The deeper life

We live in a world where the opinions and views of men openly compete and contradict those of God. Unconsciously, in our quest for relevance and acceptance of the world, we end up adopting worldly methods, approaches and philosophies that are contrary to our faith in Christ, (Colossians 2:6-8).

We live in a woke generation that is deep in learning, rationalising and free-thinking instead of God, (1 Corinthians 2:1-10). With more people getting educated and enlightened, we are seeing the rise of philosophical analysis of scriptures, and the intellectualisation of scriptural truths and realities. People are fast becoming eloquent, logical and knowledgeable. The endowment in speech and knowledge comes with some dangers, however, – people pay more attention to knowledge and insight than to devotion to God and Christ. Eve took her eyes away from God and lusted after sense knowledge. The desire and quest within us to be deep must be a daily quest for the truth of God’s word, (Psalm 1:1-3).

We are to desire and be determined to dig deeper into God’s word by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit delivers to us the deep things of God both in scriptures and at God’s thought level, (1 Corinthians 2:9-10). The Holy Spirit is able to lead us into the deep things of this world and the deep things of God, (Psalm 92:5).

In the natural as well as in the spiritual, there are deep things. In the natural, we have things like coding, rocket science, robotics, medicine, genetic engineering etc. In the spiritual, we have deep things like incarnation, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. The deeper life is a journey into the depth of the finished works of Christ that must translate to wisdom and power, (1 Corinthians 1:23-24). These two factors must rob off on our speech and character.

Yielding to the Holy Spirit will bring us to true intellectual depth. God is a genius and the Spirit makes the genius of men, (Job 32:8). The Holy Spirit wants to deepen our thoughts like that of God because deep thoughts are the producers of great works. The first area where you need to be deep is in your thought life, you must not be shallow. The Holy Spirit is able to lead you to deep waters in your field. From the inside of new creatures will flow rivers of living water, (John 7:38). By the Holy Spirit, we get rooted and grounded in love, (Ephesians 3:17). We get into the place of intimacy with God and the Holy Spirit. We also get deep love for people – good or bad. By the Holy Spirit, we are empowered.

Pastor Sunday Ogidigbo, Holyhill Church, Abuja.