As a believer, what is it that impresses God? Is it how much you know? Will it be the tremendous amount of scripture that you learn that will get you into the kingdom? Will it be because you can quote many great verses in the Bible? Is this what gives you the answer of a good conscience before God? How much time you labor in your study of the word; will that be the secret to your confidence when you stand before God? As you increase your ability to seek God, has knowledge become your idol?
Is it possible that you can know too much that it hinders your faith in God?
Interestingly enough, many people may not spend lots of time in the Bible learning scriptures. If that’s you, you probably spend more time listening to your pastors and learning what they are teaching you. If that’s the case, there will be another enemy that can work against you. Knowing your pastor’s language so well makes you feel like you already know everything they say when they teach. It is possible to know the common teachings without ever knowing the Bible itself. This type of familiarity can deceive you faster than anything. In this setting, you always have the correct answers to add to the pastor as he speaks, but it usually is not something you live by when you are alone. It works well and sounds good when the pastor is teaching it, but you’re sitting in his anointing. This happens when only knowledge works in your thoughts.
In either situation described above, knowledge has given people the ability they have desired to know things about God, but it’s not genuine faith. This knowledge ability makes you present yourself before God without faith. But if those of you who are believers will live and walk in the Spirit the right way, you must learn how to live by faith and walk in the Spirit, not your abundance of knowledge. The teachings on the believer help to accomplish that very thing.
Knowledge seekers will find many answers.
The book of Daniel has a lot of prophetic words for us. They teach us things that will happen to us when the end is near. After Daniel received these prophecies, God told him to seal his prophecies until the time of the end. But there was something else very enlightening in these instructions that caught my attention. When prophecy is sealed (hidden), people begin to increase their knowledge by going to and fro. This seeking could be any form of knowledge, both of the world and God’s word.
Daniel 12:4 But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”
With this in mind, let’s talk about the knowledge of God. If this was ever true, it’s true now. I see many scholars and laypeople who have something to say about everything in the Bible. The library of the soul is filled with written books interpreted by men and women. The big problem is that there are so many conclusions on almost every topic. This fact clearly shows us that we as people study by knowledge rather than having the Spirit of God reveal it to us. My question is, how do they get their answers? How do you get your answers? How do I get my answers? Do we receive knowledge through the Spirit or by running to and fro, increasing our knowledge through many studies? We who are of the Spirit must trust God to give us the knowledge of the Holy through spiritual inspiration.
I love reading and studying the Bible, as many of you do. It is so profound, and it makes us realize that only God could inspire such revelation. With that said, what good is our knowledge at the end of time when it doesn’t change the heart we live in today?
It makes sense that warnings go out from scholars against people who say they are hearing from God through the Spirit. People in many religions have said they are hearing from God, yet it only came from the inspiration of the flesh. It quickly can become goofy at best. The thing is, I agree with the scholars who want some evidence to the knowledge others proclaims. But on the other side, if the scholars are leaning only on the knowledge of the study of many books, they are wrong in condemning others because they do the same thing on the other side of the table, just in a different way. We need to put the knowledge of God (Bible included) with the work of the Spirit, and then it will not just be people talking and explaining things; it will be a move of the Spirit guiding us in the Spirit.
Knowledge puffs you up.
Knowledge has a way of puffing up a person to the point that it blinds you from the truth of God. Imagine having the knowledge of the scriptures in your possession and yet being utterly blind to its understanding and intent. Many of my peers and I have learned this to be true in the last several years when receiving knowledge. For example, you can use the Bible to prove anything you want. (That’s why there are so many different religions today.) You can even allow scripture to interpret scripture. Still, if it’s in the wrong perception or with a wrong spirit, your interpretation will be out of knowledge anyway, and it will lack the understanding of God.
Take the Pharisees, for example; they were the ones that claimed to have all the knowledge of God. They even knew the promise of a savior that would come, but they rejected Him nonetheless, not perceived by the Spirit that He was sent from God. Their great knowledge of the scriptures caused them to be full of pride, always judging outwardly. When the truth came to them to take them into the Spirit, their knowledge damned them to destruction and caused them to kill the truth of God. They were blind leaders of the blind, continually disobedient to the truth, having just a form of God. This is not the perception of knowledge we want.
A sign of being puffed up in knowledge is a continual rejection of spiritual ideas and demonstrations.”
In the beginning, the serpent seduced Eve to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It wasn’t God’s commandment to do so. Ever since Adam and Eve gave way to the serpent’s seduction, man has been seduced to eat of knowledge in his thoughts. Its seduction can make you think you can be a god, knowing good and evil. And if you know good and evil, then you now have the ability to fix yourself; at least that’s what you will think. It’s not true, but that doesn’t stop people from trying. Knowledge in itself is necessary to serve God, but how we come to that knowledge is another story. In receiving knowledge, it’s always best to be obedient to what God says. Being seduced to eat of knowledge will bring you to arrogance and keep you in a mind of death.
Gaining more knowledge is not the answer.
We talk about loving, trusting, and believing in God in our local church. These fruits of the Spirit go beyond just knowing. Think about the children of Israel when they were in the wilderness learning to grow up and trust God. They had every opportunity to learn to trust God. In one instance, God fed them every day with manna. As they had to gather manna each morning, Moses told them not to take extra into their tents for the next day. They were supposed to trust God daily, but they didn’t listen. The ones who didn’t trust God to take care of them tried to store up more than God gave them. This thought to go beyond God still works in believers today. We must trust God to provide the word of God that continues to meet all of our spiritual needs. He can and He will because He is a provider.
By bypassing His provisions, we strive to gain knowledge to make ourselves feel like we have done enough to provide for ourselves so we can please God. We store up as much knowledge as possible to assure ourselves that we will never be without a word from God. But that’s not walking by faith; it’s trusting in yourself to save you. Wouldn’t having that kind of knowledge make you a god? I know I’m walking a fine line of being misperceived, but it’s time to trust in the arm of the Lord for our salvation. I love studying the scripture, but it’s not knowledge that pleases God; it’s obedience to the faith we have received that pleases God. It’s not the amount of knowledge you have that will save you, but it’s the gift of God that He gives you. You can’t work enough for this gift; it is free!
Knowledge can only take you so far; it makes things black and white and often leaves grace entirely out of your life. How many times do we judge ourselves as well as others by knowledge? Knowledge by itself will cause you to misjudge yourself by always causing you to fall short of what you think you should be. Imagine the woman that was caught in adultery. If they had been allowed to judge her by their knowledge of the scripture, she would have been stoned to death. Because knowledge usually works in good and evil, it holds all those who live by it accountable to a sentence of death. That’s why grace is so essential in our lives. It is what keeps us always needing God’s help.
With all that said, there is the perception of the Spirit that works the knowledge of the Holy, which is understanding. This knowledge walks by the understanding of God. It works by love and doesn’t puff you up but glorifies God in all things. This knowledge teaches you all the things you need to know that will bring you to the fulness of Christ. And best of all, it’s the knowledge that God gives you.
As I have said, I love the knowledge of the scriptures. I believe God can and will resurrect our knowledge and open our eyes to the understanding of the Spirit in everything we study. But don’t make knowledge an idol; learn to walk by faith and trust God to bring forth His word in you.