What is spiritual awareness?

As long as a man is asleep he can receive no communications. He may have the greatest capacity of any man upon earth, but if he is to receive instruction he must first be awakened; “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (Eph. 5:14). To be awake spiritually is to have the affections in healthy activity, and in this state we will get plenty of light. It is true He has given us the Spirit, that we may know what He has for us, but let us not think that it is sufficient to have the Spirit. If we had not the Spirit we would be utterly unable to touch the unseen things, but we have received the Spirit that we might be in the blessed sense of the love of God, apart from the activity of the will of the flesh, and thus be made fit to receive the things that God has prepared for them that love Him. He has not given to us the Spirit of the world. We do not need to know so much about it. What we really need to know is the Father’s world, so as to be able to set our minds on things above. We readily enough get acquainted with the things of this world, but heavenly things seem difficult for us to grasp. This, my friends, should not be. God never intended the things He has prepared for us to be hidden from us, or difficult for us to understand. I believe He meant them to be very simple to us. But no one but the spiritual man knows anything about them. I do not say this to discourage the feeblest saint, but to point out in what power the things of God are apprehended, and also to try and set forth how we may be in that power. The way is open. I believe everything heavenly is known by love, and I believe also that every service for Christ done upon earth must, to be of value, be done in the power of love, and if you and I will only go to Him, who alone can make the love of God a great reality to us, we will greatly please Him, and give unspeakable joy to our own hearts.

(Vv. 14, 15). Thus we learn that the wisdom of God is made known by revelation and communicated to others by inspiration. Now we learn that the reception of the truth is also by the Spirit of God. The natural man cannot receive the things of God; they are foolishness to him; they can only be spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual discerns all things. We do well to remember that it is the “spiritual”, not simply he that has the Spirit, that discerns all things. A man must, indeed, have the Spirit to be spiritual; but being spiritual implies a condition in which a man is under the control of the Spirit. Such discern all things, yet they themselves are not discerned of any. The spiritual man can discern the motives that govern the world, though the world cannot discern the motives and principles that govern the spiritual man.

Inspiration: The apostles received, directly from God, the things that no eye had seen, no ear had heard but God had prepared for those that love Him (v. 9). What was the process involved? ‘God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit’ (v. 10). And let us never forget that only the Spirit of God is able to know, and to communicate, what is ‘the depths of God’ and ‘the things of God’ (vs. 10, 11). Communication: Through these communications received from the Spirit the apostles were in a position to know these things (v. 12) and to communicate them: ‘Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual’ (v. 13). The apostles passed on the truth received, word by word. This truth is often referred to as verbal inspiration. Reception: The third stage in the process is that of reception. The truth being fixed in divinely inspired words and letters is one thing; its reception into the heart is quite another. To natural man it is impossible: ‘the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned’ (v. 14). But does this mean that every believer is in a position to take in the thoughts and wisdom of God? By no means. One must not only be born again. Even being indwelt by the Spirit will not do. To take in the truth, one needs to be spiritual: ‘The spiritual discerns all things’ (v. 15).

To apprehend the truth there must be a spiritual state consonant with the truth, and this is produced by the Spirit of God. Occupation with the riches of the Father's glory as seen in relation to Christ, the Man of His purpose, will enable the Spirit to form within us the desired spiritual state. This is not a mere intellectual exercise, but the heart and conscience affected by the truth with which it is engaged in communion with Christ by the Spirit.

The first thing to be considered is the fact that leprosy is a matter for priestly discernment. One in whom there was leprosy, even the suspicion of it was to be “brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests.” The garment was to be “shown unto the priest.” The “owner of the house” was “to come and tell the priest.” The priest here speaks of spiritual discernment — that discernment which is the fruit of nearness to God, of the enjoyment of God’s word in communion with Him. Now this makes the Scriptures the judge of what leprosy is. In having to do with it, acquaintance with the mind of God, as revealed in His written Word, should be sought. Without this acquaintance there is no proper capacity to judge or discern. Spiritual understanding is the fruit of the truth held in communion with God: the mind, conscience, and heart exercised by it. Alas, how many forfeit their right to deal with evil through lack of spiritual discernment. What a sad spectacle is a man dealing with leprosy apart from fellowship with God and the ability which the word of God alone gives! Let us keep in mind that if called on to discern evil, we need spiritual discernment.

Yet a path of faith is just the one for plenty of exercise and searching of heart. It is one as to which more seldom than we think can one pronounce for another, and when the need for spirituality is absolute and necessary. "The spiritual man discerneth all things." He "discerns." It is not internal feeling or blind impulse which controls, but the knowledge of one whose mind and ways of thought are formed by the word, and who is in the presence of God, so as to be guided by His eye. This guidance infers present nearness and knowledge of Himself — the instruction of the word; but where the soul waits upon God, and occupies itself with Him, so as to see and interpret every look of His.

All real knowledge of biblical truth is a result of the working of the Spirit opening the scriptures to us.

The Holy One gives the key to all spiritual knowledge (v. 20). It is truly encouraging to realize that regardless of our spiritual advancement or moral position, God's provisions of grace are equally available to anyone. Even the youngest babe in Christ has that unction and may know all things, because the Holy Spirit gives him spiritual intelligence. Isaiah reports about the whole vision being compared to a sealed book delivered to a person ; either that person knows how to read, but the book is sealed ; or he does not know how to read (Is. 29 : 11, 12). Contrariwise now, the Spirit opens God's Word for us and instructs us how to read it. God's message reaches our heart for our encouragement and enjoyment. The apostle Paul presents also that important truth to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 2 : 10-16). Revelation of the deep things of God is by the Holy Spirit. Communication of spiritual things is also through the Holy Spirit. Finally, reception into our heart and conscience is by the Spirit.

But God has come in His sovereign goodness towards us in this our natural weakness. In giving us His divinely inspired statements about Himself He has not at all left us to our own reasoning powers to speculate about what He says; but He has made us partakers of His own divine nature which has a capacity to grasp divine things when revealed, and then He has given us His own Holy Spirit to dwell in us to interpret His Word and to enlighten our renewed understanding as to its true meaning. This is a great boon. But it is only as we lean not on our own understanding and have a submissive will and a teachable heart that He can guide us into all truth (John 7:17; Prov. 3:5-6; 1 Cor. 2:10, 12, 14; John 16:13).

Every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has the divine nature which gives him the capacity for the reception of the truth, and each believer has the Holy Spirit who is the power for receiving the truth, but it is possible to be like the Corinthians. in a carnal state that hinders the receiving of the truth that God has given us. What we need to receive the truth is a true spiritual state, "the spirit of wisdom and revelation" in the full knowledge of God.