How you perceive God will determine what, and HOW you receive from Him
Date: 12/15/21—1/5/22
Author: Kiwi (Khamali)
Cord #1…
Mark 6:2-6 KJV
And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?
3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
4 But Jesus, said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.
How you perceive somebody will indeed determine how and what you receive from them. Your mother sees you as her son; your sister sees you as her brother; your teacher sees you as her student. Yet you’re the same person, and how they view you will generally define what —and how much, usually in quality— they receive from you. For instance, those lady-teachers (commonly the English ones, for some reason) who see their underage male students as “a little something more…” tend to end up receiving “a little something more” than ‘homework’ from them.
(…of the book related variety, I mean)
Likewise, it is of no small importance what your personal perception of the Creator of heaven & earth is— your very existence depends heavily upon it. If that sounds melodramatic then let me show you —on the strength of a threefold cord (Eccl 4:8-12; one down, two to go…)— that there’s no exaggeration in my words…
Cord #2…
Joshua and Caleb were peers among those that God miraculously brought out from Egypt. Yet, while Joshua was very old and stricken in years (out of God’s own mouth; Joshua 13:1), Caleb was still growing in his faith (plus his physicality)— and for war at that!
Joshua 14:7,10-12 KJV+
7 Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadeshbarnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart……
10 And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years (85) old.
11 As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.
12 Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said.
Numbers 14:24 KJV
But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
Same God; two different mortal men; living two wildly different outcomes!
This is where people may come to the conclusion that Caleb is simply speaking colorfully (or worse, lying). Because obviously God isn’t lying about Joshua’s condition, since the LORD is incapable of such.
Ironically, however, that very rationale is what tries to make a liar of the LORD since even He says “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov 23:7); and “we believe therefore we speak” (2 Cor 4:13); oh, and ‘we can have whatever we say’ (Mark 11:23). That in itself is a threefold cord of evidence, but here’s a bonus: “…as thy days, so shall thy strength be.” (Deut 33:25). Not to mention Caleb lived under the old covenant of law —when lying was punishable— as opposed to the grace of the new covenant we live under today; what he spoke was what he meant.
Cord #3…
Speaking of speaking, let’s look at how God changed Abraham’s very NAME, in order to change his SPEECH, resulting in a critical change to his overall THINKING— in essence, his perception! Abraham, our father —progenitor of the Jews, who God used to spearhead righteousness-by-faith— and the pattern for our faith-based belief on the finished work of Jesus (Gal 3:9-10), was childless and desired an heir who would eventually succeed him and inherit his estate; but his wife, Sarah, was barren, while he himself (being no spring chicken) was nearing the end of his reproductive arc of life. By all the natural estimations one could make, things were looking rather bleak, but God had a remarkably different plan for our man Abe…
You see, Abraham’s name wasn’t originally Abraham; previously it was “Abram” (exalted father), and Sarah’s was “Sarai” (quarrelsome, contentious). Now, if you haven’t already been introduced to the idea that names and natures coincide (in other words, the nature of a thing will typically be determined by what you name it— “Gabby”? Talkative.), you can now consider that formality a done deal and out of the way! God is pedantic about this and you’ll see the theme adhered to exhaustively throughout the scriptures, Abraham’s case being no exception.
Despite “father” already being somewhere in his identity, it’s not enough to counteract barrenness. What Abram needed was a new revelation. So God, quelling Abram’s anxiety by assuring him that a seed from his own loins will be his heir (Gen 15:4), calls him outside of his tent at night, tells him to look up, and likens the stars in the sky and the dust of the earth to the QUANTITY of offspring that’ll someday come to know him as their father! Imagine that!
If that wasn’t enough, God commemorates the pep talk by changing his and his wife’s names: from Sarai to Sarah (from dominating/quarrelsome/contentious to Princess), and from Abram to Abraham— attributing (in true Creator fashion) His OWN meaning to the name-change… “Father of many nations” (Gen 17:5). Some may argue that “Abraham” doesn’t mean what God suggests it does. And I’d argue back that the overwhelmingly ONGOING result we see to this day should probably define the definition.
As far as Abraham’s PERCEPTION was concerned, his name was changed to “Father of many nations”; and thanks to that necessary shift in his mentality, today, through Christ, many nations are calling him their dad. Even now Abraham is still receiving from God (up there in heaven) based on how he perceived Him way back then. By the way, ONE year after the name-change he and Sarah received from God, Sarah (at 90 yrs old) bore Abraham (10 yrs older) a son— who they named Isaac (“laughter” in Hebrew). A 25-yr-old promise came to fruition one year after God changed their personal image of parenthood from “childlessness” to the stars in the sky.
It is for this reason that a man who says an impossible result is possible, with God, is right; and the man who says it remains impossible, is also right. Choose what you will observe (in the spirit), in spite of what is unfolding before you (in the natural) —God beheld NO iniquity in murmuring/complaining/stiff-necked Israel (Num 23:21)— to bring about your desired outcome.
Darkness? Light BE! (Gen 1:2-3)
**Empty cupboards? Supply BE!
**Short on rent? Provision BE!
**Wardrobe lacking? Raiment BE!
- - -Note** that these are just examples for illustrative purposes, as Jesus in His sermon on the mount preached against the need to focus on such details WHEN you’re seeking FIRSTLY the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness (Matt 6:25-34).
Darkness being apparent, God studied it not. Instead He called forth the solution to the problem (Gen 1:2-3). And it wasn’t until AFTERWARDS that He concerned Himself with the details of making the sun & moon (Gen 1:16; maybe this is why, in John 1:5, “the darkness comprehended it not”)! This is walking by faith and NOT by sight. An essential aspect of our Christian walk before the face of God, because even if we can’t control what we sense with our sensory organs, we can (w/ decisive practice) control HOW we perceive them.
Why that’s absolutely critical is because what you perceive, AND how you speak of it —what comes out of your mouth (Matt 15:11)— are ALL (100%) filtered through your heart; and it is your heart that fashions the very world you live in…!
Proverbs 4:23 KJV
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
Heavy stuff! Yet mentioned so casually by our man Solomon. EVERYTHING you’ve ever interacted with, and have had the opportunity to experience (as well as everything you haven’t!) were all an issue (a ‘deposit’, and lack thereof) of your life— determined by YOUR own heart. But that’s a teaching for another time. For now, just practice perceiving the lemons your senses give you in a way that makes them into lemonade. Through optimism, optimize your perception, as if your soul, its thirst, satisfaction, and very life itself depended on it…
—because they actually do (Mark 6:5).
<3,
Kiwi
