Seeking After the Knowledge of God

Seeking After the Knowledge of God God the Father places an extremely high value on thepursuit of knowledge, especially spiritual knowledge. He saysthat gaining knowledge is greater than all the silver, gold andmaterial things of this world. We have to grow in the knowledge of God. Once you getsaved, that is just the beginning. From there, God expects youto grow in the knowledge of Him, His Son Jesus Christ, HisHoly Spirit and all of Their ways. The Power of the Word of God, the number one way thatyou will grow in spiritual knowledge on this earth is byreading and studying the Bible for yourself. There is simply noother way. God has arranged to have all of the spiritual knowledge thatwe will ever need about Him, His Son and His Spirit to all becontained in this one Book. You also grow in the knowledgeof God through your own personal adventures that you havewith Him in your own daily walk, along with learning fromother Christians, especially those who are anointed and giftedto be able to teach from His Word. God is using some very intense language in these Scriptureverses. You can really tell that He is trying to let all of us knowthe extreme importance of growing in this knowledge. Thereason for this is that God's ultimate aim for us after we getsaved is our sanctification and transformation. He wants us tobecome more holy like Himself. He wants to transform us intothe express image of His Son Jesus. However, before God will allow this sanctification process toreally kick into full gear through the Holy Spirit, He wantsyou to fully understand exactly what He is doing and whyHe is doing it. You have to have the knowledge as to what 1

Seeking After the Knowledge of GodGod is doing and exactly why He is doing it. Even small children will pick up on this principle veryquickly. Tell a child that he is not to do something, and what isthe first thing he will do? He will ask you why he can't do thatparticular thing. And then if the child is old enough tounderstand what that reason is, you then proceed to tell him whyit is not in his best interest to do that particular thing. Youare giving your child the specific knowledge that he needs tohave so he knows exactly why he should or should not be doingthat specific something. It's the exact same way with God the Father. God loves totransmit knowledge to His children across the board onanything that they may need His knowledge on in this life, butwhat prevents many of His children from receiving thisknowledge directly from Him is that they have never beentaught how to hear from Him when He does start to try andcommunicate with them or they do not press in and enter into aseeking mode with Him to try and get Him to release thisknowledge to them. If there is one major secret we have learned from the Lord ongetting Him to release more of His knowledge to you, is thatyou have to be willing to go into some type of seeking modewith Him to get it. God will not spoon feed you forever. The Bible says to ask, and then you will receive. Seek, andthen you will find. Knock, and then the door will be opened toyou. Notice in all three of these conditions that you have to bethe one to initiate it. You have to be the one to ask, to seek andto knock. If you do, then God will answer you, open doors foryou and let you find the answers to your questions and problems. King David tells us that we have to meditate on the wordof God. To meditate does not mean to blank your mind outwaiting for God to talk to you. To meditate means to think 2

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godabout, to chew on, to try and figure out what the differentScripture verses mean and how they can specifically apply toyour life. The Holy Spirit will literally guide your thoughts into therevelation that you are seeking after as you are trying tofigure out what the answers are. You will find the knowledgeyou are needing as you are seeking after it. The Holy Spirit caneither guide your thoughts into what the correct answers are byyou just using some of your brain power to try and figure thingsout or He will guide you as to where those answers are located. You can literally learn how to \"pull\" knowledge directly fromthe Lord by going into these seeking modes with Him! It is thejob of the Holy Spirit to teach us all things in this life. TheHoly Spirit is our personal Guide and personal Teacher in thislife. The Holy Spirit can and will communicate to you if youare open to receiving this kind of direct supernaturalcommunication from Him. God does want to transmit His knowledge to you acrossthe board on anything that you will need His knowledge on inthis life. Not only can God give you all the spiritual knowledgethat you will seek after. He can also give you His knowledgeacross the board on anything else that you may need Hisknowledge on in this life. God can give you His knowledge on how to become betterparents for your children, better spouses for your mates, andbetter at whatever specific job or jobs He will be calling you todo for Him. If God is calling you to be a policeman, an attorney, adoctor, a nurse, a stay at home mom, an architect, a laborer, asports star, He can give you His knowledge in each of thesespecific areas so as to make you better at each of these jobs.There is absolutely nothing that God cannot give you His 3

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godknowledge on if you are open to receiving it and are notafraid to start seeking and pressing in after it! Many, many Christians are missing out on this part in theirwalk with the Lord. God will supernaturally communicate Hisknowledge to you, but you first have to realize that He doeswant to communicate His knowledge to you, and then youhave to learn how to pick it up and properly read it when Hedoes start to try and communicate to you. God really does want to impart and transmit His knowledge toyou. We are dealing with an incredible profound reality, in thatGod Almighty Himself, a Being with perfect knowledge on allthings, is willing to communicate and transmit His knowledgeto us through the Holy Spirit, who is literally living on theinside of us! Think about this, that you already have the knowledge ofGod residing on the inside of you in the Person of the HolySpirit who is already living on the inside of you! The Scripture verses we will list below will show you theextreme importance that God is placing on each and everyoneof us t o seek, to obtain this kind of knowledge from Him. Insome of these verses, God is making some very powerful andprofound statements. He says: • That we are to GROW in the grace and KNOWLEDGE of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. • That His people are literally destroyed and will go into captivity for having lack of knowledge. • That gaining His knowledge and wisdom will help you walk safely in this life, help preserve you and help keep you on the right path that He has set up for you to follow in this life. 4

Seeking After the Knowledge of God • That gaining knowledge, wisdom and understanding is better than all of the gold, silver and rubies of this world and that it does not even begin to compare to anything else that you may desire in this life! Gaining the knowledge of God in this life is bigger and better than any materialistic thing that you could ever buy, want or desire in this life! God Himself is making this kind of extreme, intense, radicalstatement in that acquiring His knowledge is more importantthan anything else that we can acquire in this life, it is as bigand powerful of a statement that He can make about what isreally most important in this life! Gaining His knowledge is more important than anything elsewe can seek after in this life, is because we cannot spirituallygrow in the Lord unless we first obtain His knowledge, andthen seek to implement His truths into our lives and walk withHim. After you get saved, God then expects you to start tospiritually grow and mature in your walk with Him. Youcannot become more holy, more transformed and moresanctified unless you are spiritually growing. And you cannotstart to spiritually grow unless you are first seeking after theknowledge that will cause this spiritual growth to occur in thefirst place! If you really study the people who are most alive in this life,it is the seekers, it is the people who are constantly learning,constantly trying to improve their knowledge base on whateverit is they are seeking after. It is the knowledge seekers that are making the greatdiscoveries that are changing the course of our human history.And they could not have made those discoveries without firstseeking after the knowledge that would eventually lead them 5

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godto those specific discoveries. God will make you seek and search after knowledge, muchin the same way that treasure hunters will seek and search forburied treasure. Talk to any true knowledge seeker, and they will tell you thatmost of their joy comes from the journey of trying to find theknowledge that they are seeking after. Once the discovery hasbeen made and they have found everything that they may needon a particular subject, then it's off to the next great adventure. Nothing will stimulate your mind and emotions and makeyou feel more alive than seeking after the knowledge onsomething that you may really be interested in and be verypassionate about. However, many in our country have become\"brain dead\" and mentally lazy as a result of becoming couchpotatoes by watching too much TV. God has incredibleknowledge adventures set up for each and everyone of us if wewould only be willing to get up out of our ruts, step out of oursafe boats and start seeking after the things that He wants us toseek after. The knowledge of God is like a treasure chest that has nobottom to it! There is no limit to the amount of knowledge thatGod can release to you if you are willing to dive into thistreasure chest and start seeking after it. Think about this long and hard, that the one and only allpowerful and all knowing God of the entire universe iswilling and able to transmit His knowledge to you on whateverit is you are wanting His knowledge and wisdom on. Every single Christian has this incredible treasure chest ofknowledge and wisdom literally residing on the inside of themin the Person of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is only tooanxious and just waiting for you to tap into Him to get thisknowledge to start to be released to you! 6

Seeking After the Knowledge of God This incredible knowledge adventure is just waiting foreach and every Christian who is willing to get off the couchand start using the brain power that the Lord has given to us tostart to seek after this kind of knowledge. We'll go ahead and list these Scripture verses under theirappropriate captions below so that you can fully grasp what theLord is trying to tell you in these profound verses. These verses are major door openers for each and everyChristian, as they are showing you that God can supernaturallyimpart and transmit His knowledge to you through the HolySpirit if you are open to receiving it, and are willing to go into aseeking mode to pull it from Him.1. Growing in the Knowledge of God This first verse will completely set the stage for you to beable to receive direct knowledge from the Lord. God iswanting us to grow in the knowledge of Him and His SonJesus. \"But GROW in the grace and KNOWLEDGE of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\" (2 Peter 3:18) After we get saved, God expects us to start growing in theknowledge that He wants to transmit to us. And the only waywe can spiritually grow is by seeking after the knowledge thatwill cause this growth to occur in the first place! This right here is why many Christians do not make muchspiritual growth over the course of their lives after theyinitially get saved, because they are not seeking after theknowledge of God that will cause this spiritual growth to occurin the first place.2. The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Receiving 7

Seeking After the Knowledge of God Knowledge and Wisdom Now that we know that God wants us to grow in theknowledge that He wants to give to us, these next two verseswill tell us the first step that needs to be met before God willeven begin to release His knowledge to us. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of being able to receiveknowledge and wisdom direct from the Lord. Here are the two verses: 1. \"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.\" (Proverbs 1:7) 2. \"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.\" (Proverbs 9:10) In both of these verses it says that the fear of the Lord is the\"beginning\" of being able to receive knowledge and wisdomfrom God. If you don't have a healthy fear of the Lord, thenchances are, God is not going to be working with you veryclosely in releasing His knowledge to you. This first conditionright here is another reason why many of God's people are notgetting more knowledge, revelation and wisdom transmitted tothem. What exactly is God meaning when He says that we musthave a healthy \"fear\" of Him? He obviously does not wantyou to be so afraid of Him that you then become to afraid toapproach Him for prayer and to enter into a healthy personalrelationship with Him. What God means by the phrase \"fearof the Lord\" is that we are to have an extremely reverentrespect for Him and all of His ways! Many Christians have a good healthy fear of God Himself, asthey know that He is all powerful and that He is God Almighty 8

Seeking After the Knowledge of GodHimself. Where many Christians are getting into trouble off ofthese two verses is that they do not have a healthy fear of all ofGod's ways. And one of God's ways for us is that we try andstay out of sin, especially some of the heavier sins. If you are out committing adultery behind your spouse'sback, literally breaking one of God's ten commandments, thenchances are, God will not be imparting much of His revelationand knowledge to you since you are living in an obvious sin.If you are out committing this type of sin against God, thenyou are not showing much of a fear of Him, or else youwould never have considered falling into this type of heaviersin to begin with. Your actions may be speaking louder thanyour words to Him. If you have a true, healthy fear of the Lord, then you willnot want to tempt your fate and what He wants to do withyour life by directly disobeying some of these obviouscommandments such as adultery, cheating, scamming others,verbally and/or physically abusing your spouse or yourchildren, holding extreme unforgiveness towards others,abusing alcohol or doing drugs. If you have a good healthy fear of the Lord, then you willmake every effort to try and live your life right and stay out ofthe heavier sins that you know will get you in major troublewith Him. We are all sinners and none of us is perfect. There isa certain amount of \"slack\" with the Lord on our ownimperfections and some of the stupid things that we will do inthis life. Where some of us will get into trouble with the Lord onthese two S c r i p t u r e verses is when we blatantly enter intowhat we call \"unacceptable\" sins and behavior. And some ofthe sins mentioned are unacceptable sins and behaviors inGod's eyes, and they thus could cause God to pull back on you 9

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godwith what He wants to do with your life. God will not be mocked! If you don't fear Him and His waysand the way He wants you to live this life, then He may justchoose to withhold any knowledge and revelation that He maywant to impart to you. This is why these two S c r i p t u r everses are so important for those who would really like to startseeking after the knowledge of God for their lives. God will be more than willing to open up His storehouse ofknowledge for you in this life, but only if you are willing to doyour part, and your first step will be to make sure that you havea good, reverent, healthy fear and respect of Him and all of Hisways.3. God's People Are Destroyed For Lack of Knowledge God's people are literally, and we mean literally, beingdestroyed for lack of knowledge. God's people can literally gointo captivity as a result of not having the right amount ofknowledge about something. God the Father is giving all of us a major warning with theway that He has these two verses worded. A perfect example ofthese two verses in actual operation are the Muslim suicidebombers. Many of these suicide bombers are young kids. Theyhave been brought up being brainwashed by the extremistelement of Islam, and they really do think they are going straightto heaven if they are willing to blow themselves up andanyone else they can take with them. This is a perfect example of these young kids being led into\"captivity\" as a result of not having the appropriate knowledgeto fully understand what they are getting into in the first place.And then when they actually do take their own lives in thesesuicide bombings, they are literally being \"destroyed\" as a 10

Seeking After the Knowledge of God result of this lack of knowledge. That is why seeking after the true knowledge of God in this life is so important with all the crazy and demonic things that are going on in this world. Having God's specific knowledge on a wide variety of matters is what can keep you from getting entangled into something that could end up turning deadly on you. These next two verses should be burned into your memory banks so that you never, ever forget what the Lord is trying to tell us. 1. \"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.\" (Hosea 4:6) 2. \"Therefore My people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge\" (Isaiah 5:13) Not having the knowledge of God operating in our lives could literally lead us into getting into some kind of captivity, not to mention the possibility of getting killed or thrown into the pits of hell when we die, then the reverse is also true, that having the knowledge of God operating in your life can help keep you out of serious trouble, help keep you free, and possibly help lengthen the number of days that you can live down here on this earth. 4. Knowledge and Wisdom Are Better Than All the material Things of This World The knowledge and wisdom that we can receive direct fromHim is better and more valuable than all the silver, gold andrubies of this world. The knowledge and wisdom that you canreceive direct from God is better than all the material wealth thatthis world can offer! Knowledge and wisdom is better than anything else you 11

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godcan possibly desire in this life! Think about how radical andextreme this statement really is given the materialistic andmoney hungry society we now live in. Grab a hold of these 7 verses, especially the first two. 1. \"Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding; for her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her. Length of days is in her right hand, in her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her.\" (Proverbs 3:13) 2. \"How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.\" (Proverbs 16:16) 3. \"There is gold and a multitude of rubies, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.\" (Proverbs 20:15) 4. \"But the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it.\" (Ecclesiastes 7:12) 5. \"Understanding is a wellspring of life to him who has it.\" (Proverbs 16:22) 6. \"Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.\" (Proverbs 24:3) 7. \"Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten rulers of the city.\"(Ecclesiastes 7:19) God says that \"happy\" is the man who finds wisdom, andthat having knowledge and wisdom will help lengthen thenumber of days that you might be able to live down here onthis earth. He then says that knowledge will also bring you 12

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godpeace and be a tree of life to you and your life. This \"tree of life\" is what stimulates those who seek afterknowledge. There is nothing more challenging, more rewardingand more thrilling than seeking after the knowledge of God ona particular subject or issue you may really be interested in. And to top all of this off, all of the knowledge and wisdomthat you will be receiving from the Lord on the different partsof your life down here on this earth will all be going with youinto the next life, which will be heaven. Not one ounce of all of the gold, rubies, silver and wealth ofthis world will be going with you when you die and crossover. All of that earthly material wealth will rot and perish asfar as you are concerned, because not one ounce, not one pennywill be going with you to the other side! This is why God is placing such an extremely high value onthe pursuit of His knowledge and wisdom for us in this life.This is why God is telling us in the S c r i p t u r e verses thatseeking after His knowledge and wisdom in this life will giveyou true life.5. Knowledge, Understanding and Wisdom In many of these verses, you will see three key words thatare constantly being repeated over and over again. These three key words are: Knowledge Understanding Wisdom God will first start off by conveying His knowledge to youabout something specific. However, knowledge by itself willnot get the job done. The next key word is \"understanding.\" 13

Seeking After the Knowledge of GodUnderstanding means that you understand the knowledge thatis being given to you. If you don't understand the knowledgethat has been given to you, then you won't be able to use it orapply it in a real life situation. The third key word is \"wisdom.\" Once you understand theknowledge that has been given to you, then there is now onemore step you will need to have in order to be able toproperly use that knowledge, and that step is having thewisdom to be able to use that knowledge in a real life situation. Many college graduates understand the knowledge that theyhave learned through many of their college courses, but theylack the wisdom to be able to actually apply it in the real world.You have all heard the term that someone may be \"booksmart\", but lack the common sense and wisdom to be able touse this knowledge in the real working world. Here is an example: Say someone just gave you a perfect manual on how torebuild a car engine. All of the knowledge that you will needon how to rebuild a car engine is all contained in this onebook. However, the next step is that you have to be able tounderstand the knowledge that is contained in this book. If noneof it makes any sense to you, then all of the perfect knowledgecontained in this book will be of no real use to you. If you do have the ability to understand all of the knowledgecontained in this book, then the next and final step is to be ableto have the wisdom to be able to actually rebuild a car enginein a real life situation. All of that knowledge and all of theunderstanding of that knowledge will be of no use to you ifyou don't have the actual wisdom to be able to use it toactually rebuild a car engine. This is where the Holy Spirit will be coming in big time! TheHoly Spirit will help you in being able to understand the 14

Seeking After the Knowledge of God knowledge that God may be giving to you on something. The Holy Spirit will help illuminate your mind so you can fully understand what is being given to you. The Holy Spirit will also help you with the last and final step, which is being able to have the wisdom to use or apply that knowledge to a real life working situation. Example, say God is calling you to be a great heart surgeon: 1. God will first arrange to make sure that you are given all of the working knowledge that you will need to become a great heart surgeon. 2. God will then make sure that you have the ability to fully understand all of the knowledge that He will give to you on how to be a great heart surgeon. 3. And then God will complete His work with you in making sure that you have the actual wisdom to be able to apply that knowledge so that you can then do real live heart surgeries in real life situations. The three step process can be done by God with each and everyone of you on a wide variety of matters and issues in your life. It is just a matter of you being willing to seek after whatever it is God wants you to seek after. Knowledge, understanding and wisdom direct from God on a wide variety of matters and issues in your life is available to all of His children if they would only be willing to spend the time to seek after it! 6. All Knowledge and Wisdom Comes Direct From God All knowledge and all wisdom come direct from God and Jesus.All the \"treasures\" of wisdom and knowledge are \"hidden\" inGod the Father and Jesus Christ. God is comparing knowledgeand wisdom with \"treasures,\" and that this treasure is hiddenwithin Himself. God and Jesus are the source of all godly knowledge, and 15

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godthat we first have to seek after the source in order to get thisknowledge to be released to us. Here are some of the most profound verses in all of Scriptureshowing us that not only is God the source of all godlyknowledge and wisdom, but that He actually wants to releasethis knowledge to us! 1. \"Both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.\" (Colossians 2:2) 2. \"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.\" (Romans 11:33-36) 3. \"For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright\" (Proverbs 2:6) 4. Daniel answered and said: \"Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him.\" (Daniel 2:20) 5. \"Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven, what can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.\" (Job 11:7) 6. \" Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.\" (Jeremiah 16

Seeking After the Knowledge of God 33:3) 7. \"Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.\" (Matthew 13:11) 8. \"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may 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 exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe\" (Ephesians 1:17) 9. \"Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.\" (Amos 3:7) 10. \"But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets\" (Daniel 2:28) 11. Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, \"If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.\" (John 8:31) All things, including all knowledge and all wisdom, comesdirect from God the Father. These verses are showing us thatnot only is God the source of all knowledge and wisdom, butthat He wants to release this knowledge to us. He wants to showand reveal great and mighty things to us. He wants to tell usdeep and secret things that the average person will not haveaccess to. And not only will God give you His knowledge, but Hewill also make sure to give you the understanding of thatknowledge and the wisdom to be able to actually use it! All ofthis can be given to you free of charge. All you have to do is be 17

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godwilling to seek after it, and then seek to fully understand it andhow it can apply to the different parts of your life. If we will \"abide in His word\", then we will have the abilityto know the truth, and then the truth will be able to make us free. If you are willing to abide in the Bible, which is His Word,and seek to understand what you are reading, then you willbe fully loaded with an incredible amount of knowledge andtruth covering a wide variety of matters and issues in your life.And once you have God's truth on many different matters inyour life, then that truth will help set and make you freebecause you will no longer be bound up with wrong thinking! Jesus says that we have to \"abide\" in His Word in order tobe able to get these truths worked into us. Abiding means thatyou are willing to spend some kind of regular quality time inreading the Bible for yourself and then seeking to understandand implement these truths in your everyday walk with Him. All of these S c r i p t u r e verses are giving us an incrediblerevelation in that God and Jesus are only too anxious to releaseTheir storehouse of knowledge to us if we would only bewilling to do our part by seeking after it.7. The Holy Spirit is our Teacher Now that we know God and Jesus want to release Theirknowledge direct to us from Their throne room in heaven,how is this knowledge actually transmitted to us? This knowledge is given to the Holy Spirit, and then the HolySpirit, who is already living on the inside of us, will be theOne to transmit all of this knowledge to us! The Holy Spiritwill thus become your personal Guide and personal Teacher inthis life. It will be His job to impart and transmit all of thisknowledge direct to you once you start to seek after it. 18

Seeking After the Knowledge of God Here are 3 powerful verses from Scripture showing us that theHoly Spirit will now be the One to transmit the knowledge ofGod direct to us. 1. \"But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.\" (1 Corinthians 2:10) 2. \"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, HE WILL TEACH YOU ALL THINGS, and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you.\" (John 14:26) 3. \"However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, HE WILL GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH\" (JOHN 16:13) No one knows the things of God except the Holy Spirit, andthat the Holy Spirit has been given to each and every one of usin order to reveal the things that God wants to reveal to us. It isthe job of the Holy Spirit to release the knowledge of Goddirect to us! The Holy Spirit will be our Teacher and that He will \"teachus all things.\" Notice the word \"all\", that He will teach us \"allthings.\" This statement being made by God in that the Holy Spirit canteach us all things is a maximum intense statement being madeby God. He is willing to go more than overboard in order toteach us things and to transmit His knowledge to us. Then the 19

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godverse even goes one step further when it says that the HolySpirit can literally bring back up to your remembrance, whenyou may need it, the knowledge that He has already given toyou! A perfect example of this is for those who really study theBible in order to get it really worked and assimilated into theirminds and spirits. What you will find to start to happen if youare willing to spend some quality time to get the Word workedinto you, is that the Holy Spirit will bring back up to yourmemory the appropriate Scripture verses when you may needthem on the spot when preaching or talking to others aboutGod and Jesus. You'll literally see these verses float right upout of your spirit in front of your mind's eye right at themoment that you will need them. This is literally asupernatural transmission of knowledge direct to your mindby the Holy Spirit Himself! And not only can the Holy Spirit do this with Scripture verses.He can also do this with any other bits of knowledge that Hemay want to give to you. He can give you His words ofknowledge and wisdom all day long on whatever else you mayneed His help on. This is why the Holy Spirit is called \"theHelper\". The Holy Spirit cannot help you unless He is ableto transmit words of knowledge and wisdom to you as you willneed them. The last verse says that not only will the Holy Spirit be ourHelper and our Teacher in this life, but that He will also be ourGuide in this life. Think about those three words, Helper,Teacher and Guide! This is a powerful three fold ministry thatthe Holy Spirit has with each born again believer. The last verse says that the Holy Spirit will guide us into\"all\" truth. Notice the word \"all\", all truth, not just some orpart of the truth. If you can learn to be led by the Holy Spirit 20

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godand pick up on when He starts to try and communicate withyou, you can literally start to receive the knowledge of Godin every area of your life where you need God's knowledge andguidance to help get you safely through!8. Seeking After the Knowledge of God So now that you know that God is more than willing torelease His knowledge direct to you through the Holy Spirit,how do you go about getting God to start to release Hisknowledge to you? These verses will tell you exactly how. You can sum up on how to get God to release Hisknowledge to you in two simple words, asking and seeking!However, before you can really get God to start to release thisknowledge to you, there is one more thing that you must reallyhave, and that is desire. You must \"desire truth\" in your inward parts. Anotherverse says that God will give you His knowledge and wisdomif you are willing to \"cry out\" for it, if you are willing to\"apply your heart\" to understand it, if you will \"seek her assilver\" and \"search for her as hidden treasures.\" All of these phrases are showing that you must have somelevel of intensity in your seeking of this knowledge. You haveto show God that you mean serious business with Him whenyou start to seek after the knowledge and wisdom that He cangive to you. One verse in particular says it best when it saysyou must seek after the knowledge of God like someone who issearching for buried treasure. Notice the intense way God is expressing Himself in thewording of some of these verses. You can really tell God istrying to drive home several major points that we need to fullygrasp before He will be willing to release His knowledge tous. 21

Seeking After the Knowledge of God These 11 verses in particular are giving you major, werepeat, major secrets in being able to get God to release Hisincredible storehouse of knowledge and revelation into yourlife. 1. \"Behold, You DESIRE TRUTH in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.\" (Psalm 51:6) 2. \"ASK, and it will be given to you; SEEK, and you will find; KNOCK, and it will be opened to you.\" (Matthew 7:7) 3. \"Yet you do not have because you do not ask.\" (James 4:2) 4. \"If any of you lacks wisdom, LET HIM ASK OF GOD, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.\" (James 1:5) 5. \"TO ASK that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God\" (Colossians 1:9) 6. \"My son, if you receive My words, and treasure My commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; yes, if you CRY OUT for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you SEEK HER as silver, and SEARCH FOR HER as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.\" (Proverbs 2:1) 7. \"The heart of him who has understanding SEEKS KNOWLEDGE, but the mouth of fools feeds on 22

Seeking After the Knowledge of God foolishness.\" (Proverbs 15:14) 8. \"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to SEARCH OUT A MATTER.\" (Proverbs 25:2) 9. \"A wise man will hear and INCREASE LEARNING, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, to understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles.\" (Proverbs 1:5) 10. \"The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, and ADDS LEARNING to his lips.\" (Proverbs 16:23) 11. \"Hear my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to know understanding; for I give you good doctrine: Do not forsake my law\". He also taught me, and said to me: \"Let your heart retain my words; keep my commands, and live. GET WISDOM! GET UNDERSTANDING! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you: Love her, and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; she will bring you honor, when you embrace her. She will place on your head an ornament of grace; a crown of glory she will deliver to you.\" \"Hear, my son. and receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, and when you run, you will not stumble. Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; keep her, for she is your life.\" (Proverbs 4:1-9) If any of us is lacking wisdom, that we are to ask God forHis wisdom. The next sentence in that verse then makes one of 23

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godthe most powerful statements of all when it says that God willthen give His wisdom to \"all liberally\" without reproach! God is not going to be playing favorites with anyone on thisissue. He is telling all of us that He is more than willing torelease His knowledge and wisdom to us if we are willing toask and press in for it, and to also ask for it in faith withoutdoubting. God is also using the word \"liberally\" after the word \"all.\"This means that God is more than anxious to release Hisknowledge to us. The next verse after that says that we are toask to \"be filled with the knowledge\" of His will in \"allwisdom and spiritual understanding.\" The word \"filled\" withHis knowledge is also showing us that God is willing to pourout His knowledge and wisdom to us in great abundance! It is the glory of God to \"conceal a matter\" and that it isthe glory of kings to \"search out\" that matter. This is a veryfascinating verse in that it is giving us a major secret, and thatsecret is that many of the times God will make you seek andsearch after His knowledge like those who search for buriedtreasure. A good example of this is the Bible itself. God haspurposely scattered many of the different Scripture versesthroughout the Bible in order to make you work for theknowledge that is contained in all of the pages. For instance, God has scattered all of the verses about thesecond coming of His Son back to our earth throughout theentire Bible. You literally have to start from the beginning ofthe Bible and search it all the way through to find all of theverses that are pertaining to just this one subject. Once you areable to find all of these verses and put them together like youwould pieces to a jigsaw puzzle, then you will find theknowledge and revelation that God is trying to transmit to you 24

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godon this subject. The very last verse is where God is using some very intenselanguage in order to drive home the point on how important it isfor each one of us to seek after His knowledge in this life. Notice these specific words: Give attention to know understanding Get understanding! And in all your getting, get understanding Get wisdom! Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom Take firm hold of instruction, for she is your life Once you put all of these Scripture verses together, oneright after the other, the message comes through loud and clear.God does want to transmit His knowledge and wisdom to usthrough the Holy Spirit, and He wants to do it in greatabundance! What God did with King Solomon. If you want to seewhat God can be capable of in this area, wait until you see theone Scripture verse that will tell us how much knowledge andwisdom was given to just this one man, all because he simplypressed in and asked for it!9. Knowledge and Wisdom Will Help Keep You Safe What about people literally going into captivity and beingdestroyed as a result of not having the appropriate knowledgeabout something. Here are three more good verses showing how knowledgeand wisdom can help keep you safe in this life. 25

Seeking After the Knowledge of God 1. \"My son keep sound wisdom and discretion; so they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck. Then you will walk safely in your way, and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid; yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.\" (Proverbs 3:21) 2. \"When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you, to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things, from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness; who rejoice in doing evil\" (Proverbs 2:10) 3. \"Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, and when you run, you will not stumble. Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; keep her, for she is your life.\" (Proverbs 4:10) Life is full of one tragedy after another when people don'tuse good common sense. People abusing drugs and alcohol,driving too fast on the highways and hanging out with thewrong crowd can all lead to an early departure from this life. In the S c r i p t u r e verse, it starts out, that your years can bemany if you are willing to follow the way of wisdom. Theimplication is also there that if you don't follow the way ofwisdom, that you can have your life cut short and ended early.Many of the deaths that we see on a daily basis are the resultof people making very poor choices. This is why God is really emphasizing in the S c r i p t u r everses that the way of wisdom and knowledge will help keepyou safe, help preserve you, help keep you from hanging out 26

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godwith the wrong kind of people and help keep you in one pieceas you journey through this life.10. In the Multitude of Counselors There is Safety Once you start to seek after the knowledge of God for yourlife, one of the ways that God will communicate Hisknowledge to you is through other people. Sometimes youwill receive the knowledge that you are looking for direct fromGod Himself. Other times it may come from a particularScripture verse you may be meditating on. God will communicate His knowledge to you through otherpeople. A good example of this is when you receive words ofknowledge and wisdom through an anointed teacher of HisWord such as your pastor who is teaching the Word in Sundayservice or hearing one of God's teachers on one of theChristian TV stations. What you will find start to happen to you is that words orrevelations coming from others will \"jump\" at you. This isthe Holy Spirit \"quickening\" these words to you in order tohelp give you His knowledge and wisdom on something thatyou may be dealing with or searching after. Once you start to enter into this kind of journey with the Lordon wanting Him to release more of His knowledge to you, youreally have to keep your radars up each and every day as younever know when, where, how or through whom God willrelease His knowledge to you. This is why the knowledge game is so much fun to playwith the Lord. God loves variety and spontaneity, and Hewill teach you His ways of knowledge and wisdom in manydifferent ways and through many different sources. The HolyBible will always be your main source of spiritual knowledgeand wisdom. 27

Seeking After the Knowledge of God When God does want to communicate His knowledge toyou through other people, one of the things that God willarrange for you to have is access to other good solidChristians who you can discuss things out with. Here are 4 very fascinating Scripture verses telling us thatthere is safety in the multitude of counselors, that withoutappropriate counsel with others our plans can go awry, and thatwe are to wage war by having wise counsel with others. 1. \"A wise man is strong, yes, a man of knowledge increases strength; for by wise counsel you will wage your own war, and in a multitude of counselors there is safety.\" (Proverbs 24:5) 2. \"Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established.\" (Proverbs 15:22) 3. \"Every purpose is established by counsel; by wise counsel wage war.\" (Proverbs 20:18) 4. \"Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.\" (Proverbs 11:14) All men will only \"know in part\" with what knowledge wecan get from the Lord down here on this earth. No one willhave all of the answers to everything in this life. By having a group of other solid Christian friends you canchew things out with, you will each help keep each other upand sharp in the Lord, help keep one another humble andaccountable in your walk with the Lord, along with being ableto learn from one another.11. Use the Knowledge That God Will Give You Once God starts to transmit His knowledge to you on awide variety of matters and issues in your life, your job will 28

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godthen be to take that knowledge and use it and apply it in youreveryday life. Though this principle sounds very simple, many Christianskeep getting themselves into trouble either because they arechoosing to directly disobey a direct order from the Lord orthey are not stopping and thinking out very carefully whattheir next step should be. Here are 3 very good verses telling us that the wise andprudent man will \"consider well his steps\" and that the\"plans of the diligent\" will lead to plenty. However, thereverse is also true, that everyone who is \"hasty\" in theirdecision making will be lead into poverty. God is wanting you to stop, think and evaluate very carefullywhat choices you have to make when you are faced withhaving to make a decision on something. In our fast paced society, many people are living their lives intoo much of the fast lane. They are so mentally wired, theyare constantly making too quick and too hasty of decisionswithout thinking things all the way through. They keep falling into one jam after another, and they arethen forced to have to spend extra time to dig themselves outof the jams they have fallen into. These next 3 verses are a true word to the wise from the Lord. 1. \"The simple believes every word, but the prudent man considers well his steps.\" (Proverbs 14:15) 2. \"The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.\" (Proverbs 21:5) 3. \"A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.\" (Proverbs 22:3) 29

Seeking After the Knowledge of God God will at times make you seek and search after Hisknowledge and wisdom on a particular matter. This means thatat times you will have to take your time and think things outand think things all the way through before you can \"find\"what God's answer may be on a particular issue.12. Walk With Other Wise Men He who walks with other wise men will he himself becomewise, but he who has fools as his friends and companions willbe destroyed! The Bible makes it very clear that we are not to be yokedtogether with unbelievers, that we are to choose our friendscarefully, and that evil company will corrupt good habits. Once you enter into a full surrender of your entire lifewith God the Father, one of the first things He will start to dois to prune out some of the bad and negative people that youmay have in your life. These negative people will do nothingbut try and hold you back if you start to try and grow in theLord. God will not be putting up with their negative influencesin your life, and He will thus be taking these types of negativepeople out of your life very early on in your walk with Him. Many Christians never make it into what God's true call is forthem in this life because they did not want to give up theirnegative friends. These negative people kept these Christiansbound up in their lower way of living in this life. TheseChristians never reach their full potential in the Lord in thislifetime. He who walks with other wise men will become wise himself.The reason for this is that you can learn from other wisepeople besides what you will get direct from God on your own. Learning from other wise people will really help inaccelerating your knowledge in the Lord and whatever else 30

Seeking After the Knowledge of GodGod wants to give you His knowledge on. These 5 S c r i p t u r e verses will also perfectly line up withthe S c r i p t u r e verses mentioned about safety being found inthe multitude of counselors. 1. \"He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.\" (Proverbs 13:20) 2. \"Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.\" (Proverbs 23:9) 3. \"A scoffer seeks wisdom and does not find it, but knowledge is easy to him who understands. Go from the presence of a foolish man, when you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge.\" (Proverbs 14:6) 4. \"A prudent man conceals knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaims foolishness.\" (Proverbs 12:23) 5. \"He who has knowledge spares his words, and a man of understanding is of calm spirit. Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; when he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive.\" (Proverbs 17:27) Fools will be despising the knowledge and wisdom that youmay have in Him. This lines up with the verse in that we arenot to give what is holy to the dogs. The knowledge andwisdom that you will be receiving from the Lord will be veryholy and you will be wasting your time trying to feed it to otherpeople who have no desire for it.13. A Wise Man Will Not Show Partiality in Judgment Once God starts to enlighten you and you are able to start tosee real truth from real error, then God will hold youaccountable for this higher degree of knowledge, especially ifyou are in a position of leadership. This principle reallyapplies in today's world where everyone is trying to be 31

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godpolitically correct. There are some issues that are not neutral in God's eyes, yetsome of His own are trying not to step on anyone else's toes forfear of offending them. Many of the pastor's across our country are taking neutralstances on such issues as abortion and homosexuality. Theissue of abortion is a perfect example. Many pastors are notwanting to say much about it due to many Christians stillbeing pro choice. They are afraid if they go fire and brimstoneon these people, that they will lose them and the money theywere contributing to the church. This issue is not open to any kind of debate or compromisewith God. Abortion is first degree murder in the eyes of God,and many Christians who are actively supporting any of the prochoice movements in this country are going to be in big troubleon their day of judgment with God and Jesus! The true wise man of God will not show partiality injudgment on topics such as these. Study the intense wordingin these two verses very, very carefully, especially if you arein a position of any type of leadership within the Body ofChrist. 1. \"These things also belong to the wise: IT IS NOT GOOD TO SHOW PARTIALITY IN JUDGMENT. He who says to the wicked, \"You are righteous,\" him the people will curse; nations will abhor him. But those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and good blessing will come upon them. He who gives a right answer kisses the lips.\" (Proverbs 24:23) 2. \"TO SHOW PARTIALITY IS NOT GOOD, because for a piece of bread a man will transgress ... He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward than he who flatters with the tongue.\" (Proverbs 28:21-23) 32

Seeking After the Knowledge of God If you are willing to take a stand against something evil andcall it out for what it really is, that you will then receive a\"good blessing\" for it! To those pastors who have been too afraid to call outissues such as abortion and homosexuality for what it reallyis for fear of offending too many people, consider the intensewording of these two verses. When God says that it is \"notgood\" that you show partiality on issues such as this, He isgiving you a major and solemn warning! You are working for God, not man! The only thing thatmatters as far as you are concerned is what God thinks ofyour performance as a leader within His body, not what theflock thinks or what other people outside of your church maythink! You will be eventually judged by God for your performance,not by any other human being. Study the prophets of the OldTestament, not one of them minced any words when God hadthem call out the evil that His people were engaging in. Many, many Christians are looking for their pastors andleaders to take strong stands on these type of issues with nocompromise. You may lose a few people at the outset foroffending them, but that the word will then get out on youthat you are a man that will not compromise the truth andword of God, and you will then end up drawing many morepeople into your church. People are really looking for God's opinion on a widevariety of issues and problems facing our world today. Now isnot the time to try and be politically correct. Now is the time tostand up and tell the world what God's opinion really is on someof these hot topics. God's people are going into captivity and are being destroyedfor lack of knowledge and guidance from their pastors and 33

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godchurches on these issues. The truth will set these people free,but you first have to tell them what the truth really is before itcan start to work to set them free. God's Word and Truth isyour sword, don't be afraid to use it to set these captives free!14. Stay Humble When God Does Start to Release His Knowledge to You There are only two down sides to having God start to releaseHis knowledge to you. The first downside is that for some, theincrease in their knowledge base will cause them to start to getto full of themselves. Knowledge can \"puff up\". It can puff you up. Your egostarts to swell, and conceit and arrogance can start to set in.You start to think your smarter than anyone else. You startlooking down on those who do not have your higher levels ofknowledge. Pretty soon, you start to present a haughty,arrogant and know it all attitude to others, and you start to drivepeople away from God rather than to Him as a result of your badattitudes and behaviors. Once God really starts to release His knowledge to you, youreally have to keep a sharp eye on this and make sure that all ofthis new found knowledge does not start to go to your head.You have to stay humble and thankful for it. It becomes veryeasy to start looking down on others who are not getting thishigher level of knowledge. You start questioning their spiritualgrowth and why they are not getting what you are getting. You have to realize that every one is operating at differentlevels of spiritual development in this life. Some will go fartherand progress at faster rates of speed in this realm than otherswill. You cannot compare your level of spiritual developmentand how fast you are progressing with anyone else. Somepeople will not go as far as you might go in this realm, but 34

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godothers will leave you in the dust and progress to a much higherlevel than you ever will in this life. You have to realize that God is working with each and everyChristian at the level of spiritual development that they arecurrently operating at with Him. Granted, some people looklike they should be making more and better progress, but theremay be personal factors operating in their lives that may beslowing down their spiritual growth that you may not be awareof. This is why God is telling us in His Word that we are notto judge one another in some of these areas. Your job is to be the best you can be in whatever God iscalling you to do in this life. Put the pedal to the metal inclimbing the highest mountains you can. Seek to produce asmuch good fruit for God as you can. Do not compare yourwalk and your fruit in the Lord with anyone else's. Stayhumble in your walk with the Lord, and do not let all the fruitand accomplishments that you might achieve in Him go toyour head and puff you up. Here are two very interesting Scripture verses telling us thatknowledge can puff you up and that all men will only \"know inpart\" in this life. No matter how smart and intelligent you think you may begetting, you will never have all of the answers to everything inthis life. This fact alone should help keep you humble and realas you start to grow in the knowledge and wisdom of God foryour life. \"We know that we all have knowledge. KNOWLEDGE PUFFS UP, but love edifies.\" (1 Corinthians 8:1) \"For we KNOW IN PART and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away with For now we see in a 35

Seeking After the Knowledge of God mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.\" (1 Corinthians 13:9-12)15. Knowledge Will Increase Sorrow and Grief The second downside to receiving the knowledge of God inyour life is that it will start to increase your sorrow and griefover different things. This incredible piece of revelation iscoming from King Solomon. Here is what he says: \"For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.\" (Ecclesiastes 1:18) Once you start to receive God’s knowledge not only onthe personal things in your life, but on the \"big picture\" withthe way that He has things set up, your eyes will be openedand you will start to \"see\" things from God's perspective andviewpoint. And once you are able to start to see things from God's pointof view, then sorrow and grief will start to set in. Why?Because you will have developed a good understanding of thebig picture and why things are the way they are. You will seethat there really is a God and a devil, that there really is aheaven and a hell, that there really is good and evil, and thateveryone is being tested in this life. You will see that we all have to be born into an imperfect,cursed and fallen world as a result of what happened in thestory of Adam and Eve. You will see that God has giveneach one of us a free will, and a certain amount of people aregoing to choose to live this life on the dark side. A certain 36

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godamount of people are going to get murdered, robbed, raped,killed, abducted, cheated, scammed and hurt in this life. Badthings are going to happen to even good people. As a result of the curse of Adam and Eve still operating onthis earth, we also have to put up with all kinds of differentsicknesses, illnesses, diseases, accidents and eventually thephysical death of our bodies. People will suffer, and in somecases, there will be extreme suffering. You will see that not everyone is going to make it intoheaven, that the Spirit of God will not strive with a manforever in trying to get him or her saved. A certain percentageof humanity is going to end up in the worst and most horribleplace imaginable. You will start to grieve and cry out for thelost, especially for the ones who will refuse to accept whatJesus has done for them with His death on the cross. Once you sit back and see the big picture for what it really is,you won't be able to stop the sadness and sorrow that you willfeel at times on all the bad and terrible things that can happento anyone of us at anytime. This is why King Solomon wasable to come to this kind of revelation after he had receivedthe knowledge and wisdom of God for his life. He was able tosee the big picture for what it really is. The knowledge that you will receive from God is like beinggiven a two sided coin. On the one side is the \"darkpicture\", with all of these things hitting you straight in theface. There is no getting around it. This is the way things are,and this death that we see on a daily basis will not stop untilJesus comes back to us in His second coming to set up His1000 year Millennium Kingdom. Until that event happens, weare all going to have to put up with demons and bad and evilpeople who will choose to live this life out on the dark side. There is also the other side of that same coin, the \"good 37

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godpicture.\" This life of death will not last forever. God the Fatherhas made a way of escape for all of us from the fires of hellin the death and person of His Son Jesus Christ. All can getsaved and completely born again by accepting Jesus as theirpersonal Lord and Savior. We will all get to go straight toheaven when we die. We will all end up with new spiritualglorified bodies that will never age, corrupt or deteriorate everagain. We will never know disease, sickness or death in anyway, shape or form ever again! When Jesus comes back to set up His 1000 yearMillennium Kingdom, God will be taking out Satan, all of hisdemonic spirits, and all the bad and unsaved people who haveever lived on this earth. All the bad apples, angelic and human, will be foreverbanished from the eternal scheme of things, and we will all beable to live happily ever after with God the Father, JesusChrist, the Holy Spirit, all of God's good angels and all the restof saved humanity that has ever lived in a new heaven and anew earth. There will be no more war, no more terror, no more crimeand no more disorder. We will all live forever in the way and inthe environment that God had initially intended for us to live in. Once the knowledge of God starts to get released in your life,you have to stay on top of this game and make sure that you seewhat is real truth. God will give you His eyes in which to see things from Hisperspective. His truth will start to set you free, but realize thatthis is a two sided coin, and that you will see both the goodand dark side of this life and why things are the way they are.There will be times that you will experience sadness, grief andsorrow in this life that will cut right through you like a knife. 38

Seeking After the Knowledge of God16. The Wisdom of This World is Foolishness With God Once you start to receive the knowledge and wisdom of Godflowing into your life, you will find something very interestingthat will start to happen. You'll start to see the differencebetween the knowledge and wisdom of God versus theknowledge and wisdom of this world. God is always right and man is always wrong when the twoare on opposites sides of the fence. A perfect example is theabortion issue, where you have the people who are prochoice and their arguments versus the people who are pro lifewith their arguments. From God's point of view, it doesn't takea rocket scientist to see who is on the wrong side of the fence onthis issue. The wisdom of this world is \"foolishness with God.\" SinceGod is all perfect in His being and in His knowledge, thenthis obviously means that God is always right and that manand the world is always wrong when they are not on the samepage. So the first thing you will need to get worked into yourmindset and way of thinking is that God and all of His waysand all of His knowledge is always right. You will really needto ground on this because the wisdom of the world can be veryenticing at times. You will be tempted at times into believingwhat the world has to say instead of believing what God istrying to tell you is right. Our young teenagers are constantly battling this reality.They are constantly being tempted and enticed to get intodrugs, heavy drinking and pre marital sex. If they have not beengrounded in the Word and in their faith from a good solidChristian upbringing by their parents, they can be very easilyswayed to enter into some of this dark side activity. 39

Seeking After the Knowledge of God You will start to see the difference between God's knowledgeand how He likes to operate versus the business world ingeneral. Many in corporate America are constantly pushing theenvelope trying to get as far as they can, get as much as theycan and not caring who they run over and hurt in the process.The almighty dollar is their G o d and they will do anythingand everything they can to try and make more of it. ManyChristians end up getting sucked into some of theirunscrupulous business practices and they thus end up goingagainst God Himself by some of the shady things they end updoing. Each Christian has to stay true, loyal and faithful to His Godand to His ways when they are faced with these kinds oftemptations. Study these next 2 verses very carefully as they really do setthe stage as to what is going on in the spiritual realm when youcompare the knowledge of our God versus the knowledge ofthis world. \"Let no one deceive you. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. FOR THE WISDOM OF THIS WORLD IS FOOLISHNESS WITH GOD. For it is written, \"He catches the wise in their own craftiness,\" and again, \"The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.\" Therefore let no one glory in men.\" (1 Corinthians 3:18) \"But if you have bitter envy and self seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing will be there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, 40

Seeking After the Knowledge of God gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.\" (James 3:14) Many are self seeking, jealous and envious of one another,with everyone trying to run over everyone else to move higherup on the food chain. God calls this kind of wisdom earthy,sensual and demonic, and that it is not from Him. This iswhy God says in the first verse that the wisdom of this worldis foolishness in His eyes. It is a joke! All of these peoplewho are choosing to live their lives in this kind of dog eatdog environment are heading down the wrong road. Once God starts to really work with you and startstransmitting His knowledge to you on many different areas ofyour life, you will really be able to start to see the truth on alot of different things, not only in your own personal life, butalso with the world in general. Once this knowledge has been released to you and you havefull understanding of it, God will expect you to believe in itand act on it when you are faced with the temptation to go withthe wisdom of the world rather than with the wisdom of God.Always remember who you are serving. You are serving andfollowing God and His ways for your life, not the ways andwisdom of this world.17. Do Not Ever Cease Listening to Instruction Once you start to journey on this path of knowledge that Godwill set you up on, don't ever get to big for your britchesfurther on down the road and think that you have \"arrived,\"and that you don't need to listen to God or anyone else that Hemay want to use to transmit His knowledge to you. This knowledge journey will never end with Him! You willalways be learning new, different and exciting things from theLord as long as you are open to being taught by Him. 41

Seeking After the Knowledge of God Here are three very good verses emphasizing the point thatwe are not to cease listening to instruction and straying fromthe words of knowledge if we want to be wise in our latterdays. 1. \"Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter days.\" (Proverbs 19:20) 2. \"Cease listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.\" (Proverbs 19:27) 3. \"He who is often reproved, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.\" (Proverbs 29:1) Destruction can come upon someone very suddenly if theykeep resisting someone who may be trying to help get themstraightened out. The Holy Spirit will not strive with a manforever. There is a limit even to God's patience. Once God starts to transmit His knowledge to you, youbetter receive it and properly act on it or the consequencescould be fatal. To whom much is given, much more isexpected. God will hold you personally accountable for theknowledge and wisdom that He will give to you. There is noturning back on this road of knowledge once God starts toenlighten you and show you His ways of living in this life.18. The Story of King Solomon Without question, the greatest story in the Bible of someonewho sought after the knowledge and wisdom of God andactually received it was King Solomon in the Old Testament.What happened to this man was just about beyond belief. When Solomon became King of Israel, he knew he didnot have the knowledge and wisdom to properly rule hispeople. So what did he do? He went direct to God the Father 42

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godand asked Him for His knowledge and His wisdom to rulethe people. He admitted his weakness in this area and was notafraid to press in and start asking God for His knowledge. So what did God do when he asked Him for His knowledgeto help rule his people? God did not meet him halfway, Hemet him all the way! God tells Solomon because he did notask for long life, riches or the death of his enemies for himself,but just asked for an \"understanding heart\" to judge hispeople and help with discerning between good and evil, Godtells him that He will give him a \"wise and understandingheart.\" God takes it one more incredible step further. He tellsSolomon that the knowledge and wisdom that will be given tohim will be what no man has ever had before him and whatno man will ever have after him! God will make this man thesmartest man in Him that has ever lived, and that there wouldnever be another man in the course of human history that wouldever be his equal in this realm! Just stop and ponder on what an incredible thing this was,to have been given so much knowledge and wisdom direct fromGod Himself, that no man would ever be his equal in this gift! Then God goes one more extra step in order to put the icingon this man's cake. He then tells Solomon that since he did notask for riches for himself, but just for the knowledge of Godto rule his people, that he will now be given incredible richesand honor to go along with the knowledge and wisdom to rulehis people. Then God adds the final touch on the riches and honor hewill be given, telling Solomon that there shall never be anotherking like him all the days of his life and that he will surpassall the kings of the earth in \"riches and wisdom.\" God endsup making this man the smartest and richest man in all of the 43

Seeking After the Knowledge of Godearth at the time that he was living! If Solomon was really not asking God for wealth and riches,but just for the knowledge and wisdom to rule his people, whywould God go so overboard in blessing this man with this kindof wealth, especially if he was not really asking for it andpossibly not even desiring it? The main reason God rewarded Solomon with this kind ofmaximum wealth was not only to show him, but the rest of Hispeople that would come later on, the extreme importance thateach and every person seek after the knowledge of God fortheir own lives. By blessing Solomon with this kind of extremewealth, God is telling all of us the extreme importance that weseek after Him and His knowledge for our lives. Seeking after the knowledge of God has to be a majorpriority in a believer's life. We cannot spiritually grow anddevelop in the Lord unless we first have His knowledgeworked into us that will cause this spiritual growth to occur inthe first place. And you can't get this knowledge worked intoyou unless you are first seeking after it! Seek, and then youwill find. The reverse is also true, don't seek, and you will notfind. And if you don't find the knowledge of God for yourlife, then the Holy Spirit will not have anything to work with tostart the transformation and sanctification process within you. Really grab a hold of these two verses and the statementsthat God is making to Solomon, all because he got this ballrolling by simply asking God for His knowledge to help rule hispeople. 1. \"Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?\" And the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked for this thing. Then God said to him: 44

Seeking After the Knowledge of God \"Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.\" (1 Kings 3:9-14) 2. \"So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.\" (1 Kings 10:23) If King Solomon was able to receive this kind of knowledgeand wisdom from God simply because he asked and reallypressed in for it, then what can God personally do for you inthis realm if you are willing to expend the time and energy toseek after it? 45