All things were delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father; and who is the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son may desire to reveal Him. [Literal Translation of the Holy Bible]
In a previous blog, we discussed the difference between having a religious opinion, and being in possession of Scriptural faith. To further support this, let's consider the confessions from two different Biblical characters, and Jesus' response to each. The first occurred when Jesus asked the disciples the question, " . . . who do you say that I am?" Peter answers with, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!" [Matt. 16:16]
The second confession comes from Nathanael, after he first encountered Jesus: " . . . You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel!" [Jn.1:49] Both confessions are virtually the same in content, but Jesus' response to each is quite different. To Peter, He pronounces a blessing, declaring his confession to have originated from a revelation from the Father. To Nathanael, He questions the declaration, due to the shallowness of its impetus. Jesus understood the difference between an opinion, based upon the cognitive abilities of the human soul, and faith, obtained by revelation, which accounts for the way He responded to each man's confession.
Consequently, as a believer, it is imperative that one can, and does, receive ongoing revelation from his/her Father. As simple as this may sound, for many of us, it occurs seldom, as well as randomly. The reasons for this are myriad, but at the top of the list, is our being 'out-of-spiritual-condition'. Or, said another way, we lack the spiritual discipline necessary to consistently 'hear' what He is, daily, saying to each of us!
The following is a step-by-step discipline to spiritually position yourself to receive revelation. Caution: this is not a formula, in the sense that, if you do this, then this will happen. Spiritual intimacy is just that; the development of an intimate fellowship with one's Creator, where you move beyond religious superficiality, and into a living love affair with the One who is absolutely 'in love' with you!
In this blog, we will begin the journey by considering the first step toward receiving consistent revelation of one's relationship with his/her Lover:
1) Acquisition
By definition, acquisition means: "the act of acquiring or gaining possession of". In our study, we are interested in acquiring a mental knowledge or understanding of Biblical truth. For the believer, any time he/she reads or hears God's Word, there is an intellectual acquisition of spiritual truth. Proverbs 16:16b states, "to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver." (NKJV)
In Western church culture, gaining or acquiring Biblical knowledge is deemed desirable, and is usually pursued by one's daily devotional reading and/or listening to the preaching/teaching of God's Word. Of the '4 step discipline' for receiving revelation, this step is the easiest, and the one most naturally practiced. However, it's the one most misunderstood and misused. Let me explain: the fallacy lies in our belief that when we have acquired an intellectual understanding of a spiritual truth, we are in 'full possession' of that truth - we are now ready to move on to the next doctrine . As important as gaining spiritual knowledge is, by itself alone, it will generate a religious pride that is as subtle as it is lethal. The apostle Paul stated it this way: "Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies". 1Cor.8:1 (NKJV)
Many reading this may be surprised at the above dynamic, so let's unpack it a little further. You may remember, in a previous blog, we considered how much importance and trust Western culture puts on the human capacity to 'think through' something, in order to gain a perspective of truth or reality on any given subject matter. Again, Paul disclosed the heresy of this belief: "So this I say and solemnly testify in [the name of] the Lord [as in His presence], that you must no longer live as the heathen(the Gentiles) do in their perverseness [in the folly, vanity, and emptiness of their souls and the futility] of their minds. Their moral understanding is darkened and their reasoning is beclouded. [They are] alienated (estranged, self-banished) from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the ignorance (the want of knowledge and perception, the willful blindness) that is deep-seated in them, due to their hardness of heart [to the insensitiveness of their moral nature]. Eph.4:17,18 (Amplified) Here, he is pointing out the fact that, even as born-again believers, we retain the capacity to 'think like' the heathen think! It might be well to re-read the above Scripture with this point in mind. As far as spiritual truth is concerned, our brain does not have the capacity to arrive at spiritual understanding on its own. If there is a paradox here, it would be, that on the one hand, we need to acquire intellectual knowledge of the Scriptures. On the other hand, one must always keep in mind the fact that intellectually acquired knowledge of Biblical truth, in and of itself, leads to religious pride, not spiritual truth and maturity.
An analogy of the above might be likened to the starter on an automobile . . . its use should be confined to starting the engine, not propelling the car down the road. Intellectually acquired truth should be viewed as the start of a journey toward a revelatory experience with Truth, not the completion of that journey.
We will consider the second step toward receiving consistent revelation of one's relationship with his/her Lover in our next blog.
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