Spirit-Taught - Tozer

"A man can receive nothing." That is the burden of the Bible. Whatever men may think of human reason God takes a low view of it. "Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" Man's reason is a fine instrument and useful within its field. It is a gift of God and God does not hesitate to appeal to it, as when He cries to Israel, "Come now, and let us reason together." The inability of human reason as an organ of divine knowledge arises not from its own weakness but from its unfittedness for the task by its own nature. It was not given as an organ by which to know God.

The doctrine of the inability of the human mind and the need for divine illumination is so fully developed in the New Testament that it is nothing short of astonishing that we should have gone so far astray about the whole thing. Fundamentalism has stood aloof from the liberal in self-conscious superiority and has on its own part fallen into error, the error of textualism, which is simply orthodoxy without the Holy Spirit. Everywhere among conservatives we find persons who are Bible-taught but not Spirit-taught. They conceive truth to be something that they can grasp with the mind. If a man hold to the fundamentals of the Christian faith, he is thought to possess divine truth. But it does not follow. There is no truth apart from the Spirit. The most brilliant intellect may be imbecilic when confronted with the mysteries of God. For a man to understand revealed truth requires an act of God equal to the original act that inspired the text.

Verse:
Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 1 Corinthians 1:20

Thought:
The inability of human reason as an organ of divine knowledge arises not from its own weakness but from its unfittedness for the task by its own nature. It was not given as an organ by which to know God.

Prayer:
We want to be Spirit-taught, Father, not just Bible-taught.

Source: http://www.cmalliance.org/devotions/tozer?id=1506

Such a hard thing to learn to be Holy Spirit taught.

I've seen this reality demonstrated so many times in the lives of people I know and have met. I have had the opportunity to meet some very intelligent individuals who can recall many facts but fail to grasp the truth behind the doctrine they have affirmed through reason. The irony is that the simpler individual, who is also bereft of the Holy Spirit, hears the same teaching and complains that they won't be able to remember all details of the methodology their studious instructors have commended them.

It's funny that in this light of understanding the Word that the wise of this age seek and use the more accurate translation in an effort to get to the original source of the language as though that will give them understanding. The other group seeks the more uptodate translation as though modern phrasing and word usage could reveal the spiritual reality.

In any given Sunday the Church of Jesus Christ is full of ministers that are ministering the Word of God without the Spirit of God, so what we have is nothing but a dead letter. It is the Spirit that gives life, and we must have both the Spirit and the Word.

There has never been a time as at present where we need to pray the prayer that the Apostle Paul prayed for the believers at Ephesus:

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe." (Ephesians 1:17-19).

We need to be taught the Word and to understand the scriptures but it is only through the illumination that the Holy Sprit gives that this will be accomplished.

It is not more head knowledge (mental assent) that we need, but heart knowledge, experiential knowledge, that only the Spirit of God can give to us.