By Apostle Richard Wright
1 Corinthians 2:12-15 says, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, but a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man.”
Let’s look at the word translated here as “appraised”. This is what the Strong’s says: 350 anakrinw anakrino {an-ak-ree’-no} AV – examine 6, judge 6, ask question 2, search 1, discern 1; 16 1) Examine or judge 1a) To investigate, examine, inquire into, scrutinize, sift, question 1a1) Specifically in a forensic sense of a judge to hold an investigation
Anyone, even those who do not know God, who has the gift of teaching can teach the Bible as well as any book written by man. The problem is that there will be no understanding of the Word, therefore it will not be accepted unless those who teach it and those who are being taught are spiritual people. The carnal mind cannot understand and does not accept that which God is now doing.
Jesus said in John 14:15-17, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you.”
So many times in the Church the religious and/or carnal mind attempts to explain or even resist what the Spirit is doing. That is impossible while in the flesh.
Even Jesus stated that the world cannot receive the Spirit of truth because it does not know Him. The whole point of this subject is that unless we are first “in the Spirit”, we will make a mess of that which God is desiring the Church to accomplish. We must first insure that Christ is formed in the Church and that the people of God have a deep, spiritual walk with Him. Far too often we seem to run with the most current “thing” God is doing without first having an understanding of it.
James 3:13-16 says, “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.”
The main reason there is disorder in the Church is that we do not have an understanding of that which God is doing and saying. The Catholics are unified. The Mormons are unified. The Protestants are fractured and divided. Even the Pentecostals, who claim to be “prophetic”, are fractured in their thinking of that which God is doing and saying today. No wonder there are so many different thoughts on this “apostolic reformation”. No wonder it does not seem to be changing (reforming) the Church.
We must get rid of all carnal and religious understanding of what God is demanding today and pray for the wisdom which comes from above.
God is NOT double minded. He speaks the same doctrine to all. His governmental kingdom principles are the same no matter with whom He is speaking. We must get to the place of doctrinal integrity that will bring us into the unity that is required to effect His reformation of His Church.
First things first! We must all repent and lead our people into a deeper, more relevant, genuine relationship with the Lord. We must come out of religion and into a deep spiritual relationship with Jesus. This will become obvious when our priorities are submitted to His order. The things of the Kingdom will be at the top of our priorities and spiritual battles will be won because we will possess the wisdom of God.
The first scripture in this letter gives us the clue. The natural (carnal) man cannot understand or accept what God is doing today. The carnal, religious spirit will accept what God has done in the past but will not accept what He is currently doing. The definition of a true apostolic people is: Those people who are walking in (living) all currently restored truth!
We can accomplish this because He has ordained it so! What a day it will be when all who are baptized in Holy Spirit come into unity of spirit, unity of faith, and unity of Kingdom government.