Enlightened Understanding

Paul prayed that God would give believers the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him and that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened (Ephesians 1:17–18). This tells us that possessing spiritual truth and understanding spiritual truth are not always the same. God has provided everything we need in Christ, but the Holy Spirit must enlighten our understanding so that we can recognize what has been provided and allow it to govern our lives.

Understanding is the ability to grasp the meaning of God’s truth and recognize how it applies to your life. Enlightened understanding occurs when the Holy Spirit enables you to see spiritual truth clearly so that it governs your beliefs, decisions, and responses.

Knowledge tells you what God has said. Understanding enables you to recognize what His Word means and how it applies to your circumstances. Wisdom teaches you how to live according to that understanding.

Enlightened understanding develops a Christ-centered philosophy. As the Holy Spirit opens your understanding, you no longer interpret God’s Word through your experiences. You begin interpreting your experiences through the truth of God’s Word. Christ and His Word become the governing standard for how you think, believe, make decisions, and respond to life.

Philosophy and Belief System

Every person operates from a belief system, whether consciously or unconsciously. When we are young or unlearned, our experiences, environment, and reactions to life often shape that belief system for us. As we mature, we may examine and organize our beliefs into a conscious philosophy of life, although not everyone does so.

A belief system is the collection of beliefs, assumptions, values, and convictions through which a person interprets life and makes decisions. A philosophy is an organized set of beliefs, principles, and values that governs how a person understands truth, interprets life, and determines how to live.

Brothers and sisters, do not think philosophy is a worldly principle. The word may be modern, but the process is biblical. Study, meditation, memorization, discussion, and application work together over time to develop God-consciousness (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

For our discussion, philosophy means a consciously established framework for living. A Christ-centered philosophy makes Christ and the Word of God the governing standard for interpreting experiences, making decisions, and responding to circumstances.

A person may have both an unconsciously formed belief system and a consciously developed philosophy. Making Christ the ruler of both your belief system and philosophy guards you against backsliding. A Christ-centered philosophy does not permit your circumstances to become the final authority over the truth of God’s Word.

“For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.”

2 Corinthians 13:8

If your philosophy is truly Christ-centered, you cannot permit yourself to violate or contradict the truth of God’s Word. What happens to you may be factual, but those facts are not the final authority over God’s truth. If you do not quit pursuing the truth, God’s Word will change your thinking and become the governing reality of your life.

God-Consciousness

God-consciousness is the inward awareness of God that governs how you think, believe, interpret circumstances, and respond to life. It is not merely believing that God exists or occasionally thinking about Him. It is living with His truth, character, presence, and authority as the ruling reality within your heart and mind.

God-consciousness causes you to interpret your experiences through the truth of God’s Word rather than interpreting God’s Word through your experiences. When circumstances appear to contradict what God has said, you do not permit those circumstances to become your final authority. You remain grounded in the truth, search the Scriptures, examine your heart, and seek God for understanding and direction (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 10:4–5).

God-consciousness is the foundation upon which the armor of God operates. The armor protects and fortifies what grace has already provided within the believer so that the believer can remain grounded in truth and stand against spiritual opposition (Ephesians 6:10–18).

The Devil and Demonic Attack

The devil is not merely a symbol of negative thinking. He is presented as a real spiritual adversary who works through strategies and demonic forces.

The devil is the spiritual adversary who attempts to establish a system of thought that opposes God’s truth. Demonic attack attempts to introduce lies, fear, accusation, temptation, doubt, confusion, offense, and spiritual discouragement into the inner life.

Demonic attack seeks to produce a consciousness governed by something contrary to God. The battle concerns which truth, belief, or influence will govern the person’s inner life. God-consciousness protects the believer from accepting the enemy’s suggestions as truth.

  • Truth opposes deception.
  • Righteousness opposes accusation, condemnation, and sinful influence.
  • Peace opposes fear, instability, strife, and confusion.
  • Faith extinguishes thoughts and circumstances intended to produce doubt.
  • Salvation protects the mind from hopelessness and a false identity.
  • The Word of God exposes and answers beliefs that contradict God.

An Example of a Christ-Centered Philosophy

You may pray for healing and not see it manifested after six months. You then say to yourself, “Not everyone gets healed.” At that moment, you have entered the territory of unbelief because that thought contradicts the truth you see in the ministry of Jesus. Jesus healed every sickness and every disease, and He healed everyone brought to Him for healing (Matthew 9:35; Luke 4:40).

Instead of allowing what you see—or do not see—to invalidate God’s Word, you say, “I cannot contradict the truth. By Christ’s stripes, I have already been healed” (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24). You then search the Scriptures and ask God to reveal what is preventing the manifestation of your healing.

This inward searching of the heart is not condemnation. It is an honest examination before God for understanding, correction, wisdom, and direction. You do not contradict the Word of God; you dig deeper.

Christ Died So You Could Have an Abundant Life

Christ died so that you could have abundant life, but you must develop a Christ-centered philosophy to live according to what He provided. If your old belief system continues to govern your thoughts, decisions, and responses, you may possess the life of Christ without fully expressing or experiencing it.

How does one have an abundant life? By abandoning the old life. Life governed by this world is not true life at all. Life in Christ is the only way to live by God’s standards, and it brings blessings. Yes, blessings. You may not feel blessed, but you are blessed because the Word of God tells us so. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you must build your Christ-centered philosophy (John 10:10; Ephesians 1:3).

A Christ-centered philosophy does not earn the abundant life; grace has already provided it. It renews your thinking so that your life comes into agreement with what grace has provided. God-consciousness makes the life of Christ the governing reality of the inner man, and godliness becomes its outward expression (John 10:10; Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:22–24).

Godliness is more than religious behavior or the appearance of goodness. It develops when an inward awareness of God produces an outward life that agrees with Him (1 Timothy 4:7–8; 6:3–6; 2 Peter 1:3–7).

God-consciousness is the inward philosophy governed by God, while godliness is the outward expression of that consciousness.

Godliness defeats the enemy because it refuses to allow circumstances, feelings, or symptoms to change what God has said or corrupt His character within us. The enemy is defeated when his attack cannot govern our beliefs, conduct, or expression of agape love.

I have joy by faith, not by my emotions: This defeats depression (Romans 15:13; Philippians 4:4).

I am loved by God through faith, not according to my feelings or emotions: This defeats the feeling of being unloved (Romans 5:5, 8; Ephesians 3:17–19).

I am healed by faith, not according to changing symptoms or a negative diagnosis: This defeats sickness and disease (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24).

I am rich by faith, not according to my bank account balance: This defeats a poverty-conscious philosophy (2 Corinthians 8:9; Philippians 4:19).

This is God-consciousness producing godliness. I do not deny what I am experiencing; I deny it the authority to govern my beliefs and philosophy. When circumstances cannot move me away from God’s truth, the enemy is defeated.

Truth gives faith its content. Faith receives and trusts that truth. God-consciousness allows that truth to govern the inner man. Godliness expresses God’s character outwardly.