THE SPIRIT OF UNDERSTANDING
"For the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. 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" (1 Corinthians 2:10-11).
The feelings of an understanding heart give us the sweet spirit of assurance of not only knowing but doing what is right, no matter what the circumstances. As we read God's Word, it's the Spirit of Understanding that will reveal and expose these things so that we can "deal" with them. When we don't read the Word and the Spirit of Understanding is not allowed to operate, then we won't be able to see or find our way. Hosea 4:14 says "...people that do not understand shall fall."
How many times have you sat down and read God's Word, gotten up and not remembered a thing you read? Well, God's Spirit of Understanding was not operating.
The Spirit of Understanding is God's supernatural revelation-His secret insights to His Word. The Spirit of God illuminates our hearts and gives us understanding of His Wisdom. In other words, He "turns on the lights for us." (Nancy Missler - https://www.khouse.org/articles/1996/138/)
It gives us discernment. When you have understanding, you'll see the following things in your life:
-- You'll understand what's going on behind the scenes. You'll be able to piece together what's really happening.
-- You'll perceive why people act the way they do.
-- You'll find it easier to see people and situations with God's eyes and maintain His perspective.
-- You'll be able to discern the cause of things that you deal with from day to day and God's timing more easily.
No matter how good a man’s understanding is, it is not enough for him to know God’s will. Knowing God’s will and having fellowship with God require spiritual understanding. Only spiritual understanding leads one to the realm of the spirit and enables one to know God’s will. Fleshly understanding enables one to know some truths, but these truths will only remain in one’s mind. Spiritual understanding can transform what it has understood into life because it comes from the spirit.
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A spirit of revelation and spiritual understanding go side by side with each other. God has given us a spirit of wisdom and revelation; He has also given us spiritual understanding. The wisdom and revelation we receive in our spirit must be realized by the understanding before we can know the real meaning of the revelation. Revelation is what we receive from God; understanding is comprehending the revelation we have received from God. Spiritual understanding tells us the meaning of all the movement within our spirit; it enables us to know God’s will. Our fellowship with God relies on our spirit receiving God’s revelation, on the intuition of the spirit sensing this revelation, and on the spiritual understanding to interpret the meaning of this revelation. Our own understanding can never resolve anything. When our spirit enlightens our understanding, the latter knows the purpose of God’s movement.
ATTRIBUTES OF UNDERSTANDING
1. GOD IS THE SOURCE OF UNDERSTANDING
(A) We need to remove the wrong philosophy from our minds that other people are the source of understanding. Too often we automatically look to other people - the pastor, Sunday school teacher, seminary professor or other educated person or book to give us understanding. God can use other people in giving us understanding, but He is the source of understanding. It's wonderful that we can go to him at any time when we lack understanding and He will give it to us.
The ability to understand the Bible is something that God gives to us. Understanding is a gift from God, it is not something that we conjure within ourselves. As Christians we have the ultimate opportunity in life to have God to give us perfect counsel and direction. He has perfect understanding of what is best. He has perfect knowledge of what works and what will have poor results. He is so far superior to everyone else combined that no one has anything, even some small discovery, which they can teach God.
Do you think that the educated community's method, idea, theory, instruction, etc. is better than what God says? Subconsciously the church has fallen into this trap.
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable."(Isaiah 40:28 )
(B) To receive understanding we need to recognize our position as Christ's servant who needs understanding. Those who feel they already know because of their education will not view themselves as servants and will likely miss looking to God to give them understanding in a crucial moment. "I am your servant; give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies" (Psalms 119:125 )
In order to properly understand and draw insights from stories in the Bible, we need God's understanding. This shows why the traditional Bible story diet has failed in Sunday Schools: it attempts to enable the student to understand through human understanding rather than God's understanding.
(C) God's understanding is infinite (Isaiah 40:13). There is no way we can ever comprehend the vastness of His understanding. Therefore, He is the very best One to go to for understanding.
We cannot arrive at the same understanding that God has through intellectual reasoning . God gives us understanding when we ask Him for it, but we can not get it on our own or buy it through a college education. Spiritual understanding requires the Holy Spirit not the intellect, in order to have it and to understand it.
Instead of trying to search out God's understanding and worrying, doubting Him, and fretting, we need to wait upon the Lord and wait patiently for Him to reveal His understanding to us . "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."(Isaiah 40:31)
2. THE BIBLE IS THE BEST PLACE TO TURN FOR UNDERSTANDING
Reading the holy scriptures and meditating on it (allowing the words to enter into our heart) gives us understanding. "The entrance of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple" (Psalms 119:130 ). Even a simple person who does not have understanding, can receive understanding if they allow God's Words to enter into their heart. A person needs to have a desire to know what God says and not reject it.
The Bible gives us understanding. However, we have to first ask God to give us understanding and then study the Bible diligently to find the understanding that God has for us to know.
"Proverbs" is a good book of the Bible to study to gain understanding. Reading the book of Proverbs will give us guidance as to who has understanding and who does not. Over and over, the book of Proverbs contrasts wise men and the "man devoid of understanding." (Proverbs 1:1-2 )
We gain understanding by meditating on the successes and failures that God tells us in the Bible. God has chosen the details of the stories/testimonies to share with us; so that we gain the understanding He wants us to have.
"Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way." (Psalms 119:104)
3. OBEYING GOD IS CRUCIAL TO GETTING UNDERSTANDING
God's commands is necessary for a person to get understanding. We need to obey God even though we don't fully understand. The more of God's commands we do, the greater understanding of the things of God and His Word.
When a person chooses not to obey God's commands, God takes away some of that person's understanding. That loss of understanding often results in the person not doing another command of God. Thus begins a downward spiritual decline of disobedience and less and less understanding.
Understanding comes after we obey God, not before. We need to keep God's commands in order that other people can see the wisdom of His commands and understand their importance. This explains why, when someone intentionally disobeys God's commands, they can't understand when others try to correct them; because they have disobeyed God, He takes away their understanding.
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever." (Psalms 111:10 )
4. ASK GOD FOR UNDERSTANDING
The accuracy of God's Word is everlasting and is not an opinion. To experience the fullness of life that God has to offer us, and to experience the fullness of a spiritual life with Christ ,we need to have spiritual understanding of God's way. Sin, and the resulting wrong philosophies and opinions of the world, and of people in the church who lack understanding makes it easy for us to have the wrong understanding. Therefore it is important for us, over and over throughout our life span, to ask God for understanding.
If we ask God for understanding, we can gain experience the easy way through the testimonies of the Bible. "The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting; give me understanding, and I shall live." (Psalms 119:144 )
Since true understanding is a gift from God, when we try to use our human understanding to understand His word, we will get far enough ahead to get proud of ourselves, and have others admiring our understanding. Then, at some critical time, our "natural" understanding will fail us, and we will fall flat on our nose.
"Let my cry come near before you, O LORD: give me understanding according to your word." (Psalms 119:169 )
It's important that we cry out to God for understanding. We do not derive understanding from our inner selves, but only from God. Spiritual understanding comes from God and His Word and not from other people. We can tell what true understanding is, because it will line up with God's Word.
We need to focus on "leading people to the pasture" rather than on feeding them. What we need to do is give them the commands and give them the resources to understand the commands, such as cross-references, but not do all their thinking for them. We need to teach people to call out to God for spiritual understanding.
5. SPIRITUAL EXERCISES REQUIRES GREAT UNDERSTANDING
(A) Without understanding, people will not see and hear intelligently. This is a problem that has existed for thousands of years: People who should know better are not able to understand spiritual things, particularly in certain areas. They are not able to see the obvious things. It does not make sense to them. They can not understand plain English and take offense at things that are not said and do not hear everything that is said. It is not possible to communicate with people like this. You can't be sure what they understood and what they didn't or what they are reacting to. Reasoning with them will go nowhere because they can't hear, see, or understand. It is particularly frustrating when talking with someone who is like this, who has been a Christian for many years. They may be a pastor or a teacher, and yet they can't understand the Bible in areas that they are not keeping and they don't want to change.
"Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:" (Jeremiah 5:21 )
(B) God gives a person intellectual ability. It is a gift for His glory, not our own. Understanding of visions and dreams is a gift from God.
"As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams."(Daniel 1:17 )
(C) Wisdom, knowledge and understanding are a gift from God.
Since it is God that reveals the deep and secret things, it is important that we go to Him with our questions rather than going to other people. Understanding must come first and then Bible knowledge. This is the opposite of the current spiritual education philosophy in Sunday School, Bible School, Christian college and seminary education. That philosophy assumes that understanding will come after Bible knowledge is given.
"Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him." (Daniel 2:20-22 ).
(D) Beware of a pastor, who is more interested in increasing the number attending his church than he is in making sure that the young people growing up in the church are becoming men and women after Jesus' heart. A man needs to be a man after God's heart first before he is able to lead others to gain true understanding.
Beware of a pastor who is unwilling to change his views, obey God's commands when they are pointed out to him, or admit that he is wrong. Such a pastor is lacking in understanding.
"And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding." (Jeremiah 3:15)
(E) "In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long: and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision." (Daniel 10:1)
It was while Daniel was praying that God gave him understanding of the vision. Sometimes God gives understanding immediately as in this case. Other times understanding is given at a later date as was the case in several other visions that Daniel had. God is not confined to any specific way of doing things. Therefore we should not get discouraged if we do not have understanding right away, but we need to pray and patiently wait for God to give us understanding.
Daniel was the only one whom God revealed this prophecy to, and he was the only one who had understanding of the vision. Later in this chapter an angel came and gave Daniel further understanding and strength. The thing that God revealed to Daniel required great strength and courage. A man of God who has understanding also needs to have strength and courage. It appears that God does not give the same level of understanding to everyone because they do not have the strength and courage to handle the understanding.
"And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed." (Daniel 11:35)
(F) A person must have spiritual understanding in order to teach others to stand with conviction (Luke 1:4) and will be able to instruct others in the ways of the Lord.(Daniel 11:33).
It is important that we know that our instructor has spiritual understanding so that we can trust his teaching.
(G) It is God who gives us understanding of spiritual things, not other people, not the church, not Sunday school, and not education. Most things cannot be understood, and much less practiced, unless we ask of God and he gives us understanding. We should pray that others can gain understanding. We should encourage others to seek for understanding.
"Consider what I say; and the Lord give you understanding in all things."
(2 Timothy 2:7 )
Spiritual truths are much more significant than what they appear to the natural mind. Therefore it is important that we take time to meditate on Scripture and ask God to show us the hidden truths that He wants us to see.
When we want to evaluate something, we should ask the Lord to help us understand whatever it is that we are evaluating. Unless we can fully understand it, we might disregard it when we should take its message to heart, or we might take something to heart that we should disregard.
6. MERCY AND TRUTH ARE REQUIRED TO RECEIVE UNDERSTANDING
In order to have good understanding, we must have both mercy and truth. Overemphasizing either one will skew our understanding. It is important that we memorize truth if we want to have understanding. If we can not remember what is truth or what is fact, how can we understand what is true or the best course to take. For that reason God commands us to bind truth about our neck (reminders) and memorize it.
"Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, so you shall find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Understanding is directly linked to the memorizing of God's commands. College and seminary education can often be detrimental to a person having understanding because it encourages them to lean on their own understanding.
We need to trust God with all our heart in order to have understanding. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding" (Proverbs 3:3-5)
7. KEEP UNDERSTANDING,DONT FORGET IT
Understanding is not something we get once and then have for the rest of our life. We need to actively retain it. We must keep understanding in order to gain something from it; not merely hear it, but keep it.
Getting wisdom and understanding is our responsibility. It is also our responsibility not to forget wisdom and understanding or to neglect them. Fathers need to help their children get wisdom and understanding and help them remember it. The father has great bearing on whether or not his children get wisdom and understanding.
We need to be reminded over and over to get wisdom and understanding.
"Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth." (Proverbs 4:5 )
It is important that we guard and protect the understanding God has given to us so that we don't lose it and that it is not taken away by those who lack understanding.
"He that gets wisdom loves his own soul: he that keeps understanding shall find good." (Proverbs 19:8)
8. A ROD IS USED TO CORRECT THE CHILD WHO REFUSES TO GET UNDERSTANDING
"In the lips of him that has understanding wisdom is found: but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding." (Proverbs 10:13 )
A child that does not have understanding and disobeys needs to have a spanking. Words alone will not give a child understanding. They have to feel immediately the painful consequences of their wrong actions.
"He that can learn, and will not learn, should be made to learn. The rod is a most powerful instrument of knowledge. Judiciously applied, there is a lesson of profound wisdom in every twig." - Clarke
A spanking given in love with reason for the punishment of the offence and explaining the correct action will give a child understanding. Spanking is not child abuse; it is a God-endorsed and commanded method of teaching understanding. That is why Satan is so against parents spanking their children and has persuaded the ungodly that spanking is wrong.
The parent must have understanding before they can give wise counsel or a wise response. If you go to a person for counsel and perceive that they do not fully understand what you are saying, do not put much weight on their advice.
Also, It is not enough to tell children what is right and wrong. They need to understand why something is wrong and what the present and eternal consequences of doing it are. Then they will have understanding and will choose much more readily to do what is right.
"He that refuses instruction despises his own soul: but he that hears reproof gets understanding."(Proverbs15:32 )
In order to get understanding when others correct us, we need to listen intelligently to them, and not just pass up what they have to say as being inapplicable to us.
A child that intelligently listens to his parent's rebukes will get understanding. Therefore it is important for a parent to help their children to learn how to intelligently listen to a rebuke. This does not mean that a person should take every rebuke seriously and follow it. There will be many times in life where people will misjudge and foolishly give a rebuke. But even then it is important to listen intelligently to the rebuke to discern whether it is a wise rebuke or a foolish one. In either case the rebuke can help you to get greater understanding.
9. UNDERSTANDING (as well as wisdom) IS A GREAT ASSET
Many parents and church leaders lack understanding of how to relate to the younger generation because their focus in life has been on being successful in a career and making money. They have not put the necessary amount of time in relating to the younger generation and in developing a deep, understanding relationship with them. The result is a lack of understanding of the younger generation that results in offenses, hurts, and grief and shame.
"How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!" (Proverbs 16:16 )
"Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that has it: but the instruction of fools is folly." (Proverbs 16:22 )
Understanding requires alertness to what's at hand, but a fool's attention is everywhere except where it should be. A fool has a short attention span. Therefore it is important to teach children to pay attention and to keep focused on the subject or job at hand and not get sidetracked with other thoughts.
"Wisdom is before him that has understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth." (Proverbs 17:24)
10. IT TAKES UNDERSTANDING TO DRAW COUNSEL OUT OF A MAN
"An understanding man will get out useful things from men of knowledge, the most reserved: some men must be pumped, and a good deal of pains must be taken with them, to get out anything of them, as in getting water out of a deep well, and which is very good when gotten; and so is wisdom and knowledge which is gotten by an inquisitive man from another of superior knowledge..." Gill
Wise men tend to be more silent and don't tend to volunteer all their counsel. If you want to find the answer to your questions you have to ask specific questions, and follow up questions to make sure you get all the details that you need. Otherwise you may think you understand what they are saying only to regretfully find out later that you misunderstood an important step or detail.
Sometimes it takes quite a bit of digging to draw counsel out of a man. You have to persistently question him on his methods, so that he goes into greater detail and explains it thoroughly. You have to have understanding to know what questions to ask.
"Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out." (Proverbs 20:5 )
11. PROTECT YOUR GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING
A person can lose their understanding. They wander away from it thinking they are getting greater understanding, but they are not. "The man that wanders out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead." (Proverbs 21:16 )
"Wandering away from understanding" gives the connotation of slowly and unintentionally getting distracted from understanding. It is not a deliberate decision to leave understanding.
We must keep our focus on God and His Word and keeping His commands so that we do not get distracted from God's way of understanding.
12. BUY UNDERSTAND AND DONT SELL IT
"Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding."(Proverbs 23:23)
We may not sell truth at any price through earthly pleasures, sensual sins, worldly gain or anything else. We are to do the same with wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
We must not sell the truth, wisdom, instruction, or understanding to make merchandise of it as many colleges and seminaries are doing. Many Christian book and music publishers are selling out to secular companies. The result is that truth becomes corrupted.
When the emphasis is on selling the truth to as many people as possible, God's truth is often watered down or changed to make it appealing to the most number of people. This is happening with the current church growth emphasis.
We need to buy truth from God. God is the real source of all truth, wisdom, instruction, and understanding. This is an important fact that needs to register in our minds. We must go to God for this, not look to other people. Higher education has not resulted in the Church having greater understanding and truth. Instead Christian colleges and seminaries have produced pastors whose churches are more like the world in beliefs than the previous generation.
13. WEALTH CAN BE A STUMBLING BLOCK TO HAVING UNDERSTANDING
"The rich man is wise in his own conceit; but the poor that has understanding searches him out."(Proverbs 28:11 )
Understanding means that we need to question people who appear to have wisdom to see if they really are wise before we give value to what they say.
Be careful about those who act like they know what they are talking about or who point out their own credentials to try to impress you.
Wealth can be a stumbling block to having understanding. One becomes proud and it prevents him from asking the right questions of others because he thinks he already knows the answers.
IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING
Having understanding will protect you from being seduced by evil things, because understanding gives discernment. When someone comes to you, who is not operating in pure, holy motives, you'll know it. (Sometimes you won't even know why. You'll just have a feeling that you'll need to pray about something; but as you pray, the Holy Spirit will show you what you need to know.)
Having understanding will preserve your relationships, because you'll understand why people act the way they do. You won't get angry at your spouse or friend when they say or do hurtful things, because you'll see the hurts and wounds they have that are causing them to act like that. You'll be able to respond in a heart of love and compassion, instead of anger.
Having understanding will help you be kind and gentle in difficult situations, because you'll see what's really going on behind the scenes. You'll perceive, by the Holy Spirit, what cogs and wheels are turning the situation–and you'll be able to roll with it.
CONCLUSION
Man has this privilege above beasts, that he has an understanding,; but unless he exercise his understanding he acts as a beast (Psalm 49 20).He shouldn't be led merely by sense or hurried by passion. It is good to be full of affection, but it is best to work in the full assurance of understanding; affections without understanding are blind, and quickly run us upon a thousand inconveniences. That duty which calls up all our affections, yet calls for a work of the understanding, sing praises with understanding (Psalm 47:7).
The more we see others disturbed and heated with passion, the more cool and composed we should be; we should dispose ourselves to the highest degree of patience when we see others impatient: what others speak or write in anger, we should answer in love; and to fall to work with our reason, our spirit of understanding. When we perceive those we have to deal with overwrought by their own distempers and corruptions, when we see plainly that the spirit of pride and contentiousness causes them to speak to us, then we should strive to speak with them in a spirit of meekness, and the spirit of understanding should cause us to answer.
Our service to God must be full of understanding, so that others can catch a full grasp of the whole service in great understanding and be blessed as well. "If i pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays but my understanding is unfruitful to them with whom i pray; my understanding in prayer is no benefit to them, unless they also understand what I pray. Pray with the spirit , and also with understanding, interpreting your prayer so that others may understand it. A barbarian speaks or pray what others don't understand, the person who speaks what himself doesn't understand is worse than a barbarian .An ignorant person wants understanding , and a passionate person cannot use his understanding, both are unfit to object or answer. When we answer like men, the spirit of our understanding causes us to answer.
Many of us are more interested in understanding things than we are in understanding the One who gives us those things. God tells us very plainly in Matthew 6 not to seek things. He says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). God will always add necessary things to us as we seek Him first.
Understanding what is truth comes through Jesus opening our understanding so we can understand truth. Christian education tries to do what only Jesus can do. The result is people think that they have spiritual understanding but they do not.
Jesus is the One who gives a person spiritual understanding, not education. A believer's understanding is opened so that they can truly know Jesus and the Father.
Notice that Jesus gives us an understanding, not all understanding. We need to keep on getting more, or what we have will be taken away from us. (Luke 18:8)
PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING
Come, O Spirit of Understanding, and enlighten our minds, that we may know and believe all the mysteries of salvation; and may merit at last to see the eternal light in your Light; and, in the light of glory, to have a clear vision of you and the Father and the Son, in Jesus Name, Amen.
(https://www.omvusa.org)
Therefore give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” (1 Kings 3:9 )
Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law; Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
(Psalms 119:34 )
James Dina
james@mountzionblog.org
23rd October 2020
https://mountzionblog.org/the-spirit-of-understanding/
WORKS CITED.
1. "An Exposition with Practical Observations upon the Book of Job" by JOSEPH CARYL.
2. "Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding" by Nancy Missler
3. "PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING" by (https://www.omvusa.org)
4. "With All Thy Getting, Get Understanding" by Elder Gary E. Stevenson.
5. "The Spiritual Man" by Watchman Nee.
6. Other sources from the internet
