Why Pursue the Revelatory Gifts?
In older posts I touched on the benefits of the revelatory gifts[1] such as the gift of prophecy. In particular the most important function of prophecy is its ability to edify the whole church. In this post I'd like to focus on the personal benefits of these gifts. The best result of pursuing these gifts for yourself is increased intimacy with God.Prophecy is inspired speech and is made possible only by the Holy Spirit, for the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelations 19:10). The Holy Spirit came to earth primarily to glorify Jesus and testify about him. The word testimony comes from the Greek word martus, meaning an eye or ear witness ( and from which we derive the word martyr). As the One who testifies about Jesus, the Holy Spirit is the spirit of prophecy. Therefore prophecy allows us to know more about Jesus because the Spirit who has seen and heard him tells us about him. Prophecy tells us what's on God's mind. Through it, we learn how he thinks, what he does, and what his secrets are (a.k.a "the deep things of God".) In the Old Testament prophets were the ones who announced God's will because they were the only ones who could hear his voice (Ex. 20:18-21, Num. 12:6). "Surely the Lord does nothing without telling his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7) "The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him" (Psalm 25:14). Prophets knew his secrets: they were his friends (Gen. 2:27, Is, 41:8). In the New Testament every Christians become the one who know God's business and therefore is his friend (John 15:15). The heart of prophecy is this intimacy with him, a relationship that allows us to know him and testify "this is my beloved and this is my friend "(Songs 5:16). It is the birthright of every Christian to hear God's voice and to live a prophetic lifestyle through the Holy Spirit. All believers can learn from the Spirit and all believers can prophesy when the Holy Spirit , the spirit of prophecy, is flowing through a room. Have you ever noticed that when a group of Christians get together to pray or talk about the Lord, some can't help but break into worship and exclaim his excellencies? That is the Spirit of prophecy at work, but as we pursue the gift of prophecy, we actually increase the frequency of our prophetic experiences and the prophetic anointing in our own lives. With the gift, our experience of prophecy isn't limited to when the anointing is present in the room, rather we can access it at any time as our own gift. In addition, we are all given a measure of faith or grace in our lives and can ask to move up within our pre-determined level (Luke 17:5). Therefore, when you pursue the gift of prophecy you are asking for a higher level of prophetic grace in your life (Romans 12:3) and when you receive that higher level, you can experience the benefits even for yourself.
The last personal benefit of the revelatory gifts I will speak about is revelation. The Word of knowledge enables us to receive information not discerned or figured out by our own mind but given by the Spirit of God. The word of wisdom give us insight from the Spirit, often insight into problems, mysteries or the future. The gift of prophecy allows us to speak what has been revealed for the edification of others. It almost always comes with the word of knowledge and wisdom; if you have this gift, you will certainly have the others as well, thus making it an incredibly powerful gift.
"If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge" (1 Cor. 13:2)
"For we know in part and prophecy in part" (1 Cor. 13:9)
"What eye did not see and ear did not hear, and what never entered the human mind---God prepared for those who love Him". Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God...Now we have not received the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God." (1 Corinthians 2:9-12)
The wisdom you receive can give you insight even into our heavenly inheritance. Ephesians 2:6 states we are already seated in the heavens. Our inheritance already belongs to us, albeit in the spirit realm. Still Paul prayed the Ephesians would be able to experience this spiritual inheritance: I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of his vast strength. (Ephesians 1:15-19)
The Greek word for "know", ginosko, is about more than having an intellectual understanding, it about having an intimate understanding of something through lived experience. Paul doesn't want us to just know the facts about our inheritance, he also wants us to experience these facts. God is not limited by time or space, and prophecy deals with past, present and future realities. Through the Spirit of prophecy we can experience parts of our future. For example the Apostle John was caught up in the spirit and saw the day of the Lord (Revelation 1:10). Paul was also caught up in the Spirit and saw unspeakable mysteries in heaven (2 Cor. 12:2-4). Both of these men were able to see things well ahead of their time because the Spirit is given to us "so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God" ( 1 Corinthians 2:12).
How to Receive
There are many ways we can receive revelation: it can happen through reading the bible, having a dream, seeing a vision, or getting a visitation[1] and much more. Of course what is revealed to should always match the whole counsel of God's word but there is still great diversity in how you can experience the Spirit's illumination. If the nature of the revelatory gift is intimacy, then you can position yourself to receive by asking for it and spending time with God.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" (Matt 7:7) The prayer closet in Hebrew literally means an "inner room", a secret chamber. It is the secret place of God (Psalm 91). It is through spending time daily with God in our inner room that we develop intimacy with him. God inhabits the praises of his people (Psalm 22:3). Worship music and simply praying to God can literally bring his presence down. He is attracted by our worship to him and if the Holy Spirit is in your midst, you are more likely to experience a manifestation of his presence. You are more likely to be "stirred up" to prophecy (2 Tim. 1:6). This in turn will open the door for you to experience more of God. He may share his heart and tell you his secrets, he may teach you something new or allow you simply to bask in the glory of his presence. The revelatory gifts are excellent tools for us to increase our intimacy with God because they enable us to know and speak more of God's heart, mysteries and will. Through this knowledge we get a clearer picture of who Jesus is.
Notes
[1] These gifts are wisdom, knowledge, discernment and prophecy. They are called revelatory because they come from the Spirit not ourselves. For this post I focus only on wisdom, knowledge and prophecy. [2] A visitation is God's presence or angels show up where you are rather the you going up to heaven to where they are.
