Genesis 6:3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

I was looking into the issue of striving with the spirit and found a rather bizarre reference, an umpire. They did not have baseball back in Genesis 6:3 so the reference was added to point to the issue of judgment as if the spirit was calling balls and strikes as we pitch. Being one who was a pitcher in school I found this to be very interesting.

I would often throw pitches that looked good as they were coming at the batter but would not come across the plate. The batter would swing and miss. Strike! But if the batter did not swing, it would have been called a ball.

2 Timothy 2:5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

My slider was a great pitch and looked like a hanging curve. The batter would swing to hit the pitch as it came across the plate but just as the batter committed to the swing, the bottom would drop out and the ball came nowhere near the plate, nor the bat. I had pitched deceit, it was not lawful. But what a great pitch.

Such is the things of life. How many times do people pitch deceit at us hoping we will buy into their lies? So many times that we have become suspicious of even good pitches. Now here is a twist on the strive with the spirit as an umpire, one that you might not think about. What if the spirit, acting as an umpire, calls balls and strikes before the pitch is thrown?

The Holy Spirit being God knows all things and calls balls and strikes for the batter, “This one is going to be a strike, go ahead and try and hit it.” Now the effort is on the batter’s part to swing lawfully and if he misses, it is not a sin.

2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we swing by faith, not by sight:) LPT

But that slider looked so tempting!!

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Time and time again I hear people in bible study say “How can I hear God?” I have to ask myself two questions. 1 Is this person born again? 2 Why is person looking to the world to hear God? I ask myself, grace does not accuse. How can I now find words to express insight without judgment?

When you are born of woman, you do not know the language into which you are born? Understanding of language will come later, the new born has no knowledge of speech, to understand or to speak. So why would a born again, babe in Christ expect to understand the language of the kingdom into which they have just been delivered?

Kingdom language is not the same as world language yet somehow some of us expect to hear God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit in the language of its worldly birth. This is error in understanding. So how do we come to hear God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

When you were born, did you bond with your mother? If you are a parent, you understand what I mean. When they placed by children in my arms, I loved them and that love showed in a non-verbal manner. I know, because I am their father, that they bonded with me, and love in the purest form was returned to me, by these babies. It was non-verbal, but I knew love, given and received.

This total dependent child knew nothing about me except that I loved them and did not understand one word that I spoke. Such is the kingdom in that the language of love is exchanged before words. The words will come if you will love your God with all your heart.