2 Corinthians 2:14 But 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.

What is sadly lacking in the lives of Christians today is spiritual discernment, an understanding of the knowledge of God. There is only one way to obtain this understanding, and that way is by experiencing a revelation of Jesus Christ within our own heart. I am not talking about a warm feeling. Knowing God is not based on our emotions. I am talking about the same kind of revelation that Saul experienced on the road to Damascus. His natural eyes were blinded but his spiritual eyes were opened wide. The transformation in Saul's understanding by his personal experience with Jesus was so great it completely altered everything in his life. Even his name was changed. But more importantly, his perceptions, his purposes, his thinking was completely transformed. Paul is a wonderful example of the kind of transformation a revelation of Jesus Christ will work in an individual. We have many today who have an apparent zeal for the Lord, many who are convinced that they are doing great works for God. They may have great intellect, they may be well versed in the Scriptures, and they may have large followings. At the same time they may well be operating from their own strength, from their own reasoning, and unknowingly be working in direct opposition to the true purposes of God, just as Saul was before he became Paul.

As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Here lies the distinction. Here is the standard of measurement. Is the Spirit of God leading us in all things? Is Christ firmly enthroned in our hearts, or is he still taking a lesser seat while self sits enthroned? We cannot serve God and mammon. We cannot love God and the things of this world, including self. There is no way for us to know the purposes of God outside of a personal relationship with God. Only as we press in to know HIM, will we begin to spiritually grow in our inner man. 2 Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. What we need in these last days are people who are willing to pay the price to know God.

It is important to realize that there is a multitude of things in the world today using the name of God, that in reality are not recognized by God at all. Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. We are literally inundated with traditions of men, doctrines of devils and polluted teachings. How is the believer to know what is of God and what is error? There is only one way that we can know without a shadow of doubt. We must get up close and personal with God, we must press into a one on one relationship with Jesus Christ. Only when we do just that, will we grow in our spiritual man. We are in greater need of spiritual discernment today than any generation before us. Why? Because we are living in the time when gross darkness covers the people. Jesus overcame the world. Jesus paid the price for our redemption back to God. It is our responsibility to take up our own cross, to obediently follow Christ in all things, to grow up to full stature sons of God.

To do this, we must be spiritually balanced. To be spiritually balanced, we must learn to live by the Spirit, daily dieing to the flesh. In our strength this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible.

What am I talking about when I say we must be spiritually balanced? Imagine if you will, an old fashioned scale. This scale is a means of weighing and measuring those things we encounter in life. As we grow in our relationship with the Lord, we will continually be receiving teachings and instruction, both good and bad, truth and error. When we are babes, we place our trust in those who are older in the Lord to feed us truth. As we progress in our Christian walk, we discover that things are not always what they appear to be. It is during this growing up process that we must begin to develop discernment. 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Study, in this verse means: to use speed, to make effort, be prompt or earnest, be diligent, labor. Nowhere in the scriptures does it say we can just sit back and let someone else spoon-feed us what we need to learn. We are admonished to "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." What we tend to do is gain an insight into one area, one aspect of the innumerable facets of God, and tip our scale that way. It is far too easy to become obsessed with one aspect of our Christian experience, be it the gifts of the spirit, healing, faith, missions, spiritual warfare, whatever. Our focus becomes so consumed with one particular segment of knowing God, that we lose sight of all the other segments. When this happens, we are spiritually out of balance. The same thing can happen with our callings. We can feel that we are called as an Apostle, a Prophet, a Teacher, etc. Where is the danger in this? The danger lies in getting our eye on our calling, and allowing the enemy to use our calling to separate us from the ONE WHO CALLED US. How could this happen? This happens all the time, because self has not yet been made completely subservient to the Spirit.

God gives gifts and anointings to men. He makes every opportunity for men to walk in the fullness of these gifts, in a relationship with God. Yet we continually see men fall victim to spiritual pride and egotism. This comes about because in their lives they lost the place of spiritual balance. Our first, foremost, number one concern and focus must always be knowing Jesus Christ. We must diligently guard our hearts at all times lest our focus be diverted in any way. We often fail to realize that even seemingly good things can cause us to take our eyes off of Christ. Some of the most common pitfalls and snares are the very things we have prayed for and desire to see in our lives. Our "ministries" for example, can become our stumbling block. We can possess a God-given ministry to the lost and dying, yet in the course of carrying out this ministry, our eyes can become more focused on our works, our ministry, than on the reason for the works. Suddenly we see ourselves as being more important than we should. The "ministry" can take on a life of it's own, taking precedence over the whole reason for the ministry; to know Christ. We can be in possession of a genuine burden for the lost and dying world, yet if we allow our eye to focus more on the overwhelming needs all around us, we can become out of balance, we can loose the desperately needed connection to the only source of hope and help for the world.

Spiritual balance is not something you can learn or obtain from any man. It is something that only the Holy Spirit can work within us. We are spiritually balanced in proportion to the amount of time we spend contentedly sitting at Jesus' feet. It is by coming into the proper relationship with God, that we bring every aspect of our mortal lives into proper relationship as well. It is Giving God the pre-eminence in all things. We see the injustices, the falsehoods, the errors and we want to do something about it. In our flesh we can do nothing. The hardest thing for the flesh to do is wait. Even the flesh that is put under, still goads and chafes to have to wait. If we would be spiritually balanced, we will have learned (usually by painful experience) that to step out ahead of God's timing is disastrous. How often do we see injustices and corruption, and want to be empowered to set things right. Well let us consider this, "how does God feel?" Romans 9:22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?"

If we would know God, then we will love what God loves, and hate what God hates. We will not lean to our own understanding. We need to be well balanced, not leaning to one extreme or another. We need to seek diligently to know God above all else. The restoration of the world back to God is an undertaking beyond our comprehension. Yet God has had a perfect plan in place since before the creation of all things. Our natural vision is so limited, we cannot conceive of those things God has prepared for them that love Him.