Knowing

I am becoming increasing disturbed as I look at the landscape of American Christianity today. We have become too academic, too opinionated, too biased; double-minded, easily swayed, biblically illiterate, and divided. There are times when it seems almost impossible to get two Christians together who agree on a majority of basic, biblical truths. We are in constant disagreement about what the Word of God says (or that the Bible is even the “Word of God”). I notice a diseased phrase that permeates throughout Christianity: “I think.” “I think God is saying…” “I think what the Bible really means is…” “I think this is what God wants me to do…” There is a lot of thinking and feeling in the Body of Christ. Yet, I do not find a lot of knowing. Why is it that so many Christians seem to be in the dark about what God has in-store for us?

2Timothy 3:16 says “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (NIV). There is nothing in the Bible that God does not know about. Jesus was not lying in a hammock in Heaven the day the Bible was being compiled. The Holy Spirit was active in the compilation of the Biblical cannon, so we can be assured that God meant for every word to be there. We have two options: either believe the Bible is the living Word of God Almighty, or believe it is a religious text handed down through the centuries, full of human flaws, and therefore of very little consequence to our daily lives. If it is the former, then I ask: why do so many Christians know so little about God?

In Colossians 2:8, Paul warns the church, saying “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (KJV). The Christian church is becoming increasingly illiterate in Biblical matters. It leaves the door open for empty philosophy. That is why so many Biblical scholars believe the stories of the Old Testament never really happened, but that they are merely stories designed to teach us a concept about God. That is why so many Christians do not believe in the operation of the Holy Spirit through the use of various tongues (do you all think I made my prayer language up?). I live in the American Pacific Northwest, where we are literally too smart for our own good. Four years of “Christian” education at a “Christian” university left me very confused. We rarely opened our Bibles. Our Christianity was based in the works of “great theologians” who rarely ever quoted the Bible! It was all opinion, based on what the author thought about God. Jesus was rarely mentioned. American Christianity is fastly becoming based in opinion, rather than in the faith-producing Words of God. If you truly want to know what God’s Will for your life is, stop reading what other people’s opinions are of God, and go find out what God said!

“Lord, if it be Your Will…” That phrase makes my blood boil. If you have to use that phrase in prayer, please do me a favor: stop praying for me. Somebody, somewhere, got this notion that God is withholding information from His people. This is once again rooted in a lack of faith that the Bible is truly God’s Word to His people.  God has a specific plan for each person walking on this planet. Everybody has predestined greatness from God; not everyone chooses to walk it out. This is not predestination! God’s Will is that all will come to know Him and spend eternal life with Him through Jesus’ sacrifice (John 3:16), so don’t go there. What I am referring to is found in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” God has already ordained good works for each of us. Why do people think anything otherwise? Why do we accept the mediocre? How has our view of God become so small? Through a lack of Biblical understanding. Go find God’s Will; it is in The Book. Then you may come back and pray for me.

Christians are so scared of foiling God’s plan for their lives, because they have rarely taken the time to find it. Yet, God has a specific plan for you, and He has made it easy to obtain. Read Psalm 139:13-16:

For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be (NIV, emphasis added).

God is not hiding anything from us. All the days of our lives can be found written in God’s Word. That is why Solomon wrote in Proverbs 4:21, regarding God’s Word, “Do not let them depart from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart” (NASB). Find a revelation in God’s Word, and hold fast to it! It will, however, require some work on your part. “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13, NKJV). “’Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you’” (Matthew 7:7, NKJV). Search out the Heart of God; ask of Him. Spend time meditating on God’s Word. Let it become real, living and active. Stop saying “I think God…” and go find out!

Philosophy, vain deceit, and the traditions of man (religion), will hinder us from understanding what God has in-store for us. I am not saying stop reading Christian authors. I am saying that if your entire understanding of who God is is based in Bonheoffer, Wesley, Moltmann, Calvin, Luther, Placher, Volf… etc., then you will have a skewed concept of Who God is. Not that Christian teachers are a bad thing. God has called many men and women into ministry, to teach and to preach His Word. But do not let someone else’s revelation become your revelation. I have plenty of Christian books on my shelves as well. However, before God lets me pick-up Duplantis, Wesley, Savelle, Osteen or Copeland, I have to pick-up Jesus. I must know what God is saying to me, before He will allow me to find out what He is saying to others. He is not hiding it from me, and He is not hiding it from anybody else. God says what He means, and He means what He says.

~When you pray for somebody, know that “by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5)
~When you pray for a financial breakthrough, know that “my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
~If you are concerned about your future, know that you must “Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6, Amplified).

I refuse to have “I think” conversations any longer. Go find out.