Coming April 1: A Journey In The Knowledge of the Holy
[Editor’s Note: While I would have loved for you to join us, we have officially finished our journey. But you can still read the different posts from this journey. At the end of this post I have listed links to all 23 days in our series. Feel free to pick up a copy of the book and work through it at your own pace.]
I’ve been thinking a lot about knowing God lately. I’m convinced that in Christianity its easy to work for Jesus but not actually understand who He is. I know this has been true for me lately. And as I’ve talked to Jesus about this, He’s continued to show me that I need to know Him like I would know a friend, not just a historical figure that I’ve memorized facts about.
In that process, I feel like the Lord has invited me to read The Knowledge of the Holy
My journey with this book began in the late 90’s. I was at a meeting in Kansas City and a leader I respected a lot held up the book. He said all of their interns had read “The Knowledge of the Holy” as part of their internship. I immediately picked up a copy and delved deeply into the book. A few years later as I was transitioning out of college ministry and leaving behind a team of folks we raised up, I used it as a discussion starter to get us talking about really knowing God and the importance that had in ministry.
If you hadn’t noticed yet, I’m a big fan of the book. Part of the reason is that knowing who God is is critical to our growth and perseverance in Jesus. The beauty of this book is that its both deep and accessible. In all my time of reading Christian books, this has been one of the most helpful in getting people out of knowing facts about God and helping them to know who He is.
All that said, I’ve felt stirred both to jump back in this book and to invite you, my readers, to join in with me. So, starting April 1st, I’m going to be reading one chapter of “The Knowledge of the Holy” a day and then reflect on it here. If you’d like to join along, pick up a copy now and join me back here April 1st to start this journey. Join me, not just in reading this book, but pursuing a knowledge of God that fuels our hearts.
Have you read “The Knowledge of the Holy?” What are your thoughts?
Day 1: Why We Must Think Rightly About God
Day 3: A Divine Attribute: Something True About God
Day 5: The Self Existence of God
Day 6: The Self Sufficiency of God
Day 9: The Immutability of God
Day 10: The Divine Omniscience
Day 12: The Omnipotence of God
Day 13: The Divine Transcendence
Day 15: The Faithfulness of God
Discerning the Movements of the Spirit
Short confession: In case you hadn’t noticed it by now, I’m the type of guy people label as a Charismatic. I’m not the persuasive guy that can sell someone any type of car, but I am the Christian who believes the Holy Spirit still works in the life of believers.
Now, I’m not just the “raise-your-hands-during-worship” charismatic, I’m the charismatic they warn you about in Cessationist circles. I actually believe God does things like speak audibly and heal people. I believe at times we are to pray for the dead and see them raised (and I know people who have done it and seen people come back to life). Bottom line: I’ve seen the Holy Spirit do some amazing things that defy rational explanation.
It was in this type of environment that my mom was healed of cancer through a prophetic word. We immediately dedicated our lives to Jesus and joined the fellowship where this took place. That fellowship was highly geared towards experiencing the Spirit and during that decade there was a movement of the Holy Spirit that was very controversial, even among charismatics. This environment forced me to learn a very valuable lesson: We know whether the Holy Spirit is moving not based on what we see with our eyes, but by the fruit it produces.
Here’s the thing: Most people judge by what they see. If they like what they see, they accept it. If they don’t like what they see or don’t understand it, they criticize it. This is a huge problem, because the Holy Spirit has a way of constantly pushing us past our comfort zones. Your comfort or understanding of something is not a good barometer of whether Jesus is involved. Frequently, judging by our comfort or understanding will cause us to reject situations that God is inviting us into.
The reality is Jesus didn’t judge things this way. He actually taught us to judge a person and the ministry that flows from them by the effect that it had. He says in Matthew 7:15-20:“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”
The fruit we are looking for is this: Does whatever is happening have the long term positive effect of causing people to follow Jesus? If it does and its not in rebellion to some clear scripture, you are probably dealing with something legitimately from the Spirit. If it doesn’t, then you’re dealing at best with something of the flesh and at worst something demonic. You can then respond accordingly.
This whole process that Jesus describes requires one thing: time. Fruits and weeds don’t grow over night. The effect of a ministry often times is only seen sometimes months down the road. What this has meant for me in our local context is that I’ve had to take a kind of “wait and see” approach with things that aren’t overtly wrong. And to be honest I’ve both put up with some things longer than I should. But I’ve also not shut down people and ministries that needed space to grow into what God called them to be.
The result, at least for me, has been a general growth in our church in regards to moving with the Holy Spirit as well as a growth in discernment among those in our midst. They are learning to judge whether something is of the Spirit and not just wait for a leader to do it.
How do you know if something is from the Holy Spirit? What has helped you and those around you to grow in discernment? Let me know in the comments below.
Photo Credit: Questioned Proposal by Eleaf.
On Sonship (Part VII)
Recently we’ve been discussing the power of understanding our position as sons and daughters of God. You can find the rest of the series “On Sonship” here.
Receiving True Sonship
I will not leave you as orphans;I will come to you. –John 14:16
The truth of the matter is it’s easy to write or talk about the orphan spirit. It’s a lot more difficult to instruct people on how to become legitimate sons and daughters. Part of the reason it’s so difficult is that there is no step by step process for receiving love from a father. Love gets communicated from a father (either God, our natural father, or our spiritual parents) in thousands of different ways, depending on who is giving love and who is receiving it.
But there are a few main ways that open the door for the Spirit of the Lord to produce the heart of a true son in us. My hope is to highlight six areas that open the door for sonship to be truly restored within us. If throughout this series you’ve found yourself lacking in the area of being a true son, then take one or two of these areas that strike you, go into your prayer closet and find out how God wants to lead you in this particular area.
If you’ve found yourself possessing an orphan spirit, you will want to do the following:
- Repent- First, you have to repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ as the only way to God. The Bible is clear about the fact that when you receive Jesus as your savior from sin, you become His adopted brother and gain the God of the entire universe as your Father.
- Experience- Second, like we already have said, you can be a Christian and live like an orphan. You can even call God your Father, but until you experience God caring for you like a son or daughter, you will live an orphan lifestyle. The next step of the journey will require you to experience God as your Father. This will make the idea of God as a Father a reality in your heart. I would encourage you to continue to ask yourself “How would a good dad treat his son in this situation.” Then begin to pray and ask the Father to show you His fathering love through providing, directing, and counseling you in that situation, just like a good dad would do.
- Repent, again- Some of us became orphans because we had no fathers. Others of us live like orphans because we chose to leave our father’s house. Sometimes the reason we live out of an orphan mentality is because we’ve rejected the love of a natural or spiritual father God sent to us. Paul talks about the necessity of honoring our father and mother because it was the first commandment with a curse. When God first dealt with me on this subject, it was after I had truly received some of the His fathering love. I began to realize that much of my hurt had not come from my natural dad, but from my teenage angst that caused me to interpret his natural, disciplined love as unfairness. Sometimes our attitudes, rebellion, and anger can cause us to miss mature love that comes from both natural and spiritual fathers. This may require us to actually apologize to natural and spiritual fathers and mothers that we have rebelled against in the past. If we repent in these situations, it opens the door for fathering love to touch our spirits.
- Read- Much of our understanding of fathers and sons has been lost because of societal rebellion against previous generations that has occurred since the ’60’s. Because of that, very few individuals will truly understand the dynamics of healthy fathering relationships. One source that I’ve discovered a truly helpful window into the nature of father/son/daughter relationships is the book of Proverbs. The whole book is set in the context of a father imparting wisdom from God to his son, and if read in that context will give great insight into what we can expect to receive from God, from natural parents, and from spiritual fathers and mothers. It will also fill in many “wisdom-gaps” that are left over from living as an orphan.
- Find a spiritual father- One of the most overlooked ways of overcoming an orphan spirit is to find a spiritual father. God has designed the planet so that no Christian should be without a spiritual parent. Look around your life. Most likely there are people around you who are pouring into your walk with the Lord. These are people who are a little further along than you are. They are who you turn to for advise, counsel, and prayer. It’s crucial, though, that you’re looking for a spiritual parent and not a spiritual superstar. The spiritual parents God sends your way may not be in full-time ministry or even well known. None of that is necessary for God to restore you into your identity as a son. Just pray and ask Him to show you or send you those who will father you in the Lord.
- Become a spiritual parent-I remember lamenting throughout much of my twenties about the lack of spiritual parents. But as I began to grow in my walk with Christ, I realized that I was being fathered by the Lord as I took on more of the responsibility of fathering others. You may ask, “How can I be a spiritual parent if I’ve never been fathered by anyone myself?” In the Kingdom, when you give something you get more of it. If you step into the role of a spiritual parent, God will give you more of whatever little you’re able to give away. We begin to understand God’s role in fathering as we partner with Him in that process. If you are thirty years old or older, I would highly consider doing this until the Lord sends someone that is clearly designed to be your spiritual father.
This whole process does not rest only on your shoulders. God will come to you and be a father to you. He is always searching for lost sons who have forgotten their position. Take these steps, use them as a map back home, and I guarantee you that before you can even get any words out of your mouth, a loving Father will embrace you sooner than you can possibly imagine. The journey from being orphan to being a legitimate son begins with a first step. Let that first step begin now.
Other Posts in the “On Sonship” Series:
On Sonship (Part I)
On Sonship (Part II)
On Sonship (Part III)
On Sonship (Part IV)
On Sonship (Part V)
On Sonship (Part VI)
Photo Credit: Father and Son Surf Lesson in Morro Bay, CA 11 of 12 by mikebaird
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 