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The sower sows the word of the Kingdom into the hearts of men. When one hears the word of the kingdom, and doesn’t understand it, then Satan comes and catches away the word that was sown to keep the word from producing understanding, faith, and causing the person to become a new creature.

When a person hears the word and don’t understand it, they have questions: What does the word mean? How do I respond to this word? How important or valuable is it?

Whether or not a person continues in the word heard and seeks for the answers to the questions it has produced depends on the value measure they place on the word heard and on the value measure they place on truth, knowledge, and understanding.

Some will place sufficient value to seek for the answers to the questions. In their effort to find the answers they may encounter opposition from others. This forces them to re-measure the value of the word, truth, knowledge, and understanding. Are they worth the relationship and other opposition costs that they are encountering? Are they worth additional relationship and opposition costs they may encounter before they find the answers? Some decide they are not.

Some will place value above the opposition costs. Before they find the answers they may be sidetracked by other issues – issues to which they have placed high value. These issues compete for the time, energy, and focus needed to seek for the answers. A re-measuring of the value of the word, truth, knowledge, and understanding does not usually take place. Normally, there is an unnoticed shift of time, energy, and focus to the other issues and the search for the answers stalls, then dies.

Some will notice the conflicting demand of the competing issues and appropriately re-measure their value as being less than that of the word, truth, knowledge, and understanding.

Value will be measured to each according to how they have measured value.

How important is this word? To me? To those around me? If I do not seek the answers to the questions this word has produced, who will? Am I contributing anything of  greater value to those around me?

Doubt:

• measuring something and coming up with two different results

Measure:

• evaluate or estimate the nature, quality, ability, extent, value, or significance of
• standard: a basis for comparison; a reference point against which other things can be evaluated

Pride:

• confidence or reliance on one’s own ability to measure
• measuring oneself as being capable of measuring correctly

Humility:

• measuring oneself as being incapable of measuring correctly
• reliance on God’s ability to measure and to communicate that measure

Faith:

• measuring according to what God says
• relying on God’s word as a standard: the basis for comparison; the reference point against which other things are evaluated

2 Corinthians 10:12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number (measure ourselves), or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

How are we to measure ourselves? With what measure are we to compare ourselves?

We are to measure ourselves according to what God says of us.  We are to compare ourselves to the truth in God’s word.

For example: John 14:23-24 If a man love me, he will keep my words. He that does not love me does not keep my words.

We are to measure ourselves and compare ourselves to the standard of truth in God’s word. Does God say that we keep his words? (Have we asked him?) If we do not keep his words then the standard measures us as not loving him. We may measure ourselves as loving him and be convinced in our minds we do, but the standard says we do not. The standard says we have made a mistake in measuring what love is. If we will submit our measure of what love is to God, hear from him what love is, and then love him according to that measure then we will keep his words.

Measuring something and coming up with two different results can only occur with pride. Measuring something and coming up with two different results is doubt and is also the basis of contention. If you doubt, then you have evidence of a pride-based measure.

NOTE: Doubt should not be confused with the temptation to doubt. We are unable to measure the difference between doubt and the temptation to doubt. We must receive that measure from God.

NOTE: The apparent lack of doubt is not evidence of the lack of pride.

Authority in Heaven and Earth

God has all authority in heaven and in earth.

Authority in the Earth

God gave Adam and Eve all authority in the earth. (Heb 2:7-8)

Adam and Eve rejected God’s authority and gave authority in the earth to Satan. Adam and Eve and all of their descendants became subject (involuntary submission) to Satan: specifically including sin and death.

Jesus was born of woman free from the authority of Satan in earth. He was not subject to Satan, sin and death. In fact, Jesus had authority over Satan, sin, and death. Satan tempted Jesus to submit to his authority in the earth, but Jesus refused.

Jesus used his authority over Satan to cast out devils, heal the sick, and raise the dead. Jesus delegated his authority over Satan to his disciples: those who were submitted to him. They too used Jesus’ authority over Satan to cast out devils, heal the sick, and raise the dead.

Satan used those in the earth who were subject to him to put Jesus to death in an attempt to end Jesus’ authority in the earth. Jesus overcame death and God gave him all authority in heaven and in earth. Jesus continues to delegate his authority over Satan in the earth to those who are submitted to him.

Choice: Freedom through Submission or Subjection and Bondage

Jesus has authority in the earth over Satan and over men. By his death, Jesus paid the price necessary to redeem man from subjection to Satan and free him from Satan’s authority. Men who submit to Jesus’ authority, who make Jesus their Lord, step free from subjection to Satan: including sin and death. Satan continues to have authority over men in the earth who do not submit to Jesus’ authority. Those men continue in subjection and bondage to Satan. Since Jesus has authority over Satan, those men are also subject to Jesus.

Here is the choice. Live in bondage subject to Satan and also subject to Jesus or submit to Jesus and live free from bondage and Satan. Living in bondage subject to Satan is also living subject to the judgments of God against Satan.

Success

Remaining subject to Satan is to remain powerless against forces working to make future conditions worse than current conditions. It is to remain without knowledge, without time, without energy, without means, and without authority to improve future conditions. Submission to Jesus is to work with forces working to make future conditions better than current conditions. Only by submission to Jesus do we receive knowledge, time, energy, means, and authority to improve future conditions.

Sin: Rejection of God’s Authority

Rejection of God’s authority is sin. Adam and Eve rejected God’s authority when they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

All sin occurs when a person is tempted, the temptation conceives in the person’s heart to produce desire that is not subject to God’s authority. Desire against the authority of God is sin as much as action against the authority of God.

End of Satan’s Authority in the Earth

God has given Jesus authority in the earth over Satan and over men.  God has not yet acted to put an end to Satan’s authority over men in the earth. Acting to put an end to Satan’s authority over men in the earth will subject those men to God’s judgments against Satan. God is giving all men the opportunity to make the choice: to continue to live in bondage to Satan subject to him and subject to God’s judgments against him, or submit themselves to Jesus and step free from the bondage and judgments.

⁵And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, ⁶And saying, Lord, my servant lies at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. ⁷And Jesus said unto him, I will come and heal him. ⁸The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou should come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. ⁹ For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it. (Mt 8:5-9)

Jesus said to the woman caught in the act of adultery, “Go, and sin no more.” (John 8:11)

The person under authority responds to the command of the one in authority. Told to go, the person seeks out the means available to go and goes. Told to do this, the person seeks out the means available and does it. To respond in any other way is to deny the authority of the person giving the command.

A person’s Lord has authority over them. To reject the command of the Lord is to have no fear of the Lord. To have no fear of the Lord is to have no wisdom, knowledge, or understanding. It is to reject peace and safety and choose fear and destruction. It is to reject length of days, riches, honor, and righteousness

Jesus has all authority in heaven and in earth. When he commands us to go and sin no more, what is our response? Is it to seek the means available and then do what he said to do? To do otherwise is to reject his authority: to reject him as Lord – to reject eternal life.

In our discussion of the formula for success we have touched upon, but not elaborated upon the use of spiritual means to produce better future conditions.  Spiritual means work very much like physical means, except they are capable of producing far better future conditions in much less time and use much less physical energy. As physical knowledge aids in the use of physical means, spiritual knowledge aids in the use of spiritual means. As physical authority is required to employ physical means, spiritual authority is required to employ spiritual means.

All means employed to improve or maintain current conditions, or make them worse, are spiritual means. All use of physical means employ spiritual means – even if the spiritual means used are unknown, unseen, and used unintentionally. The spiritual means used in an effort to affect current conditions do far more to improve those conditions, maintain them, or make them worse than do the physical means used.

If we are to be responsible contributors to better future conditions, then we must be aware of all of the means we are employing – physical and spiritual – and we must be aware of the effect those means have on current conditions. In other words, we need to have knowledge of the physical and spiritual means we are employing.

Moving from a current condition where we lack knowledge of physical and spiritual means requires we employ means that are effective at moving us to a future conditions where we have knowledge. It needs to be a matter of highest priority. Everything we do is impacting our future and that of those around us – for better or worse. We would do well to learn what we need to know to impact the future for the better.

1The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: (Proverbs 1:7)

¹My son, if you will receive my words, and hide my commandments with you; ²So that you incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; ³Yea, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up thy voice for understanding; ⁴If you seekest her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures; ⁵Then shalt you understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. ⁶For the LORD gives wisdom: out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. ⁷He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. ⁸He keeps the paths of judgment, and preserves the way of his saints. ⁹Then shalt you understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yes, every good path. (Proverbs 2:1-9)

¹³Happy is the man that finds wisdom, and the man that gets understanding. ¹⁴For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. ¹⁵She is more precious than rubies: and all the things you can desire are not to be compared unto her. (Proverbs 3:13-15)

The means available to change current conditions cannot be used if we do not have the authority to use them. To improve current conditions we must have the authority to:

1. Contribute our knowledge, time, energy, and employ the means available to make future conditions better than current conditions.
2. Contribute our knowledge, time, energy, and employ the means available to oppose and overcome forces working to make future conditions worse than current conditions.
3. Contribute our knowledge, time, energy, and employ the means available to oppose and overcome forces working to maintain current conditions.

Forces working to oppose our contribution to improving current conditions may work to direct  our time and energy to doing other things. The forces may work to prevent us from having knowledge of the means available to improve conditions. They may work to prevent us from having the knowledge to employ means that will produce improvement. They will also work to prevent us from having the authority necessary to contribute our knowledge, time, and energy. The will work to keep us from having the authority to employ the means that will improve conditions.

The story in Ezra reveals the role of authority in contributing knowledge, time, energy, and employing available means to rebuild Jerusalem.

In the beginning of Ezra King Cyrus of Persia gave authority to the children of Israel to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. (Ezra 1:1-4) Led by Zerubbabel, the children of Israel left Babylon and began rebuilding.

When the forces opposing the rebuilding (opposing improved future conditions) heard that Jerusalem was being rebuilt, they tried to overturn the authority given to the children of Israel. When a new king of Babylon (Ahasuerus) began to rule (Ezra 4:6), the opposing forces petitioned him to order the rebuilding be stopped – to deny the children of Israel the authority to rebuild. According to Ezra 4:21-24, the opposing forces were successful and the authority to improve the current conditions was taken away.

Fortunately, the children of Israel didn’t simply stop. They sent a petition to Darius the king which documented their authority granted by Cyrus. A search was made, the authority granted by Cyrus was confirmed, and Darius restored their authority to rebuild Jerusalem. Moreover, Darius issued orders denying the opposing forces the authority to continue to oppose the rebuilding. (Ezra 6:1-12)

In our last post we talked about assigned meaning: meaning we assign to words, thoughts, actions, events, etc.. We guide our steps using assigned meaning rather than according to knowledge: using our guess as to what the truth is rather than according to a clear perception of the truth. We do this even though, far more often than not, our guess of truth is incomplete or inaccurate. Why do we do this?

We want to guide our own steps

• according to what gives us pleasure in the current moment
• according to what is most comfortable
• according to what is most convenient
• according to how we want others to perceive us
• according to how we perceive ourselves

without interference. We are like the child who wants to be an adult so they can eat all the ice cream they want with no one to tell them they can’t.

If we perceived the truth of how our steps contribute to future conditions – for ourselves and those around us – then we would have to choose to guide our steps according to truth.

The truth is that guiding our steps according to the meaning we assign – according to our measure of the truth – works toward producing future conditions that will destroy us and those around us. One of those steps will be the last. It will result in destruction. It is like walking in a mine field according to what we measure to be a step on good ground and what we measure to be a step on a mine – instead of stopping to hear from someone who actually knows the difference between good ground and a mine. One step will end up on a mine.

Fear of the Lord is the awareness based on personal experience that, if you continue to guide your steps according to the meaning you assign, you will destroy yourself. Only with fear of the Lord will a person choose to guide their steps according to truth. Only when a person chooses to guide their steps according to truth will they begin to perceive the truth – have knowledge.

Of course we have assigned meaning to what fear of the Lord is. If our assigned meaning of fear of the Lord allows us to continue to guide our steps according to what gives us pleasure, what is comfortable, what is convenient, how we want others to perceive us; then our assigned meaning is inaccurate and we need to ask God to give us fear of the Lord.

Fear of the Lord and the benefits it brings – knowledge, understanding, wisdom, life, avoiding destruction, etc. – only comes to those who seek it. Ask God to give you fear of the Lord. Keep asking until you receive.

We assign meaning to words we hear and read. We assign meaning to how another person looks at us or the sound of their words. We assign meaning to events. We assign meaning to how our bodies feel.

Meaning assignment is strongly linked to what we believe. We typically assign meaning along the lines of what we believe and we come to believe along the lines of the meanings we apply.

If my big toe hurts, I am almost certain to assign some sort of meaning. Why does it hurt? My brother-in-law died of a cancer that grew under the nail of his big toe – it is cancer. No, it is arthritis. No, it is gout. Once meaning has been assigned, I will begin believing in agreement with the meaning. We will line up our current and future words, thoughts, and actions accordingly.

The meaning we assign is our perception of the truth. Knowledge is perception of the truth. Perception of the truth that is based on assigned meaning, even if accurate, is not knowledge. It is essentially a guess at what the truth is, not a real perception of what the truth is. Real perception of the truth can only happen if the truth is shown to us by someone who really perceives the truth – God.

If I say that the worst thing a person can do to another person is to kill them, someone hearing me will assign meaning that my statement is true, or false, and then think, speak, and act according to the meaning they assign. To receive real knowledge from my statement, someone hearing me needs to ask God and receive the truth from Him. As it turns out, the worst thing you can do to a person is to influence their life in such a way that they end up spending eternity in hell. How we think, speak and act according to what God shows us is truth is likely going to be far different than our assigned meaning.

Our belief system is largely the combined lifetime of the meanings we have assigned. Some were good guesses and, although likely very incomplete, are in agreement with the truth. Many are not in line with the truth at all. Very little of our belief system is based on real knowledge – perception of truth we have received from God.

Assigning meaning is measuring. According to the measure we use to measure life and death, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty, etc. are measured back to us again. According to how we apply meaning – measure truth – our future conditions stay the same as our current conditions, improve, or get worse.

In our last post we observed that all knowledge is shared knowledge: all knowledge we have came from someone else sharing it with us.

We receive or reject knowledge shared with us depending on our belief that what is shared is true. Our entire repository of knowledge is based on our belief of what is true and what is not. We have no knowledge without belief.

All belief is not faith. Faith, belief that produces results in prayer, is believing that what God tells us is true and that the direction he gives us to follow will bring us to improved future conditions.

We will find that what God says is true and that nearly all of our repository of knowledge is based on things that are not true, not complete, or not accurate. Doubt occurs when one fails to re-examine their repository of knowledge and attempts to believe what God says while also attempting to believe from their repository of knowledge. This is double-minded: believing two things that are in conflict.

Our last post presented knowledge as a critical factor for success. The means we employ to change the current conditions require knowledge, time, and energy to produce the change. One thing that works to our benefit is that we are able to employ means that use knowledge that has been shared with us by someone else.

For example: We might buy something that requires some assembly before we can use it. The manufacturer of the product usually provides assembly instructions: knowledge that shows us how to assemble it. Without the assembly instructions we would spend a great deal more time and energy attempting to change the current conditions of scattered parts into the improved future condition of a workable product. We risk never succeeding or making something that sort of works, but requires more maintenance than if we had gotten it right.

The first part of sharing knowledge is the work of the person with the knowledge making sure that the knowledge they have is accurate – it is the truth. Far too often “knowledge” is shared that isn’t the truth.

The second part of sharing knowledge is the work of the person with the knowledge accurately and completely sharing the knowledge needed. The early days of “some assembly required” provided too many examples of knowledge shared that left out steps and was incomplete. Assembly instructions are better today, but incomplete and inaccurate still happens.

The third part of sharing knowledge is the work of the person receiving the knowledge. We need to receive knowledge completely and accurately. This requires that we listen and focus on the knowledge being shared. As Jesus said it, “Take heed what you hear” and “Take heed how you hear.”

The final part of sharing knowledge is the work of the person receiving the knowledge to use the knowledge shared: to add their time and energy to the knowledge shared to produce change.

All knowledge is shared knowledge.

We weren’t born with knowledge. All of the knowledge we have has been shared with us over time. Some of it is truth, some is not. Some of it is accurate, some contains inaccuracies. Some of it is currently complete, but does not include knowledge gained in the future. Some of it isn’t currently complete. We will become more successful if we carefully examine our knowledge repository for truth, accuracy, and completeness and work to fix the areas that are lacking.

Receiving knowledge from God

God’s knowledge repository is true, accurate, and complete. It can be trusted. He can be trusted to share knowledge with us in a way that is accurate and complete and in a way that we can hear and use. He is clearly the most reliable and accessible source of knowledge available to us.

The future

Current conditions plus some assembly produces our future conditions. God has the knowledge we need to produce improved future conditions: conditions beyond our imagination. If we will ask him for the knowledge, listen as he shares it, and then use what he gives us, then we will succeed in arriving at an improved future. If we don’t ask, don’t listen, or don’t use what he gives us, then we will most likely find ourselves going in a direction opposite of the direction that leads to an improved future.

Few of us would set aside the assembly instructions for putting together an expensive, complex product and try to assemble it by how we think it should go together. Yet, there is no product we can buy  that is as expensive or as complex as the future and many of us try to assemble it by how with think it should go together. Success or failure hinges on how we choose to assemble the future. Adding shared knowledge to our time and energy improves the assembly.