KEY SCRIPTURE: Matthew 16:1 (BBE). “And the Pharisees and Sadducees came and, testing him, made a request to him to give them a sign from heaven.”

The Pharisees came to Jesus to tempt Him. They requested for a sign from heaven from Him. The Lord quickly identified their folly. They lacked spiritual understanding. They could easily interpret the signs of the physical world, yet had no idea about the signs of the times. There are some people who are so vested in science, banking, and the chemistry, yet have no idea about where they would be spending their eternity. The Lord called them a wicked and an adulterous generation. Such a generation do not live by faith, but by sight. Life is spiritual, and anyone who fails to appreciate the spiritual dimension of life can seriously pay dearly for it. The Bible describes such people as wicked. The wicked according to the word of God is everyone who does not understand the scriptures and so acts always against God’s expectation. It does not matter if he calls himself a Christian or not. His attitude to God’s word determines whether he is wicked or just.

Those who lack spiritual understanding would always live by sight. They want to see before they believe. The truth is that, they would still not believe even after seeing. The children of Israel who left Egypt saw so much signs and wonders yet they kept showing lack of trust in God. “And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.”— Psalms 78:11 (KJV)) They are like those who learn, hear the word, yet are not transformed. (2 Tim 3:7.) May the Lord deliver anyone from a lack of spiritual understanding.

What is the cause of lack of spiritual understanding? It is caused by a lack of fear for God. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”— Proverbs 1:7 (KJV) A man may know and seen so much signs yet would be acting stupidly against the word of God. The man who is not convicted to fear God may have the word of God, letters in him, but may not have the God of the word, that is the Spirit. The letter kills, it is the Spirit that gives life. A man with spiritual understanding gives no place to his flesh. He knows he is of the Spirit and lives in the Spirit. The whole life of the Christian is about having spiritual understanding. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” — 1 Corinthians 2:14 (KJV).

To come out of this condition, you need to repent of self-centeredness and surrender to the rule of God over your life. Place God and His word first and never you.. In this way you would have the right attitude and actions towards God, HIS word and your actions.

CONFESSION

I serve the Lord out of a reverential fear for Him. I have a spiritual understanding of the way of God. I do not stumble into the traps of the enemy.

FURTHER STUDIES

 Colossians 1:9 (KJV). “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;”

2 Timothy 3:7 (KJV). “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”