Real Knowledge

Friends,There is a knowledge that we cannot live without. It is beyond memorization and the ability to accurately quote the Scriptures.

Proverbs 23:23 (NKJV)
Buy the truth, and do not sell it,
Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.

The Lord commands you and me to pursue His truth, and to value it highly. He desires us to have a deep knowledge and understanding of ... more than His words, but His character.

Be encouraged, Jose

 

Search for wisdom, find wisdom, and don't ignore it

Friends,

The Lord seeks to reveal Himself to us everyday. This is one of the amazing gifts of salvation, for the Almighty God of all creation has no obligation to teach a mere mortal about Himself. But it is His desire that we know Him. Of course, there are those for whom this gift is meaningless. There are those who mock the very Word of God. We see them, and some even celebrate them. It is remarkable is that those who mock God's word claim to be the most sophisticated of men, for they have sought education and rationality...

Proverbs 14:6 [NKJV]
A scoffer seeks wisdom and does not find it,
But knowledge is easy to him who understands.

Christ promised us His spirit of wisdom and discernment. And that is why faith and belief come easily. That is why when life's circumstances challenge our faith and belief, we cry out and He answers. We do not mock the wisdom that the LORD has revealed to us, for we know that it is the truth. We accept it and the joy that it brings.

Be encouraged, Jose

A knowledgable love

Friends,

A child loves innocently. It is all heart ... no head. There is no real thinking about their love, they just do it. It is beautiful and precious and wonderful.

Yet there is something missing, isn't there? An adult's love is richer, more complex and more substantive. Yes, there is an emotional component, but it is strengthened by a thoughtful, even rational component. In its full expression, love is willful, possessing the benefit of judgment, maturity, experience and balance.

Philippians 1:9 [NKJV]
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment

In this verse, Paul is encouraging Christians to grow in love. It is evidence that we are becoming more Christ-like.

Jesus loved the Father.
His love was deep and genuine at every level.

He certainly had affection for the Father. He had a childlike adoration of His Father. He had a deep intimacy with the Father, too. He had a mature companionship with the Father. He had an unshakable friendship with the Father.

These are not the attributes of a shallow, purely emotional love. Rather these are the characteristics of a mature and enduring and reasoned love. Such a love is impossible without a knowledge of the beloved.

The question today is this. How well do you know the LORD?
Not how much do you know about Him, or how long have you known Him.

How well do you know the LORD?

Be encouraged, Jose

Things worth keeping

Friends,

We sure have a lot of stuff. Just two generations ago, it was uncommon for an American family to have more than one car. now it seems that just opposite is now true. And it isn't surprising to find that people hang on to the stuff they no longer use for some reason or another.

But what should we be keeping? What should we be throwing away?

Keep my commands and live,
And my law as the apple of your eye.
Proverbs 7:2 [NKJV]

Our Lord, the source of all wisdom and knowledge, tells us to keep His commands. He desires that we have a passion and an affection for His laws and perfect truths.

Brothers and sisters, nothing else is worth keeping. For these are the only things that have lasting, enduring, even eternal value.

Be encouraged, Jose

Embrace Knowledge

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

When the people rejected knowledge, they assaulted the truth and embarked on a sustained denigration and decimation of God's word, truths and standards. They do these though to their own peril. Rejection of God's truth in the name of political correctness, modernization, etc has consequences. Instant gratification at the expense of our future and coming generations isn't smart business.

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV)

Knowledge of Him connects us with truth and disconnects us from deceit, lies and self destruction.

Be encouraged,

Afolabi

The source of joy

Friends,

You know how some people so enjoy their jobs that it doesn't seem like work to them? Well, that's not me. I like what I do, and I consider my work to be of value to my clients and their businesses. But it's work. It is not the source of my fulfillment and great joy.

Here is where I find my joy ...

1 Thessalonians 4:17b-18
And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. [NKJV]

The day will come that we enter in our Lord's presence. And that knowledge is the source of my strength, my endurance and my joy.

Be encouraged, Jose

Just to Know Him

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Phillipians 3:8-11 (NKJV)

Apostle Paul put this so eloquently. To gain the world is to lose out on Christ, but to lose out on things of this world for the excellence of the the knowledge of Christ is great gain. What else could be greater than operating in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of His Resurrection? To be a follower of Christ and a believer without this knowledge and power of resurrection is to miss out completely,

May the Power of His Resurrection come alive in every facet and aspect of our lives that every dead, idle, weak, feeble, inactive and lifeless part of us may come to life to the glory of Him who paid our sin, debt in full. If any thing at all, just come to His knowledge and the revelation will make a way.

Be encouraged,

Afolabi

Towards perfection

Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) and He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
Ephesians 4:9-16 (NKJV)

Your stand must not be a wishy washy one, neither must you be sorry for what you believe in. The plans of men are dubiously cunning. They will shade the truth and embellish lies and deceit, and re-package it as the truth. The purposes and mission of God are clear and simple. To grow, strengthen and empower the body of believers and their influence while here. But the Lord is also quick to give us a heads up about the schemes and trickery of men. Hence in a continuously hostile world, he that stands must stand firm lest he be tossed around like chaff by the influences of the world.

Abilities and talents for the work of ministry, edifying the body of Christ, coming to the fullness of knowledge of Him and that level of perfection must be our driving motivation. When we are driven by these, we are anchored to God's purpose and will never be a victim of the adversary's schemes and device to steal, kill and destroy us and our treasures.

Be encouraged,

Afolabi