The Spirit Of Understanding

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.