Importance Of Education

Gaining Spiritual Insights – Part 2

The discovery of the importance of having spiritual insights positions us for spiritual development and growth. Let’s explore the sources of gaining spiritual insights; understanding the necessity of this in the body of Christ. To be an effective, relevant Christian requires more than every Sunday presence in worship services, which is a part of our spiritual activities and not to be treated as the whole.
Sources of Gaining Spiritual Insights
1. Dreams and Visions
All through the Bible, God had used dreams and visions to give spiritual guidance to people who sought his face. Of course we need to be well guided because all dreams don’t come from God. To best benefit from this source, you have to develop a regular life of prayer not a casual Sunday morning worship. When Jacob went out from Beersheba toward Haran and laid down to rest on his journey, God visited him in a dream and assured him. This calmed his anxiety in the journey and gave him confidence. I’ve received many spiritual insights through dreams and visions that became a reality when I awoke. When faced with difficult situations, sometimes I go to God in prayer at night and wait on the Lord to give me directions in the dream. When you lay down with a divine consciousness, the Lord can visit you through dreams and visions and give you spiritual insights.
The scripture addresses this source when it said, “For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumbering upon bed, then he openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction; that he may withdraw from man from his purpose, and hide pride from him” (Job 33:14-17, KJV). There are those whom God gives dreams and visions to as a spiritual gift. If you desire being used this way, ask the Lord in faith and trust that he will answer.
2. Gift of the word of knowledge
This is one of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit given to a person for the benefit of the body of Christ. You can be a chosen vessel for this source of gaining spiritual insight. This is not a guesswork, it’s the spirit of God imparting into your spirit without any foreknowledge, insight as touching a condition, event, or even Lord has used me in this area in several instances that simply blows me away. We’re admonished to desire spiritual gifts and I believe strongly that the Lord isn’t partial. If you desire this gift, make it a habit to spend time in God’s presence.
3. Gift of Discernment
This is inspired illumination given by the Holy Ghost at an instance to know the state of affairs. It works closer to the gift of the word of knowledge but differs in operation. You can walk into a situation or place and like a light, what goes on in the environment is made clear to you. It’s a divine perception that is unquestionable and exact. Our human faculties are always muted when the Holy Spirit is operating in our lives. Apostle Paul confronted a damsel who was possessed with a spirit of divination who followed him in the evangelical services for days. When he discerned by the Holy Spirit, the evil spirit operating in her, he commanded the Spirit to leave in the name of Jesus.
4. Meditative Study of God’s Word
The Psalmist says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalms 119:105). You’ll avoid unnecessary stumbling because the Word becomes your divine instructor. It provides the insights of things to avoid. Studying and meditation upon the word of God gives us an understanding of spiritual matters. You’ll have to set aside time for this exercise, and you’ll grow in great spiritual depth. God is a spirit; our human sinful nature can’t understand nor embrace divine matters. It’s our position to ask the Lord earnestly as we study his word for spiritual insights. Until the eyes of our understanding are enlightened, we walk and live in spiritual blindness.
5. The preaching of the Word of God
There have been many cases that I received deep spiritual truths as the word of God is expounded. When Jesus taught and preached to the multitudes, they declared “we’ve never heard it like this.” You can read the scriptures and obtain no meaning from it, then you listen as the same is preached and, like a light in gross darkness, the Lord shines his understanding into your soul man. The same becomes so clear and you’re overwhelmed with the abundance of spiritual insights.
The more spiritual insights you gain through these sources the more mature, wise, and confident you will be in your daily Christian living. To gain spiritual insights requires a conscious effort of spending time in God’s presence.

School

Are You Ready to Quit Trying to Work Your Life Out? – Insights From The Little Prince

Daily Spiritual Insight from the Story of The Little Prince
So many of are working on ourselves and working at improving our life. We want things to work out a particular way.
But if things aren’t really working for you, are you ready to quit trying to work your life out and instead simply become present in your day?
There are two fundamentally opposite ways to approach everything in life. One is a struggle, the other a flow of fulfillment.
One yields limited success intermingled with a lot of disappointment, the other more satisfaction than we could have hoped for.
When the Little Prince asked the crashed pilot for a drawing of a sheep, the pilot worked hard to get it right. After several failures, he simply dashed off a sheep spontaneously, crated and ready to go-and hit the bull’s-eye.
These two different approaches to life are symbolized by two trees in the mythic Garden of Eden in the second Genesis creation story. One is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the other the tree of life.
We can approach life by trying to figure out the best way to do things-the right way versus the wrong way. Or we can approach life in a state of flow, in which everything unfolds naturally and spontaneously.
The route of thinking our way through issues, weighing pros against cons, is how most of the world operates. Do you see why our world is such a mess?
If on the other hand we come from the flow of consciousness, each moment informs us of what we need to do next. It’s a vitally alive way of experiencing life instead of conceptual.
When the airman draws a crate with the sheep in it-something he does without thinking and without trying-the Little Prince realizes that the box in which the sheep is asleep can double as a house for the sheep at night. (See chapter 3 of The Little Prince.)
People tell me all the time that they want to approach their life in a conscious manner, so that they are truly present in whatever they are experiencing, yet they find it difficult. That’s because they are thinking about consciousness and presence, instead of just being.
Everywhere I turn, spiritual teachers and coaches talk about the power of thought to change a person’s life. Really?
With all the new thought going on, if that were true we’d be living in a very different world. Just look at how many people have read The Secret for example-and how undifferent most of their lives seem to be even after years of “working” this kind of approach.
That’s because this stuff doesn’t work. It can only ever deliver limited success because it’s based on the approach represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. True, you achieve some good with this tree, but a whole heap of failure too!
Presence is nothing to do with thought.
The more present we become-the more consciously we go about our day-the less and less do we find ourselves thinking, until essentially only awareness thrives, absent all thought.
Awareness is fundamentally different from thought. Thought is like clouds that obstruct the light of the Sun. Consciousness is blocked by thought.
As the Little Prince surveys the pilot’s crashed plane, he comments that the pilot can’t have come very far on such a contraption. How in contrast this is to the Little Prince, who has descended from the heavens.
Our own efforts and the things we devise to advance us spiritually can never carry us very far. They are all part of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, the right way versus the wrong way, thought versus being.
Stop tinkering with life and just allow it to be-and you’ll be surprised how many things get taken care of as you flow with presence, things you didn’t even consider.