“Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with him in whatever you do, and he will lead you wherever you go. Don’t think for a moment that you know it all, for wisdom comes when you adore him with undivided devotion and avoid everything that’s wrong.” Proverbs 3:5-7 TPT
Humans are thinking beings, God created us with the capacity to reason, reflect, acquire knowledge, form opinions and influence or be influenced by the opinions of others. This is because He gave us intellect which is, “the power or faculty of the mind by which one knows or understands; the faculty of thinking and acquiring knowledge.”God doesn’t have a problem with us exercising our intellect, the problem arises when we rely solely on our intellect to make decisions, especially in defining who God is and what He can or will do.
Humans have an intrinsic need for control because it gives us the illusion that we’re in charge. So we devote significant time, energy and resources to acquire the knowledge we believe we need to gain control. It’s worth noting that both God and Satan are interested in our pursuit of acquisition of knowledge, experiences etc. The key difference is the objective of the acquisition.
- God’s objective is to advance His kingdom.
- Satan’s objective is to oppose God.
The knowledge acquired feeds our intellect and shapes our perspective of our circumstances, experiences and belief systems. This is why we need to train our intellect to function as God would have it. This series we take a look at how we can unknowingly limit God in our lives and the battles of the intellect we must win to take the limits off Him. Click Here to download the study.