There are those who bring their own version of God into their lives, and who (perhaps unknowingly) define Him and serve Him in a way that corresponds perfectly with their own perspective and will. And then there are those who bring their entire lives to the feet of God in order to be exposed, corrected and defined by Him. These have seen and felt that there is nothing more dangerous than following their own will; there is nothing more spiritually blind than natural sight; there is nothing more deceptive or disappointing than the desires of the flesh, and nothing more to be feared than to be found living a lie.

Spiritual light manifests to our inward senses or perception what is SPIRITUALLY real. It is not a belief, opinion, idea, deduction, speculation, conclusion, or interpretation that originates in the brain. It is something of a spiritual view, or an inward sight, a God-given awareness or sense of eternal truth that arises in the soul as the gift of God. It is something of God’s view shining in man’s heart. It is Truth manifesting itself in a self-evident disclosure to the senses of the inward man. It is a measure of participation in what God sees and knows.

In a few words, the biggest lie is the belief that goodness exists apart from the life of God. In other words, it is the suggestion that man can be something, have something, do something, or know something that is GOOD, independent of the life of God. This lie is what changes the direction of man’s heart, causing it to turn, and to desire and to feed on something else.

When you read the Bible, or any other spiritual book, it should always be with the goal of having your HEART draw near to Him, to see, feel, experience Him, to let Him deal with you, correct you, convict you, touch you, teach you, or whatever else He might want to do. The words are not to be studied and grasped and categorized by the brain. They are to be read somewhat like a love-letter, where your real desire is to know the PERSON who wrote them. Or perhaps like reading a menu, where the only way you can understand the words and pictures is by EATING the thing that they describe.

Self-denial is not the means of salvation. Nevertheless, the experience of salvation will teach you that you must deny (and not feed!) the desires of the flesh. Self-denial isn’t a way to get something from God. Its only value is in protecting His work, His seed, cooperating with (and not hindering) that “grace which brings salvation.” It is an undeniable truth that, if you are not denying self, then you are feeding self, loving self, and being increasingly governed by it. Wherever self is increasing (that is, wherever man is living in and for the nature and will of the flesh) there he is grieving, quenching, and resisting his own salvation by clinging to the nature that God is seeking to save him from.

The Lord appears in a flash of inward light, which, for at least a moment, forces us to see something of His truth, and something of our lie; something of His life, and something our death; something of His purity, and something of our vileness; something of His will, and something of our own that is totally conflicting. And this is His love, because nothing can be done to help man until we are willing to see what we are, and where we are going.

Most Christians wake up every morning and begin to pursue their own desires, live in their own wills, try to fill their day and their mind with the things that they think are interesting, valuable, entertaining, pleasing. They are not really living for Christ, unto Him, looking unto Him, carefully walking in His presence, and seeking to be led and governed by His Spirit in all that they do, say, and think. And because of this—that is, because they are just living THEIR OWN LIVES in their OWN WILL, all the time—they have no idea what to call a blessing, or a curse. They don’t know what to call discipline from God, or just earthly disappointment.

One of the great errors that almost all new believers fall into comes from a failure to discern these two seeds in the beginning of their journey, and to learn which of these to follow and which to deny. Very few people talk about these things, and even fewer are willing and patient enough to let the cross “separate the precious from the vile” before they run off in the strength, wisdom, and zeal of the flesh, expecting great things, great ministries, great wisdom, great manifestations of power, love, and righteousness, but all in and from the wrong man.