“Our Daily Bread”   

http://odb.org/2012/11/01/forsaken/

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  

http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht

Matthew 13:11…  He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.”  (NKJV)

The Bible can be reasonably understood by some people; and yet be a total mystery to others…  This opening scripture has Jesus speaking to His disciples, as Jesus explains why He used parables to teach those around Him… A few verses later, Jesus makes this point a little clearer, in…Matthew 13:13… “Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”  (NKJV)

Those who did not understand Jesus’ teachings were the Pharisees, who were blinded by unbelief and could not understand the truth (2 Corinthians 4:4)…  What Jesus is saying to today’s people, is that the ability to comprehend spiritual truth is a gift of God; and only given to those who become Christians, when they are filled with the Holy Spirit…  The disciples had Jesus to teach them for over 3 years… Jesus tells His disciples that when He goes to be with His Father in heaven, a Helper, the Holy Spirit, would be sent down to them to help them remember all that Jesus had taught them…

John 14:26… “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”  (NKJV)

The Apostle Paul tells the believers in the church in Corinth all about the need to rely on the Holy Spirit, to help them understand these mysteries God has hidden in His Word…1 Corinthians 2:10… But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.  (NKJV)

Paul goes on in the next verse to tell us this…1 Corinthians 2:11… For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.  (NKJV)

The un-believer (also called a natural man), cannot understand what God reveals through His Word…

1 Corinthians 2:14… But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.  (NKJV)

But the Christian will also have a hard time understanding many mysteries in the Bible, if they are trying to use their own carnal minds… It is the full power of the Holy Spirit that God will use to help the Christian understand “the deep things of God”…

The Apostle James gives the Christian good advice, that I find helpful before I open up God’s Word to read it… James 1:5… If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  (NKJV)

I find that a short prayer asking the Lord to open up the scripture to my merger brain, will help me in understanding what God is trying to teach us through His inerrant Word, the Bible…

Heavenly Father, help all of Your children to humble themselves into allowing the Holy Spirit to totally control their lives… And give us the urge Lord, to open and read Your glorious Word… Help us to grow in our spiritual knowledge and our wisdom…as the Holy Spirit unlocks the many treasures those that diligently spend time in Your Word will find… I pray for these nuggets of pure wisdom and direction for all of Your children; as well as the supernatural peace (Philippians 4:6-7) and the joy that living our lives for You as obedient children will provide…in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

written by bruce r mills