A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day – December 12, 2019
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: (Ephesians 1:17)
My wife and I teach a class at our church every Tuesday morning entitled “Conversation”. This class is made up of seasoned saints. There are no newbies in this class. These people are all born-again spirit filled believers that have ministered the Gospel for decades. They are people that have operated in the gifts of the spirit, have been on the mission field, have ministered in prisons, etc. It is a real honor for my wife and I to be leading this class. I started to say leading and teaching, but they are teaching us as much as we are teaching them, so let’s just go with leading.
Our last class centered in on the goodness of God. We have talked a lot about the sovereignty of God doctrine and the goodness of God in our devotionals over the last year. This devotional will touch on these same subjects from a different perspective. One of the things I read recently from a very well-known Christian author was this, “Knowing that God is not the author of my problems is one of the most important revelations the Lord has ever given me.” That revelation touches on both the sovereignty of God and the goodness of God beliefs.
We all come from different spiritual backgrounds. We have heard a multitude of conflicting religious beliefs, but revelation trumps them all. John Wesley did not come to the Lord until after he was a leader in his church. He saw a devotion to God in the Moravians that he did not have, and that witness led him to a personal relationship with Jesus.
At one-point Wesley was concerned that he did not have enough faith to preach faith. He went to a Moravian mentor and asked him if he should just quit preaching faith. This was his mentor’s response, “By no means.” Wesley asked, “But what can I preach?” the mentor said, “Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith.”
The one thing that the enemy will always use to keep us from sharing the Gospel is fear. However, most of this group that we lead have long overcome that obstacle. They are at a point in their lives that they don’t care what people think about them and they don’t care how they will look personally. They are not afraid of rejection. They are more concerned with doing what God has told them to do and I am not talking about some religious standard. I am talking about a direct and personal word from the Lord. The more you hear the Lord, and do what He tells you to do, the more fear leaves.
Some things will never be really known and understood until you have a revelation. The goodness of God is one of those things because there are just so many competing religious doctrines and life experiences that fight against one coming to know the truth. It’s no different with salvation. At some point, each one of us that are born-again had to come to the revelation that Jesus is real. That comes by revelation. It is no different with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. At some point, each one of us that are baptized in the spirit came to a revelation that this was real, and it was for us.
Here is my question for you today. Is your religious belief based on revelation or religion? Is it based on family tradition or revelation? Is it based on what the Lord has told you or what some preacher has told you? This is really important!!!! We live in a time where even the elect can be led astray. You need to have a personal relationship with Him and be able to hear His voice.
The Apostle Paul said it like this, “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:11-12)
