Biblical Truths: Knowing What God Has Prepared for You

By ENOCH A. ANTI

1 Corinthians 2: 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him is a verse in the Bible that has been sadly misquoted and misapplied amongst most Christiansif not the majority. Most Christians with this Scripture have created the impression that; they do not know what God has prepared for those who love Him. That is a very unfortunate belief because the above scripture has nothing to do with Christiansit is solely a reference to the prince of the world and unbelievers.
Biblical Truth points out the main difference between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world. It also differentiates between the natural man and the spiritual man.
BIBLICAL TRUTH: Knowing what God has prepared for Youseeks to bring out the truth in 1 Corinthians 2:9 and expound on it to let the Believer understand that The Holy Spirit reveals to those who love God, the things He has prepared for them (1 Corinthians 2:10)Blessed are your EYES for they SEE: and your EARS for they HEAR (Matthew 13:16). In Biblical Truth, I touched on the natural senses/organs of the human bodyeyes, ears and heart mentioned in 1 Corinthians 2:9 and how God through these senses, which has spiritual symbolism shows us (who believe) the things He has prepared for us.
In Chapter One, I have expounded on 1Corinthians 2 to provide a background for the book. The eyes symbolic of Sight, Visions and Dreams: "Where there is no vision, the people perish . . . (Proverbs29:18a) is in Chapter Two. The ear in Chapter Three is symbolic of hearing from God: "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left (Isaiah 30:21) and the heart (Chapter Four) is symbolic of Faith; "with the heart we believe" (Romans 10:10).
The other Chapters, further explains how to put our faith to work and Chapter Seven which is my favourite Chapter speaks about Heaven-Our Glorification, which is the final work of redemption revealed by God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Dec 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781467885584

ENOCH A. ANTI

Enoch Awuku Anti is from Ghana. He is a Christian- a Christian with a passion to contribute to the growth of the body of Christ. Enoch believes the Church today has been inundated so much with worldly standards of prosperity and success to the detriment of the most important components of the faith which needs to be corrected before we (Christians) lose our saltiness. His passion centres on intimacy with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit and bringing back the disciplines of Holiness, Prayers and Bible study into the lives of Christians. Blessed tremendously with the gift of writing and with the ability to understand and interpret scripture, Enoch started writing short expositions about scriptures he has read and forwarding them to e-mails of colleagues at work. In the corporate world, emails are circulated daily-and much of the content, are things to laugh over. He once thought to himself: "If it's not unprofessional to forward e-mails to friends for them to laugh, why don’t I do write ups, based on scriptures I have received inspiration from and forward them to colleagues to encourage and inspire them for a worthy cause than laughter?" That is how his writing began. Enoch currently lives in Accra, Ghana, with his lovely wife Theodora and two kids, Lois and Jesse. He works with a financial institution in Ghana.

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© 2011 by ENOCH A. ANTI. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 11/10/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4678-8557-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4678-8558-4 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

Cover Design by Theodora W. Anti, In-Depth Group.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. The quotation for the front cover is from John 16:5-13 (NIV)

For enquiries contact:

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Contents

Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Acknowledgments

"To God be the glory, great things He has done

So loved Him the world that He gave us His Son"—Fanny Crosby.

This book has been made possible by the contribution of many individuals; directly or indirectly.

My family had to endure many days and nights of ‘ignoring them’ for the completion of the book. Theodora, thank you so much for your patience and your understanding. I want you to know how much I love you and the kids (Lois and Jesse). Theo, I also want to thank you for the belief you have had in me all these years—whilst I was crumbling under self doubt, you had the guts to still believe in me and propel me on—Wow! You indeed are a gift of God.

Sister Doris and Gideon, you were also very instrumental in this book. Whilst I was in Africa, you had to make contact with the publisher in the UK to get things in motion. Thank you. I also have to mention how profoundly grateful I am for all the support you have provided me over the years. One thing is certain; God will not forget your labor of love—whatever I am becoming now, I am very confident it will be on your account in heaven. You are truly a wonderful couple.

To my Parents, Rev & Mrs. Anti, I will want to thank you so much for raising me up in the fear of the Lord. In fact it made a whole lot of difference in my life. You provided a foundation for me to seek God and have a personal relationship with Him and I am eternally grateful. To my siblings I say God bless you.

My family in the Lord—Albertina, Annette, Chris, Debbie, Harriet, Kwaku, Lovia, Jerry and Rexford—you have made so much difference in my life within this short period. Thank you for allowing me into your life and believing in the gift of God in me. This book is a result of our spiritual awakening. Please don’t quench the fire.

Finally to all my friends and my team members at work—you occupy a special place in this project. Your critique, your anticipation of the final work and your warnings against plagiarism all went a long way to make this work possible. Thank You!

INTRODUCTION

IN MY LIFE AS A CHRISTIAN, I have encountered many born again, spirit filled believers who often misquote or misapply scriptures without consideration to the context of the scripture. I believe the reason for this is that, for majority of us Christians, most of the things we know or the understandings we have of God are usually things we have heard through various preaching or read from a book. We easily run with every hint of revelation and do not make time to verify what we hear or read. We don’t have the attitude of the Bereans in Acts 17:10-11.

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

One of the most misquoted or misapplied scripture in my opinion is 1 Corinthians 2:9.

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor Ear Heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Some Christians quote this scripture; they shout, scream and get all excited about it. I suspect this excitement hinges on the fact that they believe they don’t know what God has prepared for them. That is a sad belief. I got insight into this scripture about eight years ago in my personal Bible study time during my university days. I shared this insight with a number of my fellow Christians on Campus but after eight years I still hear and see some Christians getting all excited when 1 Corinthians 2:9 is mentioned. Through this book, I want to share some of the insights I had and hopefully get the Christians who still think 1 Corinthians 2:9 means they do not and cannot know what God has prepared for them to start re-examining their belief and come to an understanding that, they as Christians can know what God has prepared for them. Obviously after eight years my understanding has increased and whatever I am sharing now is not exactly as I received it, my experiences over the years has influenced and increased my understanding of this scripture.

I will want to appeal to you that, as you read, have a readiness of mind and verify anything I write, especially those things that will appear new to you. I am sharing these insights with you, with the hope that as you read, you will be inspired to make time to pray and study the word of God. I believe if I, a lay Christian can hear from God, you also, if you put in the necessary disciplines in your life can hear from God. As a matter of fact, it is the right of every Christian to hear from God—our father. Hearing from God should not be the preserve of a few. Spend time with God and you will hear from Him. Be challenged and desire to know God and hear from Him. God still speaks, you might have heard a lot about Him, but I believe it is time to hear from Him. The Samaritan woman, who Jesus encountered at Jacobs well in John 4, preached Jesus to the Samarians. But later on, hear what they said in John 4:42.

Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

I believe God with you that as you read, you will come to an understanding of what God has for you. It is very crucial for us as Christians to have an understanding into God’s plan for our lives. The world is not going to reward our belief in God, it will rather fight us from becoming all God has for us, it is therefore imperative that we get to know God’s plans for our lives through our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray to God that, the prayer of Paul for the Church of the Ephesians will become true in your life The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints (Ephesians 1:18).

Chapter One

1 Corinthians 2

1. And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. 2. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. 4. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 6. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: 7. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8. Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have which God crucified the Lord of glory. 9. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things hath prepared for them that love him. 10. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, and the deep things of God. 11. for what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13. Which things also we