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.
—1 Corinthians 2:11-12
This verse says that, as believers in Jesus Christ, we have received the Spirit of God so that we might know what He has freely given us. The Holy Spirit is the One who reveals the things God has given us in Jesus's finished work of grace. He unveils Jesus to us. He reveals God’s promises to come.
God wants us to “know” what He has freely given us. “Knowing” is not just “wishing” or “hoping” for something. It isn’t striving to convince yourself a promise in the Word is true for you. “Knowing” is the deepest intimacy of being one with God in Jesus. “Knowing” is the assurance of your promise, as if it has already happened. You may not know the specifics or the timing, but you “know” the outcome.
When you have true faith in God, you don’t need to be convinced His promises are true. You know they are.
“Believing,” for many Christians, is just “hoping.” When you are just “hoping,” you aren’t fully convinced. It is so hard to convince yourself that you believe and convince others that you believe. Faith isn’t working yourself up to believe. It is a real conviction so deep within you that it produces peace and quiet confidence. Faith is “knowing.”
Just as a vinedresser knows that the grape seed he has sown will produce grapes, he trusts that the seed's future harvest won’t fail. A believer trusts that the seed of God’s Word, sown in his heart, won’t fail. He doesn’t need to convince himself of God’s future promise. He is already convinced it is true in his life. Faith is the “evidence of things not yet seen” (Hebrews 11:1)
When you “know” in your heart that God’s promises are true for you, you go from working yourself up to “believe” to being “fully convinced.” The evidence of true faith in God is peace and assurance. True faith “knows” the future outcome. It sees God’s promise as though it already is. True faith sees what is not yet seen.
Colossians 2:9-10 says we are complete in Christ, and the fullness of God dwells in us. 1 Corinthians 6:17 says that we who are joined to the Lord are one spirit with Him. I John 4:17 says as Jesus is, we are also in this world.
We are one spirit with God? We are as Jesus in this world? The fullness of God dwells in us? His truth is in us? His righteousness? His promises? If these are true, where are all these things in us? Certainly not in our flesh. These things are true in our born-again spirit. To be fully convinced, we must be renewed in the spirit of our minds (Ephesians 4:23).
The Greek word for renewed in Ephesians 4:23 literally means to be “remade by an inward renovation.” Our minds need a total renovation from natural worldly thinking to the truth of who we are in our born-again spirits. We must be renewed by the "inside" of our spirits to the "outside" of our minds until the Holy Spirit totally renovates our natural reasoning and understanding.
“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11).
You have the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, dwelling in your born-again spirit. He will give life to your mortal body. You have the incorruptible seed of God’s Word in your spirit with your future harvest. Being renewed in your mind by the Holy Spirit to the truths that are yours in Christ begins His work in your heart to “know” the things you have been freely given.
“For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength’” (Isaiah 30:15).
Working yourself up to “believe” God’s promise yields worry and anxiety. True faith “knows” and produces quietness and confidence.
Do you want to “know” the new creation you are in Christ? Old things have been completely cut away from you. They are dead, and God’s new life has come to life in you. When you “know” what is inside you, it changes you from the inside out.
www.lynnlacher.com/2024/07/faith-is-knowing.html
No comments:
Post a Comment