THE NUT:
God's Word (gnosis gr.), the Holy Bible, scripture

THE NUTCRACKER:
our diligent study and search for wisdom.

THE MEAT OF THE NUT:
revealed knowledge, intimate counsel (IC), spiritual wisdom by which to progress in the spiritual life.

The Nut

The Nut is God's Word-His commandments, precepts, and laws. Within it, contains His blueprint for our well-being. We come to a general understanding of God's Word through the reading and hearing and preaching of scripture. This understanding in the Greek is referred to as gnosis. Gnosis is knowledge acquired by the perceptive systems of rational thought. But there is something greater here. There is that knowledge perceived by faith alone. Like the nut that protects its meat with a hard shell, God's Intimate Counsel is hid from the empirical and rational perceptive systems. It will take faith to crack it.

The Nutcracker

The nutcracker represents our active faith. Active faith is the pursuit of righteousness within the Sphere of Faith. It is a faith which hungers, pants, and thirsts for the living water of God's Intimate Counsel and wisdom. For it is more precious than gold, silver, and precious stones.

Proverbs 2:2-4 give us a perfect example of one who seeks God's spiritual food for his daily nourishment. His is an active faith.

• v.2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding.
• v.3 For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding,
• v4. If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasure.

The nutcracker is composed of three elements, which are vital to cracking the spiritual nut. These three elements have a synergetic effect. Each needing the other, and with the full cooperation of all elements, they exert a tremendous force, far beyond what any of the three could accomplish apart from one another. These three elements are:

• concentration, focus
• desire, thirst, hunger
• diligence, pursuit

Such are the characteristics of a student intent on graduating with the highest honors. These are the elements required to unlock God's mysteries and to mine for God's precious wisdom, that which I so often call IC, an acronym for Intimate Counsel, meaning

I See that which has been hidden, and the mystery has been made known to me.

Such is our reward from the Holy Spirit to those who diligently seek to know God in a personal and intimate way. Faith pleases God...and He is a rewarder of those who seek Him, Hebrews 11:6.

The Meat of the Nut

The "meat of the nut" is our spiritual food and wisdom by which we develop and mature our souls. Without this spiritual nourishment, we cannot and will not grow spiritually to the degree necessary to become disciples and glorify God.



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