Wisdom and Revelation Part 2

So, on our last episode we began to discuss what it meant to receive a revelation from the Lord. That word revelation is such a mis-understood concept to the daily walk of so many believers. And together with wisdom (however that wisdom is imparted to us) is essential to the success of our walk in Christ. 

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Transcript

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Well, welcome everyone to another broadcast of Unchained Table, where we look into the Word of God to bring to the table topics that to some may seem controversial. We do this in order to raise the awareness of truth, truth that sometimes may divide us, but shouldn't be ignored either, because facing our differences in the light of truth will bring true biblical growth. Hi, I'm Jim Bell, and I am the host of Unchained Table. Y'all have to forgive me today. I have been a little under the weather. I have a little hoarseness in my voice today, and I'm just praying that I get through this whole broadcast without coughing or any kind of disturbance in my chest. So let's dive right into it now. You can pray for me as I pray, even though it'd probably be days later when you hear this, but still pray for me. I need it. So on our last episode we begin to discuss what was meant to receive a revelation from the Lord. That word revelation is such a misunderstood concept to the daily walk of so many believers. And together with wisdom, however that wisdom is imparted to us, it is essential to the success of our walk in Christ. So let's start in Ephesians chapter one, verse 17 again. That was the scripture we used last time. I always pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation that gives you a deep, personal, intimate insight into the true knowledge of Him, for we know the Father through the Son. Now that's the amplified version. So maybe walk through that again. I always pray that the God of our Fat the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation. See, there's two separate things there, a spirit of wisdom and a spirit of revelation that gives you a deep, personal and intimate insight. Now see, that's in brackets right there. That's added as a definition to the word revelation. The Amplified will do that. And so in brackets there it defines the word revelation and says that it gives you a deep, personal and intimate insight. What does it give you insight into? Into the true knowledge of him, into the true knowledge of God. And so then again in brackets it says, for we know the Father through the Son. That's a very good addition there to help you understand the fullness of that verse. Now we're going to look at the Greek words there. The Greek for wisdom is the Greek word Sophia. It speaks of wisdom. Insight that grasps reality as God sees it. Oh man, that's powerful right there. This wisdom is not just kind of hid knowledge, but it's insight that grasp reality as God sees it. And it moves in harmony with His will. In Scripture it ranges from the skill of practical living to the eternal counsel embodied in Christ, the word made flesh. So that's what wisdom is. Let's look at the word revelation. The word revelation in the Greek is apocalypse. It describes a divine act of unveiling. God making known what was previously hidden. Its eighteen New Testament occurrences trace a single consistent theme. Revelation belongs to the initiative of God. He's the one bringing the revelation. It centers on Jesus Christ and is mediated by the Holy Spirit. And it summons believers to hope, holiness, and proclamation. It produces those fruits, those good, righteous fruits, hope, holiness, and proclamation. Go a little deeper to put it in some simple words. This is from Rick Renner's Sparkling Gems. We read this last time. We'll read it again. This is part two. We're going a little deeper than we did last time. It refers to something that has been veiled or hidden for a long time. And then suddenly, almost instantaneously, it becomes clear and visible to the mind or eye. It's like pulling the curtains out of the way so you can see what has always been on the outside of your window. The scene was always there for you to enjoy, but the curtains blocked your ability to see the real picture. But when the curtains were drawn apart, you suddenly see what has been hidden from your view. The moment you see beyond the curtain for the first time and observe what has been there all along, but not evident to you, that's what the Bible calls a revelation. Now let's apply the meaning of this word to the realm of spiritual truths. The truths we now grasp and enjoy in our walk of Christianity were always there in the realm of the Spirit. But they were veiled or hidden to us, hidden from us. It wasn't the time for these truths to be revealed yet. So they remained obscured from our sight, even though they were always there. You see, understand what I'm saying? The truth is always there. It's always there. Everything that needs to be known for your walk of life is there. But it may not be the proper time for the Spirit of God to reveal it to you. And when the time comes for it to be revealed, then you see it, and it's a revelation. But once the right time came, the Holy Spirit removed the veil that obstructed our view, our minds instantly saw and understood. When this occurred, you had a revelation. Can you remember times in your past when you suddenly saw something in the Bible you'd never seen before? I think we've all experienced that. That truth had been there all along, but it had been hidden from your eyes. Then suddenly one day it was as if someone pulled the covers off that verse and it literally jumped off the pages in front of you. You saw it. You understood it. You had a revelation. You see, I think maybe you understand revelation a little bit better now. It's not something spooky. It's a revealing to you. It's a revealing to you that got the something that God wants you to see. A revealing to you a truth in the Word of God, a revealing to you a path God wants you to follow, a revealing to you someone He wants you to witness to, and so on and so on. You see, without revelation, you are only mentally ascending to the truth. And you might say, well that's good because Romans 12 2 says I am transformed by the renewing of my mind. And I would agree. But to complete the transformation, you're going to need a revelation of how all of this uniquely applies to your individual journey in this life of faith. This is what makes your journey a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You begin to see. You begin to have new vision. You begin to have an understanding of how all of this applies to you personally from His perspective. You begin to understand who you are in Christ, what He has called you to do, and what He has gifted you with to accomplish His will. Now let's get back to Proverbs 4 7 that we talked about last time. Because this is what keeps us balanced. It's wisdom it says winst wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore get wisdom and in all you're getting, get understanding. In other words, this is saying God can give you wisdom concerning something, but unless you get understanding with it, so that you can put that wisdom to work, it is useless. But we have all seen someone, or maybe have been there ourselves, that seemed to have so much wisdom but absolutely no common sense of what to do with it. So it goes on to say, in all you're getting, get understanding. This understanding is revelation from God. Now, as far as revelation goes, we can get out of balance on that side as well. This is where we are having visions and dreams and putting all of our focus on what they mean and what God might be saying to us through those dreams and visions, while not having any scriptural grounding whatsoever. So it is in the balance of having wisdom and revelation that we truly walk in the path God has for us. Are you gaining a lot of wisdom lately? Does it seem that your mind is growing with insight that grasps reality as God sees it and moves in harmony with His will? Then it's time to ask the Holy Spirit how all of this applies to you. Are you having dreams and visions of things that seem to be speaking to your future? Then you need to ask the Holy Spirit to show you from Scripture how these things are aligning with your life to bring you hope, holiness, and then proclamation. Then you can begin to proclaim from the Word of God how He has shown you the path you are to walk in together with those dreams and visions. See, if you start going to people and say, I had a dream, and I think God wants me to do this. But then if you come to someone and say, I had a dream or I had a vision the other day, and then God took me to the Word, and He showed me this scripture, and it perfectly lines up with what I was saying. Now people begin to see that God is speaking to you. You begin to have confidence in it, and you are able to proclaim it everywhere you go. God showed me I'm at this podcast, and I started telling people months before I actually did it. Because I knew that it was the right thing, and I kept getting encouragement from people, and I kept getting words from Scripture concerning it, and so I knew that it was something that God wanted me to do. Getting back to Ephesians 117, this is where we gain a deep, remember that it was in brackets concerning Revelation in the Amplified Version, it said, a deep and personal and intimate insight into the true knowledge of him. A deep personal and intimate insight into the true knowledge of God, for we know the Father through the Son, it had in brackets. John chapter 14 Jesus said to one of his disciples as he asked him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. This walk as a believer was never meant to be casual or religious. We must develop a deep personal and intimate relationship with the Lord. Psalms forty six ten exhorts us to be still and know that I am God. Let me give you a couple of examples. Elijah had to run into the wilderness to escape Queen Jezebel and was hiding in a cave. And if this is after, if you remember the context, it was after he had called down fire and and and killed four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. And then he hears Queen Jezebel wants to kill him, and he runs for his life and hides in a cave. And he heard the Lord speak to him in a still small voice. And God said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? But it was there he received instructions in that still small voice concerning where to find Elijah and how he was to follow him and be anointed to replace him when he was gone. You might hear that you might hear that and say, Well, I know God speaks to his prophets, but I'm not that important. But listen, in James 5.17 it says Elijah was a human just like we are. And yet when he prayed earnestly, no rain would fall, and none fell for three and a half years. And I'm not saying you should go outside and begin to to command the rain, but some people have had some success with that. But just to point out that the scripture tells us that Elijah was as human as we are. Listen, in Acts ten, we see that God gave Peter a vision to go to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile believer and minister there. And when he got there and heard how Cornelius had heard from the Lord, Peter opened his mouth and said of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him. The Lord wants us to come to him, to seek him out and draw near to him. He listens to our cries and he speaks to us. He speaks through his word and he and it speaks through his spirit to give us wisdom and revelation. You might say, Well, I've got a long way to go before I'm close enough to God to hear him speak like that. And yes, it is true that the closer you get to him, the more you will hear him. Let me tell you a story about myself. It was in June of 1977, and I was working in Orangeburg, South Carolina. I was there on a short term job because we were on strike at New Burnout Shipbuilding where I was employed, and the designers union I was a member of had found me employment there in Orangeburg, South Carolina. I was not even close to being a born again believer, trust me. If I were to have died, I would have split hell wide open. I knew I needed long-term employment because it looked like the strike was not going to be settled. So I was searching for something else. There's a backstory to this because I was reeling at that time from the death of my best friend in a horrific car accident back in January. It left him in a coma for twenty days before he passed, and it left me questioning the meaning of life. I had been raised in a Southern Baptist church, but it just didn't stick. And the lifestyle I was living was far from anything righteous. I was not even sure if I believed in anything. I had received a job offer that was in Jacksonville, Florida, and they had flown me down there for an interview. The job was great, although it was less money, it was very promising as a career move. The people I was working with in South Carolina thought I was crazy for even considering it, but there was something about it that seemed to speak to me. One night as I sat in my motel room eating some fish and chips, I had an unusual urge to pray for the first time like ever as an adult. I said, What in the world is this? But then I thought, what the heck? I'll give it a try. And this is literally what I prayed, and this is why I'm telling you this story. God, I'm not even sure if you are real. But if you are and you hear me, I want to know if I'm supposed to go to Jacksonville and I want to know in the morning. Amen. There was not a lick of faith in that prayer, and I certainly did not have a relationship with Christ. But I woke up the next morning and knew that job was for me. I'm telling you this story because he gave me answer, he gave me wisdom and revelation along with his will. I know now looking back that I had prayed in accordance with his will, because that is what he wanted me to hear. Because it was on September thirteenth, nineteen seventy seven, just a few months later, that I was born again and filled with the Holy Spirit. And then four months later, in January of nineteen seventy eight, I met my wife, who I'm still married to today. The point is that God longs for us to yield to his plan for us, and to be changed into his image, that we might dwell with him forever. If you already belong to him, he cares for you and knows everything you need. Draw close to him. Lift up your head, listen for his voice. He is the good shepherd. He will speak to you and give you direction. He will give you his wisdom and revelation. Let me pray for you right now. God, I just pray for this listening audience right now, Lord. That you would give them wisdom and discernment, Lord. That you would give them wisdom and revelation, understanding concerning your will. Lord, that you would open their eyes so that the curtain would be pulled back, and they would see what you have planned for them. They would see how wonderful it is, and they would begin to desire it and to ask you about it, and study scripture about it, and pray about it, and run after it as they desire it with all their heart. Lord, I pray for them to have provisions, Lord, to accomplish these things you're showing them. Provisions and favor, your grace, your divine influence, Lord, that you would bring forth your will in their life. Provisions, Lord, for finances, provisions of strength, provisions of open doors, Lord. Bring it to them right now. Lord, I pray for an awakening, Lord, that their eyes would open, that their mind would open, that they would realize how wonderful you are and what you have for them, Lord. And they would begin to have alignment in their life. They would begin to align themselves with you in every way they can, seeking out prayer, seeking out your wisdom, seeking out people to give them advice, seeking out good counsel. And then, Lord, I pray for breakthrough and miracles in their life, Lord. That they would break through this bondage they've had for years. They would break through this complacency they've been in for years, Lord. They would break through, Lord, and they would see your deliverance and know your mighty miracle working hand. In the mighty, matchless name of Jesus, I pray. Until next time, let the Holy Spirit guide you into all truth. Yield to His working. May you receive His wisdom and revelation, and stay unchained.