I am so glad to have this opportunity to continue the series that we started a few weeks ago about The Seven Dimensions of God That Make Any Human Fulfill Ministry. I am sure our desire is to fulfill ministry. For those of us who has been called into ministry, we have that inherent desire in us that we want to fulfill our ministry. If there is no desire to fulfill ministry, then there will be no need to labor, there will be no need to work, there will be no need to fast and pray, there will be no need to write, there will be no need to speak and there will be no need to publish. You do all these things because you desire to fulfill your ministry. Fulfilment is a reality; fulfillment of ministry is a possibility. However, the requirements that God has put in place for any human to fulfill his ministry or her ministry must be known by us, must be received by us, must be satisfied by us if we must actually experience fulfillment.
We began looking at the book of Isaiah chapter eleven, reading about the Lord Jesus Christ. From Isaiah 11:1-5, I believe what the Lord has said here is essential for us to pay attention to. So, I want us to pay rapt attention as the LORD helps us to know His will for the ministry He has given us in Jesus’ name. The Bible says:
There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.3 His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
May the LORD bless the reading of His word in our hearts in Jesus’ name. I am sure we are familiar with this Scripture. The focus of our consideration this week is on: The Spirit of Understanding. The Bible says the Spirit of wisdom shall rest upon Him; the Spirit of Understanding shall rest upon Him. In the previous editions, we have considered the Spirit of the LORD, and last week, which was the last edition, the LORD took us through the Spirit of wisdom, helping us to realize that if we must know the will of God for our lives, if we must be able to have access to the mysteries of God, to the secrets of God and know the mind of God concerning us, then we require the Spirit of wisdom. By the Spirit of wisdom, we understand the mysteries of God, the deep things of God. The Bible says “no man can know what is in a man other than the spirit of the same man.” The same way no man can know the heart of God, the things that God is thinking other than by His Spirit. So, by the Spirit, we are able to know the mysteries of God. And so, if any man desires to do the work of God, such a man require the Spirit of wisdom.
Today we are looking at the Spirit of understanding. The Bible says in verse 3: “His delight is in the fear of the Lord and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes nor decide by the hearing of His ears.” The question is: Why? He has understanding. How? By the Spirit. It is the Spirit that quickens, it is the Spirit that gives life. Every time He requires understanding, the Spirit supplies. The Spirit gives Him the understanding. The question is: What is the difference between knowledge and understanding? The first layer in knowing what to do and doing it is actually having knowledge. But knowledge is not enough. For you to move on with confidence to do what you know you want to do, you must have an understanding of that knowledge. You must know, but before you do anything with what you know, you need to have an understanding.
There is a familiar Scripture in the book of Acts of the apostles’ chapter 8, the story of evangelist Philip who was led by the Spirit to a particular place and on going there, he saw something. Let us read that story from verse 26. The Bible says:
“Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is [e]desert. 27 So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, 28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 The place in the Scripture which he read was this:
“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
33 In His humiliation His justice was taken away,
And who will declare His generation?
For His life is taken from the earth.”34 So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him.”
Now, if you understand what happened, it was the Spirit that spoke to Philip to begin a journey on a particular path. On that journey, Philip found a man who was reading. Now, when a man is reading, you could quickly conclude that the man is gaining knowledge, the man is acquiring knowledge and getting to know something. But if knowledge was enough, Philip wouldn’t be required by this Ethiopian eunuch. Philip asked him: Do you understand what you are reading? Do you have an understanding of the knowledge you are acquiring? Are you just acquiring knowledge or getting exposed to things without you understanding the things you are exposed to? And the man replied: “How can I understand except someone guides me?” The Spirit of understanding is the dimension of God that guides men in knowledge. You do not know the fullness of what you have acquired as knowledge until you are guided by the Spirit of understanding.
So, you can call the Spirit of understanding the Spirit of guidance, the Spirit that tells you why something is what it is. It is not enough for you to know that Jesus is Lord, until you know how and why Jesus is Lord, you do not have an understanding of the Lordship of Jesus. Have you realized this that the body of Christ worldwide is not necessarily suffering from lack of knowledge? What we lack is understanding of the knowledge that we possess. In fact, many of us are doing many things because our churches have commanded us so. Many of us are doing certain things because the church we attend have told us we should do it or we must or ought to do it. The question is: what is the reason why I have to do it? Many people don’t know and many pastors, many leaders don’t have the opportunity, the time to explain to you why you should do what they are asking you to do. All they say is do.
You should remember the story of the children of Israel. They were given laws. In fact, apostle Paul as inspired in Galatians 4 from verse 1 and it shows us a picture of what happens to a people who have knowledge but lacks understanding. It says:
“Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.” Do you remember the statement: How will I know? How will I understand except somebody guide me? 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” So, being under the law is being under guidance. But if that guidance was good enough for the children of Israel, God wouldn’t make a room for understanding for them through Christ Jesus.
You see, when you are given a law, the law tells you what you should do and what you should not do. If you follow the law, you are following simply your knowledge because you know I shouldn’t kill. The question is: Why shouldn’t you kill? You simply don’t know. But the law says “don’t kill.” And so, because you are an obedient servant, you simply follow the law. But sons don’t behave like servants. Sons actually wants to know why they shouldn’t do what they are told not to do. Have you realized as a parent that when you tell your children things: “My son don’t do this, my son, do this.” They simply ask you; “why.” They want to know the why behind their “don’t do this and that.” Sons are always seeking for “the why.” Now, it could make them appear as if they are rude, but that is what gives them stability. When a son gets to know why he must do something, even when the father is not around, he is persuaded by his understanding to do the will of his father even in his absence.
Have you realized that it is very easy for many of us in the church to do good when we are surrounded by good people, when we are in a religious environment, when we are in a godly environment, when we are surrounded by friends and family and people whom we respect, whom we follow, we behave? But when we are on our own, we tend to lose the guard, we tend to lose control, we tend to misbehave. What is the reason? We have been driven and ked thus far by knowledge, by the law, we have not acquired understanding, we have not come to know the basis of our faith. We have not come to know why we should do what we are doing.
You see, if somebody tells you that you must give a tenth of your income every month and you do it, you are simply following the law, you are simply being led by knowledge, you do not understand why you should give a tenth of your income as tithe. If you seek the understanding and then you are persuaded by it, even when no one reminds you, even when the income or resources comes to you in an unexpected manner, in a secret period or circumstance, you still take the responsibility to give a tenth of your income simply because you understand that you should do it. So, the point is this: What are the things that you are doing in this ministry? What are the things you are doing as a believer, as a child of God that is driven by understanding? What are the things that are just purely knowledge?
The man said to Philip, "How can I understand except someone guides me?". I believe you require the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of understanding – the dimension of God that produces understanding in any human must rest upon you. You must by the Holy Spirit understand the basis of your faith. You remember the prayer of apostle Paul to the Ephesus, it says “I pray to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that He may give to you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, that you may know the hope of His calling, that you may know this and that.” That revelation is understanding. You require understanding by the Holy Spirit. You require God to help you know the hope of your calling. It is not enough for you to know your calling; you must know the hope of your calling. You must get to know the benefits, the basis, the reason why you should do the what God is asking you to do.
When God tells you to fast, the question is why should I fast at this time? You must get to know it so that you do it not being forced to do it by men, but you will do it inspired and motivated. You remember when the Bible says “the Lord loves a cheerful giver.” A cheerful giver is different from any kind of giver because he does the giving by knowledge and understanding. You see, when you know you should give and you do it, that is knowledge alone. But when you know why you should give, the benefits of you giving and the dangers of you not giving, you have moved from knowledge to understanding. When men guide you, they can try. That is when a man or a child is under stewards and guidance. But the true guidance that you require for you to fulfill your ministry is the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
I pray by the Holy Spirit that you receive at this moment the Spirit of understanding, that you know the hope of your calling, that you know the basis of your faith, you know what you believe and why you believe. Apostle Paul said “I know whom I have believed, He is able to keep what I have committed into His hands until the last day.” Apostle Paul knows who he believed by understanding. Lord, I possess understanding, the Spirit of understanding rests upon me in the name of Jesus. I walk in understanding, I am not tossed to and fro, I am not led with the multitude, I do not move with the crowd of my generation, I know what I ought to do like the two hundred sons of Issachar who understood times and seasons, the Bible says “they understood times and seasons”, they knew what Israel ought to do.
Lord I possess understanding by the Holy Spirit, the dimension of God that makes me to understand what to do and how to do it, I possess that dimension in the name of Jesus. I am opened to the Holy Spirit, I receive the Spirit of understanding in the name of Jesus, my ministry moves forward in the name of Jesus by the Spirit of understanding, my marriage is established by the Spirit of understanding, my life takes shape by the Spirit of understanding, I am not confused, I know what I ought to do, I understand the will of God for my life, I understand what God would have me do and I do it by understanding in the name of Jesus.
Apostle Peter said “husbands, dwell with your wives with understanding.” Lord, by your Spirit, I dwell with my husband with understanding, I dwell with my wife in understanding, I walk in understanding, I carry out my assignment with understanding, I am not gullible, I am not tossed to and fro, I do not follow the crowd, I follow the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord produces understanding in me, I understand the basis of my faith, I am not led by the law, I am led by the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus!
Such a moment we have had under God by the Holy Spirit. By the Spirit of the Lord, we possess the Spirit of understanding and we walk in understanding all the days of our lives in Jesus’ Mighty name. Till the next time where I bring you another interesting edition on Forms & Patterns, I want you to stay with God walking in understanding and God shall be glorified in your life in Jesus’ name.
God bless you.
