Friday, April 1, 2016

II Corinthians 5:7

"We walk by faith, not by sight."

From the moment of salvation, when the believer's spirit is brought to life, there is immediately produced a transformation of perspective.  Simply put, the Christian has a different world view than the lost person.  A facet of the gift of salvation in Christ is the ability to apprehend the spiritual implications of  circumstance and situations of life. 

The god of this world has blinded the spiritual discernment of the unsaved, clouding them in spiritual darkness, producing lives lived in idolatry and demon worship.  Without spiritual comprehension provided by the Holy Spirit through His blessed Word, the unchanged individual assumes that his five senses are all that's available or needed to live life.  Paul affirms, "a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised."  (I Cor. 2:14) 

In stark contrast, the regenerated person has the omniscient Spirit of the living God residing within, speaking comfort, conviction, peace and guidance to his spirit.  His presence adds a dimension of discernment that the unsaved do not have.  The believer, then, is able to see "behind the scenes" of life's situations, detecting the ongoing schemes and strategies of the evil one and his minions.

The blessed Holy Spirit's tools for teaching this life of faith and discernment are the Bible and prayer.  That Christian is most faithful and discerning whose mind is saturated with Scripture, and whose prayerful fellowship with the Father is least interrupted. 

These truths are not new, nor unknown, yet how many believers take God seriously enough to hide His Word in their heart, who consistently put on the armor provided by our loving Lord (Ephesians 6:10 ff.), and pray without ceasing?  The state of the church in our day speaks volumes in answer.  May He grant grace to His remnant to walk by deeper and deeper faith in these trying times!