Spiritual Intelligence: Knowing God and Making Him Known
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About this ebook
While there is no deficit of religious intelligence, there is a need for spiritual understanding. In essence, there is an intelligence that comprehends the divine-human connection with all of its privileges, promises, and responsibilities. This book is based upon this premise. Spiritual Intelligence is the ability to understand truths, facts, meanings, relationships, functions, and realities that are seen, unseen, heard and not heard. It is a privilege of the salvation experience that can be developed. While academic intelligence measures the ability to comprehend science, language, mathematics, and logical reasoning, it is not an adequate measurement of the capacity to understand information beyond the natural and sensory spheres. Spiritual Intelligence is an acquired sensitivity, awareness, and consciousness of the existence and integration of the divine-human connection.
This work is a product of experiences in the realm of ideas, beliefs, convictions, visions, dreams, intuitions, prophecies, and revelations. It is a compilation of writings covering a variety of topics relating to this capacity to comprehend relationships between faith, belief, conviction, attitude, and behavior. Such topics as Redemptive Consciousness, BioSpirituality, Spirit-Baptized Mind, Evidence-Based Theology, Pentecostal Power or Psychic Phenomena, and others contribute to a most interesting journey into the realm of Spiritual Intelligence.
Kirby Clements, Sr
Kirby Clements Sr. has co-pastored for 25 years at a 10,000-member church in Decatur, Georgia, where he served as bishop over both national and international ministries. He and his wife, Sandra, have been sent forth to establish and reinforce leaders and ministries around the world, including Africa, Asia, South America, Australia, the Caribbean, countries in Europe and North America. He also serves on the Board of Directors for several ministries. He and his wife have authored 13 books and continue to organize seminars and other events that educate and inspire believers. Dr. Clements received a bachelor of science from Morehouse College, a Doctor of Dental Surgery from Howard University School of Dentistry, and a master of science in Dentistry from Boston University School of Graduate Dentistry.
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Spiritual Intelligence - Kirby Clements, Sr
SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE
Knowing God and Making Him Known
by
Kirby and Sandra Clements
SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE: Knowing God and Making Him Known
Kirby and Sandra Clements
Copyright Kirby and Sandra Clements 2012
Published by Clements Family Ministry at Smashwords
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review
Address inquiries to the publisher:
Clements Family Ministry
2000 Cathedral Place
Decatur, Georgia 30034 USA
Learn more about the authors and their ministry at
www.clementsfamilyministry.com
ISBN: 978-0-9794181-2-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012943014
First Printing: June 2012
Printed in the United States of America
Edited and composed by Annette R. Johnson, Allwrite Publishing
DEDICATION
We were looking for something that was eternal, dependable and good. We desired to invest our lives in a quest pleasing to God. We were searching for something to emulate and to pursue that was worthy of passing on to our family. We were looking to commit ourselves and our family to something, where at the end of the earthly sphere, there would be no regrets nor doubts. Our search ended in Him, Christ Jesus the Lord. And now our desire is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and be made conformable to His likeness.
INTRODUCTION
The New Testament epistles seem to indicate that the battleground of our faith has always been conceptual, the struggle in interpreting historic truths, facts, and events and putting them into some practical, manageable form. The issue has either been the inability or the unwillingness to properly interpret and integrate redemptive truths and facts into life experiences. This may account for the apostolic exhortations to add knowledge to faith. It may be the reason behind the apostolic prayer for the disciples to be filled with a dimension of the Holy Spirit beyond the original baptism. This conceptual crisis may account for the falling away of the Galatians; the sustained immaturity of the Hebrews; the lawlessness of the Corinthians; and the mixture among the Colossians. It becomes obvious that the apostolic exhortations to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord,
and to be steadfast and immovable
are invitations to a sphere of intelligence that promote productive stewardship in the Kingdom of God. The appearance of these historic challenges in our contemporary redeemed community suggests a similar deficiency. While there is no deficit of faith or a lack of religious intelligence, there may be a need for spiritual understanding. In essence, there may be a need for an intelligence that comprehends the Divine-human connection with all of its privileges, promises, and responsibilities.
This work is based upon this premise. It is a collection of writings comprising more than three decades of experiences both within and beyond the walls of the church. Having served as a pastor and later a bishop in a megachurch with a variety of racial, cultural, ethnic, and generational groups, my experiences include every aspect of church life. My role as a bishop continues to allow me to be involved in all variations of churches based upon age, congregation size, racial and ethnic compositions, types of leadership, physical facilities, outreach capabilities, doctrinal and theological expressions. While involved in these liturgical and clerical responsibilities, my wife and I maintain a dental practice with a specialty in Prosthodontics. These topics, although not exhaustive, represent wisdom and knowledge gained from the Scripture, Holy Spirit and personal experiences in both the natural and spiritual world.
These writings are catalogued under the title of spiritual intelligence, a phrase coined to express the idea that knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and discernment are not limited to academics. These topics are interconnected and represent dimensions of understanding that contribute to the idea of spiritual intelligence. The papers present the idea of salvation as a comprehensive process that is spiritual, psychological, and behavioral. The promises, privileges, and responsibilities of this process are mediated through the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures. While the Holy Spirit is received as power, the intelligence of God is to be found in the Scriptures. These papers reveal the significance of sound concepts and the quality of faith in the life of the believer. This is especially true regarding issues such as the nature and character of God; the supernatural and psychic phenomena; the quality of faith; and sociological factors such as gender, aging, spiritual, mental and physical well-being.
Our hope is that this work will develop a sensitivity, awareness and consciousness of the existence of the Divine and the spiritual, and their integration into the human and natural. As believers, we are called to influence the world in which we live. We accomplish this through conviction, credibility, and competence. We must be able to maintain a redemptive consciousness while living in a world of many ideas, knowledge, values, and objectives. While the world is not so interested in everything we do in the worship experience, it cannot neglect the power dynamic of the Holy Spirit, our insight, foresight, compassion, and awareness of things seen and unseen. We can comprehend and integrate spiritual truths into the natural sphere of the home, marketplace, and even the church. The ultimate expectation is that this work will help us all to know Him more and make Him known.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
1. What Exactly is Spiritual Intelligence?
Knowing God
Making Him Known
I. KNOWING GOD
2. Sensitivity
3. Spirit-Baptized Mind
4. Evidenced-Based Theology
5. Theology of Aging
6. Culture of Skepticism
7. Biospirituality
8. Biblical Paradoxes
Eyes to See
Biblical Examples
9. The Unknown God
Sovereignty
Faith
Prayer
Judgment
Delegation
Propitiation
Equality
His Dwelling
Revelation
Consequences of Believing but Not Knowing Him
II. MAKING HIM KNOWN
10. Spiritual Equilibrium
11. Redemptive Consciousness
Mottos
Idioms
Biblical Idioms
Hyperbole
Redemptive Expressions
12. Spiritual Integration
13. A Justification for Abuse
Main Topics and Texts
Beliefs on Authority and Their Implications
The Proper Interpretation and Response
14. The Kingdom of God, the Believer and the Supernatural
Description of the Kingdom
Consequences of Varying Views
Supernatural Connection
15. Pentecostal Power or Psychic Phenomenon?
Key Terms
Mainstream vs. Alternative Religious Movements
Divine or Demonic
16. Theology of Association
Historical Examples
The John Principle
Association and Identification
17. Spiritual Momentum
Progressive Faith
Challenges to Change
Convictions to be Changed
Things Acquired and Inherited
Things Learned
Laws of Spiritual Momentum
18. Improving Spiritual Intelligence and Life
References
Recommended Readings
Other books
1
WHAT EXACTLY IS SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE?
Intelligence is an umbrella term describing the capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity. It is the aptitude to grasp truths, relationships, facts, meanings, and to learn from past experiences, to plan, and solve problems. In fact, there is the recognition of multiple intelligences that describe the ability to understand space, time, language, math, logic, music, nature, and people.
There is also an intelligence that describes the aptitude of perceptions, intuitions, and even phenomena beyond sensory data. This is the capacity to understand truths, facts, meanings, relationships, functions, and realities that are seen, unseen, heard and not heard. There is the degree of sensitivity or awareness. It is a consciousness that is a product of a redemptive process.
IQ is the acronym for intelligence quotient, and refers to a score given for standardized intelligence tests. But not all intelligence can be measured by an IQ test. In fact, IQ measures mathematical, spatial, reasoning, logical ability, language understanding, but it is an inadequate measurement of the ability to comprehend data that is beyond the natural and sensory realm. There is an intelligence behind faith, courage and obedience. Otherwise, it is presumption. There is an ignorance behind rebellion and sin. When Divine revelation and interpretation is a scarcity, human ignorance is at a premium.
Knowing God
SI
is the acronym for spiritual intelligence and is a measure of experiential and practical abilities. It is a quantification of sensitivity, awareness or consciousness of the existence and integration of the Divine and human, or rather the spiritual and the natural. It expresses the capacity to comprehend purposes, meanings, and the relationship between faith, belief, convictions, attitude, and behavior. It encompasses the identity of self and life’s true values. It recognizes times and cycles. Ultimately, it corresponds to the degree of conformity to the likeness of Christ