Problems will be solved as you follow God’s leading with a right spirit. But if you have a wrong spirit, you open the door to many more problems. If your spirit is bitter, you will not move on in God.
Keep right in your spirit. Be dedicated to intercede, to work, and to worship where God is moving. Do this without fail. These are not legalistic rules; they are important principles for your spiritual growth. Even if you work hard all day, spend some time also in prayer. By the time you drop exhausted into bed you will appreciate this Scripture, “He gives His beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:2). Then as you relax and rest, you will grow spiritually.
Someone once said that if a man could learn to stand on his head, he could make it into the Kingdom. He was not speaking about assuming an upside-down position, but of putting your head down on the floor and standing on it. Obviously this is only an illustration to show the importance of putting down the carnal mind. In Romans 8:7 we read that the carnal mind is enmity against God. In Proverbs 3:5–6, the wise man Solomon said, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. We need to acknowledge that we are not wise enough to make our own decisions. We must always seek the leading and witness of the Lord, but carefully avoid control of our thinking by others. If we ask for His wisdom, He will give it to us liberally and upbraid us not, but we must ask in faith without wavering (James 1:5–6). Even though we do not know the answer, we trust the Lord that when we ask Him, He will reveal the answer to us.
A common excuse of some is that they do not know the voice of the Lord. If that is your problem, let Him give you the answer while you sleep. There are various ways of praying before you go to bed. If you need an answer, get down on your knees and commit your problem to the Lord. Ask Him to show you the answer while you sleep. Your spirit actually acts like a spiritual booster station, continuing to send to the Father the last thoughts that are in your mind as you fall asleep. When you pray concerning a problem at night, say, “Lord, show me,” and He will start giving you the answer. In the morning when you awaken, you may have the answer in your heart. In an amazing way, He will ultimately teach you.
Forget the idea that you are wise enough to know all the answers to your problems. Every day that you live, you must recognize that your dependence is on the Lord. Each day the Lord sets the program before us. Some of the things of the Lord we know, but there is still much to learn. All the time that we are learning, we are bringing our carnal mind under subjection, and our spirit is reaching out to the Lord. We learn because the Lord teaches us, because we are not leaning on our own understanding. Figuratively speaking, we are standing on our head, putting it under foot. This means that we insult the process of using our intelligence and reason.
It is common to exalt reason over revelation, and this is why the world does not know God. Reason never leads us into a revelation of the Lord; however, revelation leads us into the knowledge of the will of the Lord, which ultimately seems very reasonable. When the Lord gives us revelation, it seems so logical and reasonable that we wonder why we did not think of it. Revelation is reasonable, but our reasoning is not always revelation—in fact, it rarely is.
In this day we want to see schools come forth in which our children will be taught of the Lord. Isaiah gave us this promise, And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. Isaiah 54:13.
If ever man could receive the answers by human means, it should be now, with the great wealth of knowledge available. One of today’s great scientists has pointed out the fact that the total amount of knowledge accumulated by man up to the year 1800 A.D. had doubled by 1900. Recorded knowledge had doubled again by 1950. In the 1960’s, man’s knowledge was accelerating at such a rapid rate that it doubled within a three-year period. One cannot keep up with today’s research and the volumes that are being written. In many of the major fields of knowledge, such as science and medicine, concepts are changing so rapidly that textbooks are obsolete as soon as they are printed. Yet, with all this knowledge, man still does not have the answers for his problems. Ask the great minds of today, and you will find utter confusion. The problems facing society are catastrophic. People are learning more and more, but they still do not know enough. If this is true of the world, then it is logical to assume that Satan will prey upon Christians who are exalted in their own intelligence and puffed up by their own knowledge. He will lead them into the greatest deceptions ever.
To the humble the Lord reveals His wisdom, which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. I Corinthians 2:8. Paul also said that not many of the wise, not many of the mighty or noble of this world are called, because God has chosen the foolish things to confound the wise (I Corinthians 1:26–27). Throughout the Scriptures God warns that if you exalt yourself, you will be brought low; and this is true of our generation. Look to God, and He will show you the answer to a problem. Do you think that by analyzing the facts and using some good logic you can come up with the right answer? The answer is not conclusions you can reach from all the knowledge available to you. Trust God to give you the answers. This means that first of all you must walk with a broken spirit.
When an individual finds himself in a difficult circumstance, he may try to reason it out. As a result he becomes bitter, and he may even lose out with God. On the other hand, when a man humbles himself before God, saying, “I don’t understand what is happening or why people are mistreating me, but I humble myself before You,” he finds that he sails right on through his circumstances. God works out the problems in his life and soon everything is going well.
We are living in the final days of deception. In Matthew 24, where Jesus predicts the great signs of His return, He warns us specifically about the danger of being misled. Verses 4–5: And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’and will mislead many.” Verse 11: “And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many.” Verses 24–25: “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance.” Without question, we face much deception, which is satanically designed to lead astray God’s very elect, if possible. However, the Lord has given us revelation concerning our protection against deception.
Deception comes when your spirit is bitter and wrong. Revelation comes when you have a broken spirit before the Lord. Learn this principle and apply it. Then when something goes wrong and you find yourself in trouble, you will immediately pray, “How is my spirit, Lord? I want to be right before You.” Do not lose out because your spirit is wrong. Watch your spirit, for if your spirit is right before God, everything else will be all right.
Even if you are misunderstood, it should not matter. You do not serve God because someone understands you. The husband who dates another woman usually tells her, “My wife doesn’t understand me.” That is not the real problem. Few couples really understand one another even in the best of marriages. He is just excusing himself so that he can do what he wants to do.
If your relationship with the Lord is not right, do not excuse yourself by blaming your pastor, saying that he does not understand you. Very few pastors completely understand their people. A good pastor will find that the Lord reveals a great deal to him about the people and their needs; yet he still will be amazed at how little he has discerned. He sees the areas of his ignorance, and this leads him to constantly humble himself before the Lord, praying, “Lord, only You can bring forth the love to these sheep that they really need.” A good elder or pastor feels totally inadequate, even at his best moments of revelation. Do not expect anyone to understand you perfectly. Remember what I Corinthians 13:9, 12 tells us: “We know in part, we prophesy in part, we see through the glass darkly”; but we are seeking that perfect love where “we will know even as we are known.” We keep reaching for it.
You will stumble if you expect everyone to understand you and help you make everything just right. When your spirit is wrong, you see the lack in everyone but yourself. When your spirit is right, you see the grace that rests on all of them, including yourself. When you look at the brothers who stand in a place of spiritual authority, be sure that you are wearing the right kind of glasses. Then you will not see what they lack. Instead, you will see the grace that rests on them, how marvelously God is moving through them and how His will is being done. Then you will think, “How wonderful! How marvelous that we have this treasure in earthen vessels! The excellency of the power is of God and not of ourselves” (II Corinthians 4:7). You are happy about that.
What happens when you get a bad spirit and look at the brothers through the wrong glasses? Then you tend to criticize them, thinking, “They don’t know what they are doing. They don’t have enough revelation from God to know the answer for my situation. What do they mean, telling me to get down and pray and get my spirit right? I want an answer! I want to know what I am to do next!” When your spirit is wrong, everything looks wrong. Conversely, when your spirit is right before God, when your heart is broken and contrite, then everything takes on a positive aspect.
We should ask ourselves frequently, “Where are the tears?” Although it is good to enter into intense intercession, we must also have equal periods when we are open and broken before the Lord. What has happened to tears? David, a man of real prayer, said, “My tears have been my meat day and night” (Psalm 42:3). There is no substitute in all the world for a broken spirit.