BY Argie Simonis
Feeling the presence of the Lord and experiencing all these nice feelings of joy and God's love is a very beautiful and powerful experience that we can have.
But what really changes our lives is the revelation knowledge we get from the Holy Spirit through the word of God.
The Comforter, the Spirit of the living God is the One who will take the word of God we read and turn it into revelation and life within us.
This is the difference between revelation knowledge, versus the intellectual knowledge one acquires through academic study.
God reveals things in our hearts and not just in our minds. There are many Biblical references to this.
In the first four chapters of 1 Corinthians, Paul tries to put an end to the division that had been created in the Corinthian church when the believers began to take sides:
"For it has been declared to me of you, my brothers, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you." 1Cor. 1:11
"Now this I say, that every one of you said, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ." 1Cor. 1:12
"Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" 1Cor. 1:13
In the 3rd chapter, Paul even calls them carnal:
"For you are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are you not carnal, and walk as men?" 1Cor. 3:3
"For while one said, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are you not carnal?" 1Cor. 3:4
"Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?" 1Cor. 3:5
Looking at the divisions, hatred and strife that exists today in the body of Christ, we see how timeless Paul's words were back then.
The most common way people establish their authority somewhere is by showing that "I'm the boss" and try to hide their weaknesses. And yet Paul does exactly the opposite:
"And I, brothers, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God." 1Cor. 2:1
"For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." 1Cor. 2:2
"And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling." 1Cor. 2:3
What many people miss is that promotion in the kingdom of God does not come by trying to exalt yourself and show others how good you are, but by humbling yourself.
When we humble ourselves, that's when the Lord will extend His grace and lift us up:
"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time:" 1Pet. 5:6
Paul continues in his letter:
"And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:" 1Cor. 2:4
"That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." 1Cor. 2:5
Unfortunately, what happens today is that the majority of the body of Christ operates simply intellectually.
The Lord has given us all a mind to use, but if it is not the mind of Christ, it profits us nothing.
What I am trying to say here is that our real relationship with the Lord should not intellectual, but on a heart level:
"For with the heart man believes to righteousness..." Rom. 10:10
Paul continues and separates the wisdom of the world from God's widom:
"However, 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 nothing:" 1Cor. 2:6
The wisdom of the world is based only on logic and the things we can perceive with our 5 senses.
But we, as believers, must overcome all these limitations of our natural mind and understanding, because we believe in a God that we CANNOT see with our physical eyes.
We believe in a God who does not change our physical body, but our whole inner man. And all these invisible things we believe in are what will change BOTH our behavior and ALSO all that we see with our physical eyes.
So when we begin to walk with the Lord, it is impossible to have a relationship with Him based on a list of logical arguments but we need to walk with Him by faith:
"But without faith it is impossible to please Him..." Heb. 11:6
~ If someone asked me how I know that the Bible is inspired by God, I would say that the Bible is inspired by God because it inspires me and it has changed my life! ~
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Heb. 4:12
That is why when you study the word of God, the Lord speaks to you and gives you revelation. An atheist will never be able to understand you. He tries (without any success of course) to explain the non-existence of God, at the same moment when you experience God everyday because you know Him and He lives in you!
This is exactly what will attract such a person to the Lord. When he sees this living experience you have with Him.
The reason I mention all this is that there are things that come to us only by revelation, that is, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
This is what Paul meant:
"However, 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 nothing:" 1Cor. 2:6
Do not forget that these words come from the apostle Paul, who was considered to be among the most educated people of his time. See what else he says:
"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." Phil. 3:7
"Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but DUNG, that I may win Christ," Phil. 3:8
The original Greek word used for - DUNG - here is - SKYVALA -
Do you know what SKYVALA is?
- what remains in the sieve after sifting wheat or other cereals,
- garbage, trash.
"And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:" Phil. 3:9
The apostle Paul, the man who examined everything through his education, reached the point of analyzing them through the revelation knowledge of the Lord.
Have you considered that Paul was NOT one of the Lord's 12 disciples? The 12 disciples, besides Judas who got himself hanged, were with Jesus for 3 and a half years, day and night.
And yet, Peter, one of the disciples of the Lord's inner circle, when he read the writings of Paul he said:
"... in which (that he wrote to you) are some things HARD TO BE UNDERSTOOD, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction." 2Pet. 3:16
In other words, Peter is saying here that Paul's revelation was greater than his own.
Paul did NOT know Jesus in the physical like Peter, but after the supernatural encounter he had with the Lord on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-6), he knew Him by revelation. Look what he did after that:
"But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace," Gal. 1:15
"To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:" Gal. 1:16
"Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus." Gal. 1:17
"Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and stayed with him fifteen days." Gal. 1:18
Paul was the one who received a greater revelation about how you can have a relationship with God by grace, compared to the revelation that these 12 disciples who spent 3 and a half years with Jesus had!
This is what Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians:
"For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles," Eph. 3:1
"If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:" Eph. 3:2
"How that by revelation he made known to me the mystery; (as I wrote before in few words," Eph. 3:3
What I want to emphasize here is that revelation knowledge is superior to intellectual knowledge. This is exactly what Paul is talking about here:
"But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world to our glory:" 1Cor. 2:7
"Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." 1Cor. 2:8
It is not a mystery that is hidden from us. It is hidden from those who try to explain everything with their logic and refuse to let God inspire them and lead them through their heart.
I will say it again so that I am not misunderstood:
The Lord gave us a mind to use it, but the word of God cannot be understood by our natural mind, but only by the mind of Christ that we have:
"For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." 1Cor. 2:16
See what is also written in Romans:
"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. 8:7
"So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Rom. 8:8
We continue reading from 1 Cor.:
"But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him." 1Cor. 2:9
Many religious people use this verse to argue that no one can understand God and His ways.
So, even after them getting born again, they neither know how to walk with God, nor how to receive from Him. They remain in a permanent state of passivity, just waiting and looking forward to go to heaven, because they believe only then will they know the Lord.
1Cor. 2:9 that we read, is from an Isaiah's prophecy:
"For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, beside you, what he has prepared for him that waits for him." Is. 64:4
What Isaiah is actually telling us is that with your mind you CANNOT see, hear or understand God. God is far above our mind and our understanding.
That is precisely why Paul continues and says:
"But God has revealed them to us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God." 1Cor. 2:10
"But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1Cor. 2:14
Here Paul is NOT telling us that we cannot know God and His ways or have a relationship with Him.
What he is telling us is that we cannot do this with our logic or our natural mind. God has to reveal Himself to us.
There are many examples in the Scriptures, but a classic example is what Luke writes in his gospel:
"Give, and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you mete with it shall be measured to you again." Luke 6:38
When we don't have enough money to pay our bills, our natural mind tries to find a solution through saving for example. It follows this logic:
- "I have to give less in order to have more left."
- "I need to find a way to make more money."
In other words, your natural mind tells you that the more you give, the less money you have and the further away you get from your financial goal.
But since God tells you that when you give it will be given to you, it means that when you have a financial goal, the best thing you can do to achieve it is to start giving, not try to keep your pockets tight.
So when we trust the Lord and what He says in His word and give a part of what we have, instead of de-creasing, we in-crease! Do you see how strange this seems and how it completely defies logic?
And yet, this is the way God's Kingdom works!
This was just one of the many examples found in the Scriptures of how the spiritual laws that the Lord has set, work. They have no logical basis in our physical mind.
~ In the Kingdom of God, the way up is down ~
"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:" 1Pet. 5:6
and to get you give (Luke 6:38).
We live in a world governed by both physical and spiritual laws. It is good to educate ourselves and seek for knowledge, but it is even more important to seek all that treasure of revelation knowledge that the Holy Spirit gives us when we study the word of God.
It is a knowledge that when it is revealed in our heart, no devil or demon can steal it.
Amen!
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