A Nugget from New Life Network
(excerpts from Dr. Larry Ollison)
Scripture for the Day (March 21, 2018)
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. (John 16:13)
A few years ago, I heard a minister preach a great sermon. He taught on 1 Corinthians 2:9 where it says, “Eye has not seen, not ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
The theme of his message was that the things that God has prepared for His people are so unbelievable that no one would be able to comprehend them. He went on to say that there is just no way that the mind of man can know what God has prepared for His children. The things of God were just too deep. Evidently, when the minister was studying for his sermon, he never read the next verse. Verse 10 says, “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” That minister preached a nice sermon, but it wasn’t completely true. God does reveal the hidden things that He has prepared for those who love Him. How does He do it? According to the Bible, He reveals them to us through His Spirit.
It goes on to say, “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:11-14).
There is a problem when we try to understand the spiritual things of God with the natural mind of man. Comparing spiritual things to natural things, according to the scripture we just read, makes the things of God seem like foolishness. The natural man cannot spiritually discern the things of God. This is why we must worship God in spirit and truth. This is why we must walk in the Spirit and this is why we must pray in the Spirit.
In 1 Corinthians 14, the apostle Paul talked about praying in the Spirit. He wrote a letter to the Corinthian church and here is his conclusion on the matter. “What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit and I will also sing with the understanding” (1 Corinthians 14:15).
What was Paul getting at? Well, he was trying to impress upon us that we need balance in our prayer life. We must pray in the understanding. In other words, we pray in our natural language the things we know to pray. And we must pray in the Spirit. When we pray in the Spirit, according to 1 Corinthians 14:2, the Spirit speaks mysteries, or revelation. Would you like to have the mysteries in your life revealed? Then you must pray in the Spirit.
In John 4:24 Jesus said, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” So, if you worship God in the Spirit, if you will move into true worship, then according to God’s Word, your spiritual eyes will see and your spiritual ears will hear what God has laid up for those who love Him.