October 23, 2007
Good morning family,
I pray that all are doing well this day. I have a question for the list. Have any of you ever seen someone who does not believe in the Word of God? Let me go back a little bit for you. Were you that someone who did not believe in the Word? If you were what changed your mind?
Last week I saw a question about the Bible and whether or not any atheistic or non-believers ever read the Bible. The answers that I saw were truly amazing and I was blown away. Believe it or not a lot of atheists have read the Bible from cover to cover. I even saw where there was a guy who was once a minister and later decided that the Bible was all "foo-foo" and became an atheists. So then you might ask, why doesn't one believe?
Discernment
The missing piece from the equation is Discernment. Just what is discernment? A good definition says, that it is "discretion: the trait of judging wisely and objectively" (http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn). Also, "Discernment is not a function of the mind; it's a function of the Holy Spirit which is in union with your soul/spirit" (http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/3386.htm). Of course we know that Jesus promised to send a comforter also known as the Holy Spirit.
John 14:15-17 "(15) If you love me, you will obey what I command. (16) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— (17) the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. "See, any one can read anything and totally miss the true meaning. This is exactly what happened to the people who read the Bible and still didn't get it. During a class, the entire class can go through the Bible in a semester and take tests on it and look at it from a scholarly point of view. However, if there is no spirit of discernment, the reader totally miss what God is trying to share with you.
In regards to the former minister turned atheist, he neither had the spirit of discernment. If you truly possess and believe with your heart, there is no question about what's in the word. It's when we start to try to understand the scriptures with our own mind and attempt to make sense of them in a worldly view when we get into trouble. It only takes the devil one good opportunity to slip you a spiritual mickey and then you're left not knowing what to believe. That's just long enough to keep you away from God. I John 1:4 says, "...do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.". Guess what, without the Holy Spirit working in you, the devil can work on you, hence, you cannot discern the truth.
Even when you are not saved, the Lord has ways of nudging you that He exists. He can use people, accidents, events, etc. to speak to you, but remember from a past WFTD, we are made free beings. We are made free to by God and to love God, but it's when we make the choice to ignore the signals that you do not believe what the Word of God says. It's like tasting new foods. If you never listen to the inner urge to try sushi, you'll never know that not all of it is raw and that it actually tastes pretty good. If you never yield to the inner inclination to try God, you'll never be able to expect to read His Word and understand in the same manner one of His disciples might understand.
The next time you hear of someone who just doesn't believe, remember they made a choice to not believe. Even if they say, I tried God but He didn't work, you can check that excuse at the door. If they tried God, the probably only plugged into the "Source" intermittently and leaned on their own understanding instead of the Lords. Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;".
Trust in the Lord and listen to the Holy Spirit when He taps at your spiritual door. "When the Spirit sounds a warning, your mind may not be able to perceive what's wrong. Have the courage to acknowledge that something is wrong when your spirit is troubled. Share what you are sensing with others, and ask the Lord for wisdom." (http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/3386.htm)
Be Blessed Gang!
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Antoine E. Hall
Blog: http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." - James 1:22
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