There exists in your average human being amazing abilities which when fully utilised can advance us to new dimensions and open up realms of possibilities which formerly remained unknown. Within our God given capacities there lies two talents which when put together form an unstoppable force.
They transcend recognised boundaries and pay no attention to the status quo. They are not always expressed in a visible way but they always achieve visible results. Education would not exist without them, technology advances because of them.
Progress and prosperity follow them. I am talking about the power of Intention and Comprehension.
During my life I have had many desires and desire itself is a powerful force, it can dominate your mind and change your behaviour, cause you to dream and imagine, yet as strong as it is it doesn't always get what it wants. It can miss the mark, fall prey to distractions etc.. However, Intention is something stronger, it's decisive desire.
Intention will make you discipline yourself in order to achieve your desire. It is a much more focused thing, it begins to do what you dream, it takes imagination by the hand and says "I will commit to you so you become reality." Intention is powerful.
For example, I may desire to learn another language, yet desire itself cannot help me learn that language. If after that I actually intend to learn it, I then begin to make steps in order to accomplish my intention. I put plans in place.
Now if you put comprehension together with intention there is actually no limit to what a human being can achieve. It forms an unstoppable force.
Take Cain for example, after God respected Abeles' sacrifice and disregarded his, an intention formed within him to kill his brother. God saw what was inside of his heart and explicitly warned him against carrying out the desired deed, why? Sin was crouching at the door, once a certain point was reached sin and Satan were ready to give him and humanity afterwards the comprehension needed to carry out his wicked intention.
Whether good or evil I don't think anyone can disagree that when someone intends to do something and then gets the necessary understanding to go with it, we know it will be done. Even God Himself attests to these powerful attributes he has given to us. When people got together one day and declared their intention to build a tower to the heavens and then began to comprehend what they needed to do in order for it to be done, God looked down and knew that they would well be able to do it. So He confused their languages and scattered the people.
Their intention was evil and they knew what needed to be done, bar heavens intervention, nothing would be impossible for them! As a result God divided the languages and scattered the people. The resulting confusion caused quite a delay.
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What I find amazing though is that the same human abilities that caused the whole Babel thing in Genesis effectively work when it comes to learning other languages. By looking at someone trying to explain something in a language you don't understand with the intention of knowing what they're saying, eventually by observing their movements, the context of your conversation and finally catching on to what they are intending to say, you will comprehend the meaning of the words coming from their mouth. Communication itself is based on intention and comprehension.
In this age of instant knowledge we can run the risk of being information centres without comprehending the information we have heard. Comprehension often takes time and takes commitment. Multitudes heard Jesus but few comprehended Him. All who comprehended Him first had to carry out their intention of following him even through the times they didn't understand Him. Intention is the beginning of commitment and commitment is the beginning of comprehension.
A woman is one of the most complex riddles a man could ever hope to solve, and though a Mens Health magazine might claim to have all the answers to her, you won't begin to understand her until you commit to her.....for a lifetime.
It's the same with God, those who knew him best were first brought into covenant with Him. They looked at more than just the works that He did, but asked why He did the works that He did. The Israelites in the wilderness saw God's works, Moses saw God's intentions.
For me comprehension and wisdom are one and the same, and wisdom must be married to intention. When I can have the understanding and ability to carry out my word or intention, created success will follow. The Word was the beginning of all creation, yet wisdom formed it. God intended for a house to be built, His wisdom built it.
Regardless of whether inside the church or outside can we really make the world a better place? I believe yes, by using the same attributes through which we made it worse, that being intention and comprehension, or better yet those sanctified attributes of God called wisdom and revelation. I hope for the worlds sake that some of us can lay aside the many different things we want and instead choose wisdom over all.
There's no lover more rewarding than wisdom, and I for one intend to get to know her.
Joshua Robbie is from the Gold Coast Australia where he runs a painting and decorating business. He recently started a church fellowship with his wife Rene' in Currumbin Queensland. Though he has many interests, including basketball and surfing, he with Rene' have determined to give themselves in service to the kingdom of God in all aspects of life.
Josh Robbie's previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/josh-robbie.html