Abundant Entrance to the Kingdom (11 of 12)

Mike Connell

That's virtue. You can see how virtue's a good word. It describes manliness, courage, being a man (or women) of honour. You have the courage to stand up, among people who are hostile to your way of life, and you stand up for what's right. Virtue means doing what's right in God's eyes, not what people think, or what's best for me.

An example of a man of virtue is David; and even though he had some things that were wrong, he stood up courageously for what was right. If you look at the apostles, they all died for their faith. They were men of virtue. They had courage to stand up and do what's right. You see Peter standing up and doing what's right. The authorities tried to shut him down for preaching the gospel (in Acts 4), and he said: God has commanded us to do this thing, and so whatever you think, you're allowed to think that, but we will do what God told us to do. That's courage, it's doing the right thing.

You always have opportunities in your life to choose to do the right thing, to do what God wants done. It may be to speak up, when no one else is speaking up. It may be to stand by someone, who's having a hard time. It may be to not lie, when you're tempted to. It may be to be honest, when you're tempted, or when others are saying don't be honest. There's lots of ways that virtue can be developed.

2) “…add to virtue (add to doing right), is knowledge”. Get understanding. Now the word ‘knowledge’ is the word ‘understanding that's gained by learning’ (intentional learning and experience). We need to keep growing in our spiritual knowledge and understanding. Solomon is an example of a man who developed great knowledge and great understanding - but he also sought it. He asked God for it.

What is it? It's the knowledge of God. It's an understanding of how life works, so we need to persevere. Solomon wrote like this….

Proverbs 2:1-6 - “My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding, if you cry out for discernment and lift your voice for understanding, if you seek for her like silver and search for her like treasures, hidden treasures, you will understand the fear of the Lord. You'll find the knowledge of God, because the Lord gives wisdom. From His mouth comes knowledge and understanding”.

Solomon, the wisest man in the world, understood that you can have natural knowledge by study; but there is spiritual knowledge and understanding of how life really works, that only God can give. He excelled in that. When God said to him: you can have whatever you want, he said: this is what I want. I want a hearing heart that understands, and God gave him wisdom. God was very pleased and with that, so God gave him everything else as well.

We need to pursue knowledge. That means being diligent in studying the word of God, being diligent in listening to people that have revelation and insight. It's applying yourself to understand how the realm of the spirit (God's kingdom) works. As you understand it, then of course you can make great decisions. Your life starts to flourish, because you understand: there's sowing and reaping. You know that I may do some things today and look like I'll get away with it - but I'm going to reap the consequences of those bad decisions.

I may pray, and do some things today, that don't look like I'm getting anywhere, but I will reap the benefits of all of that eventually. By understanding the law of sowing and reaping, in relationship to spiritual things, then I'm able to go forward and grow. I do things, because I know what's going to happen in the future. Then of course, then your life becomes where you're continually reaping, and continually sowing - it's your whole life, because you understand: that's how God works. Most people don't get how God works - they like what He does, but don't know how He works. One way He works is through the principle of sowing. You sow, sow, sow, sow and then gradually, after a time, you start to reap, reap, reap, reap, reap - and then your life is a flow of sowing and reaping.