Being a Student of the Spirit

Excerpt from my new book "The Invitation" available on my website at www.shawnadiehl.com. I will also be available on Amazon after May 29, 2013.

I was not exactly the shining example of a student in my teenage years.  In fact, my parent’s heard from more than one of my teachers that I had so much potential if I would just apply myself. As I look back I see that the problem wasn’t aptitude or even interest in the subject. How I did in a class had more to do with whether or not I connected with the teacher than anything else. If I felt like the teacher was invested in me personally and believed in me then I was motivated to study and do well in the class. Who doesn’t like being the teacher’s pet?

From Milk to Meat

This dynamic affected my interaction with the Bible as well. As a young person there was a passage here and there (mostly the Psalms) which ministered to me, but a majority of the Bible seemed dry and irrelevant. This was partly because I was still immature in my spirituality and could only handle the milk of the Word (I Corinthians 3:2, Hebrews 5:12-13). It was also because I did not understand the culture of the people in the Bible, and so found it hard to relate to them. Gaining some knowledge of the historic setting of the Bible has helped me to understand and relate to it. However, the reason I’m passionate for God’s Word is that I love the teacher!

As I’ve grown in my relationship with the Holy Spirit I’ve found that the more connected I am to him the more I desire to have his words written on my heart, and the more the Bible has meaning for me. In the beginning of the process I still needed the milk of the Word because I still lacked understanding.  However, what was different was that I was beginning to desire the milk of the Word. 1 Peter 2:2 tells us that we should “like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.” Without the desire for the milk of the Word we will never grow up enough to be able to eat solid food; as Paul told the Corinthians, “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready” (I Corinthians 3:1-2). The New International Version uses the word “worldly” to describe the Corinthians who were more interested in position and getting their way, than in maturing in Christ.

Once I had a steady diet of the milk of the Word I began to mature. The writer of Hebrews tells us that “solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity” (Hebrews 5:14-6:1). Sometimes Christians refer to the meat of the Word, which Paul calls a “message of wisdom… a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began” (I Corinthians 2:6-7). Paul is not referring here to new truth, but to a greater understanding of the eternal truth. The meat of the Word goes deeper and has greater meaning for those who have a history of relationship with the Lord.

Studying is never an end in itself, and the main goal is not to acquire knowledge. If it were, I would not be passionate about it.  The goal is maturity in our walk with the Lord so that he can trust us with greater revelation of his thoughts. Where I used to avoid studying, now I am excited and eager to explore the depths of God’s Word so that I can know his thoughts.

Guess what? You are the teacher’s pet! There is no one who loves you and is invested in you more than the Holy Spirit. John 10:3-4 promises that we, as sheep of the Good Shepherd, can hear God’s voice. The more you engage the Spirit of God in conversation, the more your relationship with him will grow. The more you grow in your relationship with him, the more you will desire to have him teach you through the Word of God. The more he speaks to you through the Scripture the more you’ll desire to know him. It’s a beautiful cycle filled with the amazing experience of joy and love found in knowing the Holy Spirit.  

Stewarding the Word

Excerpt from my book "The Invitation: Discovering Revelation in the Bible by Engaging the Holy Spirit" which will be available on Amazon in June.

In Luke 8 Jesus tells a parable describing different responses to the Word of God being sown into a person’s life. He even prefaces the explanation of the parable saying that it holds a secret of God’s kingdom (verse 10). We will find that when we receive a revelatory word from God either through the Scripture or through a prophetic gift we will be challenged, tested and may even become neglectful if we have not cultivated the character of heart that can receive and nurture the Word.

Challenges to Receiving the Word

Jesus tells us plainly that the Word sown into your life will be challenged. The enemy does not want that Word of God to take root because this causes your mind to be renewed. The only power he has is when you agree with him instead of God.  When our minds our renewed by the Word of God we begin to agree with God and the enemy loses his hold over us.  The enemy attempts to steal the truth of the Word from our hearts by causing us to question what God has said. This is his oldest trick and it worked on Eve in Genesis 3:1 when Satan asked her, “Did God really say?” He especially wants us to question our identity as children of God. He tried this with Jesus challenging his identity as God’s Son in Matthew 4. The very word Jesus had just received from God in Matthew 3:17 was that he was God’s son and very much loved by God.

Scripture often describes the hardness of people’s hearts that are not able to receive and believe the Word of God. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened against hearing Moses speak on God’s behalf (Exodus 7-14).  Zechariah wrote that the Israelites “made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit” (7:12). When we decide to side with doubt and unbelief rather than believe God, our hearts become hard because we have chosen independence rather than trust in God. We must ask the Holy Spirit to uncover areas where we’ve allowed unbelief to harden our hearts. 

The two primary areas we find hardness of heart is in what we believe about who God is and who he says we are. Do we believe what God says about himself? Do we believe that he is good and loving, or do we see him as aloof and angry? Do we believe what God says about ourselves? Do we see ourselves as image bearers and children of God, or do we see ourselves as beggars being passed over by God? When God tells us that he loves us, do we question him? When the enemy sows doubt that God cares deeply about us, do we believe him or God? If we are to cultivate a heart that can receive the Word of God, we must believe what he has said and trust what he has promised he will accomplish.

Testing of the Word

Testing, while seldom enjoyable, can be a good thing. It’s also unavoidable; just ask Abraham, Joseph, Moses and David. You know you are being tested because everything in your circumstance seems to be the opposite of the promise or revelation you’ve received. For over 25 years God’s word to Abraham that he would be a father was tested (Genesis 12). During that time Abraham made some mistakes, specifically one resulting in Ishmael (Genesis 16). However in Romans 4:18-21 we are told;

In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told. “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

 Abraham was strengthened because he knew the nature of the God who had made him the promise. He had a friendship with God and knew that God was not only trustworthy but powerful so that he could accomplish his word. Even after the promise was fulfilled and Isaac was born the word was tested when God told Abraham to kill Isaac as a sacrifice (Genesis 22). Abraham once again passed the test because he knew God and his power.

When people fail the time of testing it is because they have no root.  They are not anchored in the knowledge of who God is and that he is trustworthy and powerful. Hebrews 3:8 tells us that Israel’s time in the wilderness was a time of testing.  Sadly, the first generation of Israelites to escape Egypt did not pass the test and died in the wilderness. Perhaps it was because they relied on Moses as an intermediary instead of entering into relationship with God for themselves (Exodus 20:18-21). They certainly knew about God; they saw his presence in a cloud and fire with them everyday and night. But it wasn’t enough to transform their hearts so that they could trust God even when circumstances told them there was no hope.

I sometimes struggle believing the prophetic words and promises I have received. One day, when I was asking the Holy Spirit why I had a hard time receiving his promises for my life and calling, he said, “It is because you know that who you are now could never bear up under the reality of the promise fulfilled.  You will need to let me transform you.” In a sense, there are rocks in our soil (flaws in our character) that need to be pulled out by the discipline and grace of God, so that when we receive the promise we do not sabotage it with the sin in our lives. We are transformed by the presence of God and the cleansing of the Word, but we are also transformed by the testing we endure.  The test is there to develop us into the person with the character to faithfully carry out the promise God has entrusted us with; “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12). We can trust God that when he gives us a promise he will provide what we need to be able to see that promise fulfilled.