Since the fall of man, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil means the choice or decision for good or evil arrived at independent of God. It is the good that sets the trap for us to fall into the evil. Whenever we choose without the aid of God’s Spirit, good or evil, we run the risk of eating from that tree again and again. Our choices must be influenced by the Spirit and the Word of God so we live by the tree of Life (CHRIST) not by leaning on our own understanding. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, the book of proverbs says. Many people attempt to change certain behaviour patterns but find it difficult to sustain if their minds are not renewed in the subject matter. Until what is inside the mind is renewed, the changes are not permanent. The body is controlled by the mind. What the mind does not permit the body cannot do. To break a habit, we must break the mind (thought) pattern that governs the habit. Our minds can then be free to pick ‘signals’ from the Spirit of God when the renewal process is underway.

Let us take a closer look at the KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. It is the knowledge of who God is; the knowledge of what He can do; the knowledge of what He wants to do; and the knowledge of the role He may want you to play in what He wants to do (especially in your life).
1.The Knowledge of who God is: the key to this is our reverential fear of God. He reveals Himself to those who fear Him. Psalms 25:9-14; Proverbs 1:7,29; 2:1-5. This dimension of the knowledge of God is such that He must be self revealing to us. We have no way of accessing this knowledge without His help. Our attitude of reverence and fear is the prerequisite for the revelation of God to us. God is all knowing so knowing Him also opens us to knowing something of His knowledge. Whenever God gives us the opportunity to know some of what He knows, we have come into favour with Him and our response of faith and obedience is the least we can muster. For instance, when God told Noah about the flood, He revealed some knowledge of His plans to Noah. Every Word from God is self-revelatory. He shares what He knows and we have the privilege of knowing Him through knowing His knowledge. Every instruction from God is an open door to an experience with God. We need to prepare our hearts to know Him, obey Him in love and honour Him with all that we have.

2. The knowledge of what God can do: Psalms 34:1. We know what He can do by seeing what He has done. These are recorded in the bible for us. Our response to this is praise. We were created to praise. We tend to look for what to praise in many areas of our lives. We praise cars, sports stars, products and so many different things. He who deserves our praise has been left out completely. His praise should continually be on our lips. He inhabits the praise of His people. When Paul and Silas prayed and praised God He showed up in the prison to deliver them. When we praise Him, we will experience His ability to repeat what we are praising in Him. Praise to God silences the enemy if we would do it continually in faith. Look at what He has done, base your praise on that and in faith count on his ability to do much more. Approach His presence with praise and have such expectation from Him. Listen to what He has to say but keep your attitude of praise intact, magnify Him in your heart. The secret of David’s victory over Goliath, amongst other things, was that He had magnified God in his heart beyond the size of goliath’s size, or words. His God was bigger than his fears of goliath. Praise is the key to magnifying God in your life. Are your problems bigger than your God? Spend time praising God and He will grow bigger than your problems in your heart. What you think about and talk about grows big inside you. Praise God at all times.

3. The knowledge of what God wants to do: this has three parts, namely what He will do; what He will allow to happen and what He will not allow to happen. God has chosen to do things in response to our faith in Him. Mark 5:22-43 talks about Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue. His daughter was sick and he called upon Jesus for healing. That is prayer in its simplest form. Jesus responded to his call and started to go to his house. On the way, news came that the daughter had died. Jesus told Jairus, ‘fear not, only believe’. That means prayers have set things into motion to see to the healing of the girl, a negative report should not negate the faith of this man in Jesus. Fear will steal your faith, don’t let it happen. Another miracle took place that had no form of request from the needy one. The woman with the issue of blood forced herself through the crowd and touched the edge of the garment of Jesus and her ailment was healed. Jesus felt power left Him and after recognising who touched Him, He said ‘Daughter, your faith has made you whole’. God wants to do things in response to our prayers and faith. Get on your knees and pray according to His Word and believe (and fear not) and receive answers to your prayers.

God will also allow things to happen when certain conditions are met. In Romans 1:24-28, we read how God gave people up to uncleanness; He gave them up to vile affections and up to a reprobate mind. He did these because of what they chose to do with the knowledge of God they had. When we make certain choices the repercussions are allowed by God in our lives. Many do not know why God allows things in our lives to happen. If we stay in His presence long enough, and He wants us to know He will let us know why things happen the way they do happen. When sin goes unconfessed, Satan is given legal ground to come in to devastate the situation to our own loss.

When we stand in faith and have a vital contact with God, God will not allow the forces of evil to prevail over us. Many times however, we leave the battle to a time when it is too late to fight back. Many live lives of ease and only take on the whole armour of God when the battle has already landed at their door. There are certain laws ordained by God in all realms of life. We cannot be inconstant disregard for these laws and expect God to keep holding things back from breaking out on us. For example, the bible says ‘death and life are in the power of the tongue’, many use their mouths to sow the seeds of death and later when the harvest comes, they ask why God allowed it. He already put the law into motion; you allow the law to work against you. You allowed it not Him.

4. The knowledge of what role he wants you to play in what He wants to do. For things to happen on earth, man usually plays a role. Many want to play no part and want to see things happen to them. By his Spirit God inspires us into actions that will lead to our needed miracles. Whenever you are praying God to do things in your life, ask to know what your role is in what He wants to do in response to your faith. I wonder who told blind Bartemeus to shout louder to get Jesus’ attention before the miracle of sight to blind eyes happened for him. Who informed the woman with the issue of blood that she could draw on the power of God through the helm of Jesus’ garment? Mary, the mother of Jesus was specifically told her role.

Remember that faith will always be involved in the role you are to play but let God help you to know it and do not let any stronghold keep you from walking in the knowledge of God. The way to identify existing strongholds in our minds is to recognise the reactions that pop up in our minds whenever the knowledge of God comes to us. Usually what God tells us to do may look ridiculous, but the ridiculous precedes the miraculous, sometimes. Your future lies in your knowledge of God. Go for all God has for you! Amen!

www.fowm.org, www.kolaewuosho.com;www.dtnbroadcast.org for further studies and development. Order for your copy of WINNING OUR WARFARE series on tapes, CDs and DVDs on www.wisdomestore.com

Jesus is Lord!

Please visit our various websites for further studies, view/listen to clips of our latest messages and order products online. You can also refer your friends to our websites:
www.fowm.org
www.cybermessages.info
www.dtnbroadcast.org
www.kolaewuosho.com
www.wisdomestore.com

Rev. Kola Ewuosho