In order to have a true prophetic perspective on the world that enables us to discern the times accurately, it must begin with a basic Christian worldview—to see the world as Christ does. To have His perspective, we must see from His perspective, which is from above. This is why we are told that we are to be seated with Him in the heavenly places in Ephesians 2:4-6:
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
As we have discussed, studies show that most Christians, even those claiming to be evangelical, born-again Christians, actually have a worldview based more on information from the media, opinions of others, or even their own opinions, rather than having a true Christian worldview. Anything other than seeing the world as Christ does will lead to deception. So how do we gain Christ’s view of the world and be raised up to sit with Him above?
To receive this we must want it so much that we make the effort to seek it. It is not just those who have truth who will not be deceived at the end of this age, but those who have “a love for the truth” (see II Thessalonians 2:10). Everyone may want the truth, but only those who have a love for it pursue it. Those who have a love for the truth will read, study, and pray for illumination and revelation as a basic drive of their lives. The greater we love the truth, the greater our efforts will be to find it.
This may be the main reason we have such a high-level anointing for revelation at our conferences. Most who attend our conferences come from out of town and a large percentage from other countries. God will reward those who take off from work, use their vacations, pay airfares and hotel costs, and come from the other side of the world. He promises us that if we seek Him, we will find Him (see Matthew 7:7), and such devotion is always met in a great way.
Of course, for you to be reading teachings like this shows a hunger for the truth. We have been discussing this, and I have been reiterating it at the end of the year because it is so crucial. Deception and the resulting darkness are increasing in the world. We are in desperate need of the light, and light is going to come to those who seek it.
Only Christians can perceive ultimate truth because this begins with seeing Christ. The ultimate truth is a person. That is where we begin, but our goal after seeing Him as He is, is to see as He does. This is the beginning of true maturity in Christ. After seeing as He does, we can be used by Him to do what He wants done—to do His works. That’s why we are called His “body.” We are called to be the extension of Christ on the earth. To do this effectively, we must see as He does. Some of the worst rebukes from God in Scripture are for those who have eyes but do not see. The prophets, who were used by Him to speak for Him, were often called “seers” for this reason—they had eyes to see.
I was recently sitting with a teacher who has a vast education in both history and the theories of scientific futurists. This gave him a very rich, logical, interesting, and compelling message. However, since he was also a sincere and deeply committed Christian, I was surprised by how much his concept of the future was not only lacking, but contrary to the biblical prophecies of the times. There were also obvious contradictions in some of his perspectives that were based on logic, which neither he nor those who followed his teaching seemed capable of seeing. These were not minor issues, and when I gently challenged him about them, to his credit, he saw the problem immediately and was genuinely appreciative. This is a remarkable characteristic that gave me great hope. With his learning, which was expansive, and his ability to capture the attention of some of the world’s most effective people in many fields, he remained humble and teachable. This is someone who is a real lover of truth and not just knowledge.
We see this same trait in Apollos in the Book of Acts. He was “mighty in the Scriptures” (see Acts 18:24), and obviously a very compelling teacher. However, he was also open for Priscilla and Aquila to take him aside and show him things he did not know. This enabled him to go to an even higher level of usefulness to the Lord.
My point is with our love of the truth, which causes us to pursue it with great effort, let us also love it enough to stay teachable and humble. We are told repeatedly that God “gives His grace to the humble” (see James 4:6; I Peter 5:5). One of the most basic characteristics of true humility is to be teachable. The most humble will even be teachable by those whose knowledge is inferior to theirs. Someone can have inferior knowledge, experience, and wisdom, but still have something we need. God often sets us up this way to separate the real lovers of truth from those who are just lovers of knowledge, which are often for selfish reasons. We see this in Matthew 11:25-26 when Jesus said,
“Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.”
Infants are at the height of immaturity, but they have a characteristic that attracts the grace of God—they are humble and are therefore teachable. Let us be great pursuers of truth and loving knowledge, but let us not fall over the stumbling block of pride as we find it.
