7 "and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'? 8 "I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. 9 " So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 "If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 "Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
What a wonderful description Jesus gave us as to how to seek God! Jesus compared it to two neighbors. At midnight an unexpected visitor came and a neighbor went to his friends house to ask for bread. During that time in history, families slept in one bed and this man did not want to disturb his whole family to get bread; however, he ended up giving as much as he needed. Why? Because he kept knocking. If your friend who does not want to be disturbed will still arise and meet your needs because you are persistent, what will God, who wants to give to you, do for you when you are persistently seeking according to His word? We have the promise that God gives His Spirit to those who ask – but it is not an apathetic request. It is a persistent knocking, asking, and seeking.
God, in His wisdom, has chosen not to reveal Himself to those who do not respond to His call. God’s desire is to reveal more to you than you think or ask, but He will only do this if you will seek Him with all your heart. If you don’t care enough about Him to search for Him, He will not reveal Himself to you.
Seeking must be through knowledge.
Knowledge does not always produce wisdom but wisdom cannot be found without knowledge of the word of God. Earlier we looked at the importance of humility. The Bible accurately states that knowledge puffs up. Knowledge alone does not make us righteous. As you set your heart on gaining knowledge, it is very important to keep your eyes on the right goal. Your goal should not be to gain knowledge, but rather to seek God. We seek God through the word and as you know the word you will lay the foundation of knowledge. If your goal is to know enough scriptures to prove your pet doctrines, you will be puffed up and likely miss the benefit of knowing the word. We don’t approach scripture to confirm our beliefs, but rather we approach scripture in order to acquire an understanding of God so that He can shape our beliefs through the word. Be advised that if you truly seek to know God through the word, many of your doctrines will change. Many of the denominational beliefs are passed down from generation to generation based on the traditions of those who taught before and not based on what God has actually said.
You cannot know and experience the depths of God by the teaching of any pastor, priest, teacher, preacher or book. Teaching is a tool that God does indeed use to instruct His people, but the ultimate goal of teaching is to produce disciples. A disciple is someone who walks with God and experiences Him as they also walk in obedience. I can teach the principles that have shaped my life, but only God can open our eyes and give us understanding. So teaching helps you as you lay the foundation of your relationship with Christ and build on that foundation, but the foundation is laid on the Spiritual Rock of Christ, not by human efforts of the flesh. You must act upon the principles of scripture and apply them to your life. The effort belongs to you but the success only comes from the Lord as His Spirit works within your heart. You must treasure up the principles of scripture so that you can apply them. If you never apply them, it does nothing in your life. This is explained in Proverbs 2:1-9
My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, 2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; 3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, 4 If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; 8 He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints. 9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and every good path.
This is the secret of a victorious Christian walk. If you do this and keep doing this your entire life, you will experience God and see Him working in your life beyond what you thought possible. This is not a one time event but an ongoing lifestyle that you must consciously live out each day. If you obey these commands, you will never run dry in your spiritual walk. We all have times in our lives that we struggle or feel distant from God; however, if you continue to search for God through His word, those times of feeling dry or distant will be very, very short.
I personally know three pastors that I have watched fall away in the last few years. Each of these pastors said that they felt dry spiritually. Each of these men sought to fulfill that dryness through books, conferences and sources other than the Bible. In 2 Peter 1 you are given the promise that if you apply the biblical principles revealed to us in scripture, you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in your knowledge of Christ. Since this is a promise, if you are becoming barren, the solution is not found in anything other than the word. It is heartbreaking to watch ministers shifting their focus to the things that turn away from scripture and watching their lives continue to dry up as they pursue everything that promises fulfillment. Don’t fall into the trap that promises new truths but rather build your foundation on the word that will never change or pass away. Your hope is in the Lord and God will always fulfill His word if you keep His commandments.
You must first receive His words and treasure up His commands within you. If you receive the word but never set your heart on obeying the commands, don’t expect to see God working in your life. The reason why Christianity is failing is because God’s word is never put to the test. Partial obedience is not obedience. Picking and choosing what passages you will keep will not work. Mixing Christianity with other religions or philosophies will not work. Only one thing will work, “receive His word, cry out for discernment, understanding, knowledge and wisdom”. You must seek these things as though they were treasures. If you don’t have time to seek God, the things of God are not treasures to you. We will spend 40 hours or more a week seeking a paycheck so we can live and prosper. Many people spend an additional 15 or more hours a week commuting. The average American spends 28 hours a week (4 hrs a day) seeking entertainment on the television. So what value do we put on the eternal promises of God? If we indeed see the spiritual things of God as treasures, will we not find the time to seek them? If I don’t have time to seek, I don’t recognize the value of the things of God. This is explained in Proverbs 3:13-15
13 Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding; 14 For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, And her gain than fine gold. 15 She is more precious than rubies, And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.
If God gives me gold and riches, fine; but if not, I already have the greatest treasure man can obtain. Nothing can be compared to wisdom. Nothing is more valuable than wisdom. The Bible states that wisdom is the principle thing and should be the primary thing we seek in our journey through this life. Once you obtain wisdom, it will change your life. If you retain wisdom, it will direct your life. Look at Proverbs 2:10-19
10 When wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul, 11 Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you, 12 To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things, 13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who rejoice in doing evil, And delight in the perversity of the wicked; 15 Whose ways are crooked, And who are devious in their paths; 16 To deliver you from the immoral woman, From the seductress who flatters with her words, 17 Who forsakes the companion of her youth, And forgets the covenant of her God. 18 For her house leads down to death, And her paths to the dead; 19 None who go to her return, Nor do they regain the paths of life –
If you have wisdom, it will give you peace in your heart, it will give you discretion to preserve your ways, it will deliver you from the way of evil, it will keep you out of sin. Does sinful habits dominate your life? Seek wisdom. This is a lifestyle choice you must continuously seek for we are commanded to lay hold of wisdom, hold onto instruction and DO NOT LET GO. Look at Proverbs 4:11-15
11 I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths. 12 When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, And when you run, you will not stumble. 13 Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; Keep her, for she is your life. 14 Do not enter the path of the wicked, And do not walk in the way of evil. 15 Avoid it, do not travel on it; Turn away from it and pass on.
Instruction comes only from the word of God. If you do not spend time in the scriptures, you cannot lay hold of instruction. The Bible says that wisdom will deliver to you the tree of life, now here again we are being told that the instruction of wisdom is your life. It is wisdom that keeps you from walking down the path of sin. Those who reject wisdom will be judged and those who reject the word, reject wisdom. If you disobey God’s command to study the word, you are already in rejection of the word. If you study and remain in the word you will find that in time it will be the most valuable thing in your life. It is a struggle to establish the disciplines of study, but soon you will find that it is a time you will cherish. I cherish the time I spend in the word and if you make it the discipline of your life, you will cherish it too.
Finally, I would like to conclude this section on seeking with this passage from Proverbs 28:4-5
4 Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, But such as keep the law contend with them. 5 Evil men do not understand justice, But those who seek the LORD understand all.
The only ones who understand justice are those who seek the Lord. Those who seek God will gain an understanding of all things. The reason is because the Lord gives us knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Earlier we examined the passage where the Bible makes it clear that “The Lord gives wisdom and out of His mouth come knowledge and understanding”. Once you seek the Lord by faith and find the wisdom of God, you have the promise that the Lord preserves your steps and gives you understanding about every good path. No longer are you dependent on your own human efforts, but you will look expectantly to God and as you learn to follow Him, you will leave destructive habits behind as you follow God in the ways of life. Wisdom alone gives us the ability to traverse the paths of life. Wisdom opens our eyes so that we do not look down or go down the path of wickedness. Instead of being overtaken by your sins, wisdom will guide you away from the evil that seeks you.
Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com
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