“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-8 (NKJV)
Failure to trust in God might just be the greatest reason for a Christian’s disobedience; not trusting God causes us to value our own understanding over His. It is only a short step then to going our own way instead of following God’s plan; as we begin to direct our own path, we get further and further from His will for us. When we place ourselves (with our minuscule, and that flawed, intellect) at a level of credibility above that of God, we make fools of ourselves, in the same manner that Lucifer did. The truth is that there is no higher thought than God’s.
Isaiah 55:8-11 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” There is literally no possibility that we can ever approach the vastness of God’s wisdom; and no possibility that we can understand His ways, except He reveal them to us.”
Lo and behold, He has made a way for us to accomplish just such an impossibility; He has given us the Holy Spirit to “guide us into all truth” John 16:13.
John 20:22 After His resurrection Jesus breathed on His disciples and said “receive the Holy Spirit” the verb “receive” is an imperative, a command, not merely a suggestion. The Greek verb is somewhat complicated in this expression, it is uttered as a command, something to be done. It is not specific as to when this occurs, but that it does occur. Given this understanding, I think it likely that we may understand it as be receiving the Holy Spirit, or be constantly receiving the Holy Spirit.
Why did the Father send the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost? Without experiencing the Baptism or infilling of the Holy Spirit, we mortals are incapable of understanding the Spiritual message; we are doomed to operate only in the flesh. 1 Corinthians 2:14 “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Come Holy Spirit!
