Book III/Chapter 01: Ingenius
Last Updated on Sunday, 13 July 2008 07:40
It's September, 1977. Young people from all over the country are gathering on the 45-acre campus of Southern California College (now Vanguard University) in Costa Mesa, CA...a bustling community in southern Orange County.
The dormitories of the Christian school were like two colossal custard-painted doors united together at the ground floor by a lobby they both shared. Men were settling into the dorm to the east, women were settling into the dorm on the west.
As it turned out, the dorms were filling up quickly, and many students found themselves having to share a two-student room with three or even four students...
Which made my situation all the more miraculous. While other students found themselves sleeping on the floor of their assigned rooms because the beds were already occupied, I found myself with my own two-student dorm room made available for my exclusive use for at least a month or two.
I remember my first night in that room. Settling down early after a rather busy afternoon, I prepared myself for bed. Being 16 years of age and at least 20 miles from a home I rarely spent any considerable time away from, I was on my knees before God begging for His Blessing and Guidance.
The answer was immediate. There on my knees beside my bed an invisible Light shone from Heaven, and I began to change. My mental faculties were illuminated and given an intelligence that was sharp as a razor and powerful as a locomotive. In that amazing state of enlightenment, the most mind-numbing mathematical calculations and logical exercises were nothing more than child's play. My awareness was expanded to perceive the awesome Presence of God that is always around us, but beyond our frail human perception. My soul was exalted and lifted up to a level of communication with God that required no words and even less thought. Rather, The Lord Jesus Christ and I just KNEW things together.
Oh my beloved Friend! What blessed fellowship! What delightful comradery! What indescribable wonders await those who submit their lives, their wills and their minds to Christ!
I don't recall all of what was shared between The Lord and I, and what little I do remember I feel inclined to guard with a sacred confidentiality. What I will say is that I remember the feeling that this encounter had been planned ahead of time, as some sort of checkpoint preordained for the beginning of that particular phase of my life...
But that is neither here nor there. I recount this experience to declare that intelligence and genius are GIFTS that God makes available to those who ASK. I've found a belief that is common among the sons of men; stating that whatever wits we were born with are the wits that we are stuck with. While disease and circumstances can turn a genius like Maurice Ravel into a mental vegetable, there is no magic pill that can turn one who suffers mental retardation into an Einstein or a Rachmaninov. Genius is considered a product of genetics; and only through the manipulation of genetics can a genius be produced "on demand."
This simply is not true. Genius, like patience, or temperance, is a SPIRITUAL attribute that can be acquired at any point in the life by either the Sovereignty of God or by simply asking God for it.
"Reverence and respect for God is the beginning of Wisdom." (Proverbs 1:7)
"Does any person lack wisdom? Let them ask of God Who gives freely and doesn't punish us for asking, and it shall be given them–but let them ask in FAITH, nothing wavering." (James 1:5,6)
Contrary to popular opinion God is marvelously generous, and is constantly looking for opportunities to lavish us with the treasures of His Grace!
"The eyes of YHWH go back and forth over the whole Earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward Him." (2nd Chronicles 16:9)
God is not by any means miserly or petty...doling out just enough to allow us to survive under the most miserable of circumstances. True to form, we sinners impose our own defective characters and finite limitations on God, foolishly casting Him in our own image rather than allowing Him to recast His Image upon us!
(NOTE: If it is that God for some reason allows us to struggle in our circumstances, it is not because He has an affectation for torture, but because He knows that our best interests are served by enduring these hardships.)
As one who has experienced first hand the Love of God I testify to everyone who reads this: God doesn't just love us, He is IN LOVE WITH US. He doesn't just care for us, He LONGS FOR US with an Affection that these fleshly bodies are incapable of handling in Its Fullness (God has poured His Love upon me in such great quantity I thought It was going to kill me)!!!
"If this is so, Brother Mitchell, why does God seem so far away?"
It is because of our lack of faith and our false conceptions of God that fuels this lack. Jesus said "You shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall MAKE you free." (John 8:32) It is receiving, believing, mediating and feasting on the Truth about God that produces faith in us and frees us from our self-obsessing lies about God. What is this Truth? It's not a set of facts or an ancient incantation...it is Jesus. Jesus Christ is the Truth about God, and if you begin to worship Him, asking Him to forgive you for believing lies about Him and entreating Him to come into your body you will immediately begin to enjoy the peace and fellowship made available to all of God's children across the entire Cosmos...
"Amen, Amen I say to you: unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Adam and drink His Blood, you have no life in you!" –Jesus (John 6:53)
If you, or someone you know are facing responsibilities and challenges–academic or otherwise–that are simply beyond your capacity to handle, ASK GOD to increase your faculties and abilities! If you have an ambition that everyone (including yourself) has told you is beyond your capabilities ASK GOD to increase your capacity! He Who created the brain is quite capable of improving its skills beyond your ability to imagine.
So how did I do in college? Not that well...but it wasn't because I lacked intelligence or learning ability...it was because of my CHARACTER. Not only did I lack the discipline, resolve, will power and perseverance to finish my studies at Vanguard University, I DIDN'T WANT THEM! I was too busy having fun, making friends and discovering new experiences (including many wonderful experiences with God). I hated the idea of writing term papers only to have them taken apart and criticized by some stranger (look at me now, typing away at my third book[laughing]!).
In a very real sense I WASTED the time God gave me in college...
...and yet even in that God has worked things out for my good and His Glory. In His Mercy He takes us back to the lessons we His children fail to learn over and over UNTIL WE LEARN THEM! Then He takes us on to the next thing.
Now don't misunderstand me! As I said in Book I of the Oasis: when God gives us something, He gives us a PIECE OF HIMSELF. Even with the studying and practicing and discipline IT IS GOD WHO GIVES THE INCREASE. So even in the areas of learning and maturity it is God alone Who gets the glory; this is VERY IMPORTANT. Otherwise we get caught up in a pride that is far more dangerous to us that any incapacity of the body or mind. I don't doubt but that God HAS MADE SOME OF US STUPID just so that we would depend totally and completely on Him and not glory in ourselves, falling into the condemnation of Lucifer.
"Ask, and IT SHALL BE GIVEN; seek and YOU SHALL FIND; knock and THE DOOR SHALL BE OPENED."–Jesus (Matthew 7:7)
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