[Roundtable] Humility and the Intellect

[Jefferis Peterson]

I don't know many people who have struggled and striven to know and
understand God's ways and will more than I have. Like Jacob who wrested with
the angel, I've wrestled with the written word in order to be able to apply
it, but there comes a time when knowledge reaches its effective end and can
do no more. It only points beyond itself to what it cannot attain by its own
ability. 

I received prayer at a healing conference last weekend, and we discovered a
habit of character in my family line of an idolatry of the mind and the
intellect, and I had to renounce my tendency to rely upon my own mind as a
means of enabling  me to accomplish God's will and ways. It's not that I
wanted to rely upon my own mind, but I could not help myself, because I
could not be other than who I was raised to be - at least not without
prayer.  I had to confess my own sin and the iniquity of my ancestors, from
whom this tendency came to me quite naturally. The mind may allow you to see
who you are to be and ought to be, but it cannot make you do what you cannot
do. 

Anyway, as I have started to rest from my restless striving, I have come to
see that what I truly want is to rely upon His anointing. It is the
'anointing which breaks the yoke.'  And Jesus himself said, while in his
mortal flesh, "I can do NOTHING unless I see the Father doing it." Jesus,
who read Isaiah, said that the Spirit of the Lord has anointed me to...
[Luke 4]. He recognized his power came from the enabling power of the Holy
Spirit, not from his human flesh. He could do nothing unless led and
directed and enabled by the Holy Spirit.  That is why we read of no miracles
during the 30 years before his baptism, because the Holy Spirit had not yet
descended upon him... He was as powerless as we are in our natural flesh.

In the same way, I need the anointing to do in me, for me and through me
what I cannot do by the power of my human, reasoning mind, my flesh, and by
my will alone. I need much more than my flesh can provide to accomplish all
I desire to do in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost!

A scripture was quoted to me while receiving  prayer, and it was Proverbs 3,
and I'd like to take it apart with the Hebrew. It helped me:

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own
understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy
paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones." Proverbs 3:5-8,
KJV.

The 'heart' in Hebrew is the seat of understanding, wisdom, reflection,
emotions, passions, desires, and will. It is more than just the emotions,
and more than just the mind of reason. It includes both and all of these.

'Understanding' in Hebrew is the faculty of wisdom, perceiving of meaning,
discerning knowledge and truth.

So If I may translate this passage in a way that speaks to me:
Trust in the Lord with all your being, and do not rely upon your ability to
figure things out, but in all your actions acknowledge who God is, and He
will lead and direct you in the right paths. Don't be a smart aleck, but
fear God and turn away from arrogance and pride. It will be blessing of
peace and bring health to your being and your body.

If resting from the stress of striving alone is a benefit, it is a good
start.



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Jefferis Peterson, Pres.
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