John 3:9-10\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0Nicodemus answered and said to Him,\u00a0\u201cHow can these things be?\u201d\u00a0 Jesus answered and said to him,\u00a0\u201cAre you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Nicodemus was a highly educated man of God.\u00a0\u00a0It is likely He was the most highly regarded rabbi of his time because Jesus did not call him a teacher of Israel but \u201cthe<\/i>\u00a0(Emphasis mine) teacher of Israel.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Nicodemus was unquestionably highly educated and he was a man of God.\u00a0\u00a0We see the evidence of him being a man of God not because of his advanced education or because of the acknowledgement of the academia of his time, but because of his humility and hunger for God. We remember he came to Jesus to understand.\u00a0\u00a0This respected teacher coming to Jesus to learn.\u00a0\u00a0No amount of education from any institution may establish anyone as a person of God.\u00a0\u00a0The fact that one seeks the education, supposedly to serve God, is an indicator and not a fact of.\u00a0\u00a0Personally, I love to read what wise men of God have written, to informally educate myself in what I otherwise do not know.\u00a0\u00a0However, I pray before reading books authored by men so that the Holy Spirit would lead me in God\u2019s Truth so that I might not become indoctrinated by the so called insights and doctrines of men but that the Holy Spirit would be the received wind to anchor me in the Word while carrying me where I know not to do what I know not.\u00a0\u00a0It is as we are carried within the wind of the Spirit that we learn what cannot be grasped in the natural.\u00a0\u00a0As we are submitted to the Lord and as we are carried by the Spirit, that is where the supernatural and delightful happen. (John 4:23-24<\/b>) We see that men had educated others to learn how men explained God\u2019s Word, but Jesus several times said to the people \u201cYou have heard that it was said\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/i>only to follow up and correct by starting with \u201cBuy I say to you.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0(Matthew 5:21-48<\/b>)<\/p>\n
Whether one reads a book while attending a university, or whether in private study too often one depends and leans on what is learned in the book rather than on the Spirit of God.\u00a0\u00a0Often the creative teacher can be considered the most gifted one, not the pedantic one.\u00a0\u00a0It is better to be inspired by the Spirit than to lean on man\u2019s teachings.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A licensed Christian Therapist, or Counselor, or Elder may too often run to the teachings of man that they have studied instead of trusting the Spirit to guide him.\u00a0\u00a0To the one who does not know what it is to be guided by the Spirit it seems so much easier to run to the help of a man and his books than to the Lord and His book.\u00a0\u00a0It, at least at first, can be easier to trust what oneself thinks and what oneself learned in school rather than to learn to trust God and His book.\u00a0\u00a0It seems that we have a propensity to trust men rather than God, even in matters of spirit, heart, mind and emotions. When we seek counsel from people we ought to seek counsel from people led by the Spirit and His Word rather than those who are led, in the most part, by the teachings of man.\u00a0\u00a0Please don\u2019t misunderstand me, the teachings of man can very wise and give much insight.\u00a0\u00a0They are not something to be discarded, but rather they should be what the Spirit pulls from us to help each other.\u00a0\u00a0A seminary degree is great (I wish I had one), but being led by the Holy Spirit is better.\u00a0\u00a0Does anyone have trouble with that?\u00a0\u00a0That person needs to know God and His Word better.\u00a0\u00a0That person needs to understand what Nicodemus, at least at first, did not understand.\u00a0\u00a0That person must know the meaning of\u00a0John 4:23-24<\/b>\u00a0\u201cBut the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.\u00a0\u00a0God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
We know that God always has purpose.\u00a0\u00a0He is not frivolous.\u00a0\u00a0God gave us the Holy Spirit with good reason.\u00a0\u00a0John 14:16-17<\/b>\u00a0\u201cAnd I will pray the Father, and\u00a0He will give you another\u00a0Helper, that He may abide with you forever\u2014\u00a017\u00a0the Spirit of truth,\u00a0whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you\u00a0and will be in you.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0God wants us to rely on Him, on His Holy Spirit.\u00a0\u00a0If one doesn\u2019t know how, whatever your position in a church, find out now.\u00a0\u00a0Otherwise you will find that what you don\u2019t know has become a dam against the blessings God wants you to have.\u00a0\u00a0Nicodemus was humble and genuinely seeking to grow in God.\u00a0\u00a0He was at the top of the totem pole by the estimation of men.\u00a0\u00a0But He craved to know God deeper and He would come to set aside his position, and what he had previously learned from men to behold God in the flesh, and to know Him. (Luke 14:11<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0Praise God who is so patient with us and always wants to draw us near and teach us wonders we could never conceive without Him. Praise God! Praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear\u00a0me.<\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has\u00a0shown you, Oh man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; and what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of you, but\u00a0to do justly, to love\u00a0mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.<\/p>\n
Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John 3:9-10\u00a0–\u00a0Nicodemus answered and said to Him,\u00a0\u201cHow can these things be?\u201d\u00a0 Jesus answered and said to him,\u00a0\u201cAre you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?\u00a0 Nicodemus was a highly educated man of God.\u00a0\u00a0It is likely He was the most highly regarded rabbi of his time because Jesus did not call him a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[100,106,101,94,1874,17],"class_list":["post-2698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-john","tag-luke","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2698"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2699,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698\/revisions\/2699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}