Programme: Revelation Hour (RH)
Date: Saturday 21st January, 2023
1. There is a knowledge that comes by hearing and another by revelation. The knowing that comes by revelation is not the same as the one that comes by experience, that is, by doing. Some people have an almost accurate knowledge of Christ, but they do not really know Christ. “Christ” is not just knowledge but a life. By mercy, the knowledge of that life can be given, but this does not mean that the receiver already has the life. There is the knowledge that comes from experience and this is more real than other kinds of knowledge.
2. Knowledge should turn to life. One of the biggest challenges of a company with access to revelation is to equate knowledge to life (who they become). All the knowledge of the gospel are pure, including the knowledge of faith, hope, charity and everlasting life; they are all good because they are of God. However, all of them can puff a man up because of other things that are present in man (1 Cor. 8:1). It takes a process for knowledge to turn to life.
3. (2 Cor. 12:7). True exaltation is not in knowledge; it is in life acquired. When we receive knowledge, we have been called to exaltation. The specific exaltation that Paul was speaking of in 2 Corinthians 12:7 is the abundance of revelation, which is the abundance of grace (Rom. 5:17). Grace has its measure; it begins with insight and the eyes of our understanding being enlightened (Eph. 1:18). Any time the Lord causes us to understand what we have not previously known, He is calling us to exaltation.
4. As the word (light) keeps coming to us, we begin to see better. After we properly grasp the word (light) coming to us, it is then we can be instructed. The reason for instruction is to make the soul that is being enlightened by revelation come to the state that the revelation becomes a life. The process of turning revelation into our life is where a lot of us falter. Christ is not our life at the level of us knowing His revelation (Col 3:4); He is only our life when the life of Christ is found inside our souls. The soul is a vessel that can take life, everlasting life and Eternal Life, but the soul has to first be given the knowledge of that life.
5. God does not jump into making without speaking first. This is the technology that has been from the beginning. The fact that God has said a thing does not mean that thing has already existed (Gen. 1:14-15). In the beginning, God did not just say things, but He also made them (Gen. 1:16). Concerning man in Genesis 1:26, God did not just say it, He went ahead to create man in His own image. God does not do things that He has not said.
6. In Genesis 1, the Spirit of God hovered and even now, He hovers over the scriptures so that “sayings” can come forth. The reason for “sayings” is so that “makings” can happen. Jesus did not just hear; He was also made (Heb. 1:3). The Lord is demonstrating jealousy over us so that we give attention to our formation. We should not just rejoice at what we hear but should also give room for the translation of knowledge into life, otherwise, we will eventually doubt the word. A safe place to not turn from the things we are hearing is to do them.
7. At these times, we must ensure that we are “doing”. The day the heart of a man stops is the day his body dies. Similarly, the day the soul of a man stops doing commandments is the day the man stops living. Our soul has to keep doing life otherwise, we would be stuck. We should not use our accuracy in revelation to judge how much progress we are making in life. Revelations are not mere knowledge; they are knowledge of life. It is impossible not to hear commandments because there is always something to do. There is always someone to love, a thought to reject, or a word to hold back. It is more probable to not discern commandments, but we are surely being commanded. Every one of our brethren is a commandment.
8. (1 Pet. 1:22). A pure heart that is sincerely loving the brethren is engaging in charity, but this pure heart is being instructed to love some more and do hard things. In this season of everlasting life, the Lord will help us to see things to add (2 Peter 1:5-8). As husbands, there are things to add. Some murmurings that husbands practice have to be dealt with. Similarly, wives have to give attention to submitting in all things.
9. (Jam. 1:23-24). Our ways will not allow us to convert knowledge into life. Whenever the Spirit of God intervenes in the problems we have with our brother, He will bring us the wisdom of how to relate with our brother. Leadings are ways that defeat the wisdom and intent of the devil. The goal of cohabiting with brethren is to have a heart that can accommodate brethren. That thing in us that wants to do things our way is an infirmity. We are to esteem others better than ourselves (Phil. 2:3).
10. We all have our ways, and our sins are stored in our ways (Jam. 1:24). The reason for the leading of the Spirit is the exchange of our way for God’s way. Though we hear revelation, the Lord wants to bring His ways to us. The Holy Ghost can instruct those of us who are strict not to be strict when dealing with a certain brother or sister. Such natures require training. We cannot train a child in the way if we are not in the way ourselves. Ways are painful; virtues like longsuffering and perseverance are not pleasant to our flesh. The Lord can show us things about our brothers for us to exercise ourselves in charity towards them.
11. The reason for the recent emphasis is for us to have another look at our Christ (formation). We have grown in so much light, and by mercy, we have broken into everlasting life in some measure, chiefly because our parents have broken into it. However, for us to have an abundant entrance into that realm, there are things we have to add ((2 Peter 1:5-8); we must not push those things aside as the Lord begins to show them to us, through the leading of the Spirit.
Blessings!