In the second morning session of day four, Pastor Mark Hankins preached on The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of God.
Ephesians 1:17-23
As a preamble to the main message, Pastor Mark Hankins spoke of laughter as medication, and encouraged a regular dose of it.
According to him, the Ephesian prayer is one of the most important any Christian can make. It appeals to God to provide the believer with “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God”.
Your dedication to God will be fuelled by the amount of revelation that you have. This was exemplified and typified in the life of Paul, who continuously spoke of the revelations he received. Through the Spirit of Revelation, God will give you a personal revelation of His Word, as well as the impact and significance of the death and resurrection of Christ.
The four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) detail what man saw of the death and resurrection of Christ, a photograph so to speak, but the Pauline letters provide an x-ray of events – what God saw and what happened in the spiritual realm.
Revelation knowledge sees beyond the surface, and so it allows us to see beyond what happened to Christ in the physical. It reveals what happens in Christ. Interestingly, the devil knows more about his own defeat than most Christians do! Thus, we have to continually remind the devil of this defeat.
Moses, who was obviously not there during creation and the early years, wrote the book of Genesis. God gave the biblical account of Genesis and all early biblical events to Moses by revelation. Moses recorded a complete and accurate account of what he received. This is the same way the Book of Revelation was written. Revelation knowledge brings you into the realm of the spirit, shows you things, and gives you access to information no one knows.
Revelation knowledge makes you a very potent threat to the devil. Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 12:7 that due to the abundance of revelations he had received, a messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him. The devil is just as afraid of the message as he is of the event.
Stressing that revelation knowledge makes you super-productive and it also makes the receiver rejoice. He encouraged believers to pray (as he had also been encouraged by Kenneth Hagin). Brother Hagin had encouraged Hankins and others to repeat the Ephesians 1 prayer every day, at least twice daily for at least six months.
It is very important to obtain revelation knowledge as it radically changes the lives and thought processes of people. The Bible will become a different book and not just one to be read as a matter of religion or routine. Enlightenment and knowledge will come and insight into God’s Word that will excite and change lives!
Like Paul, we should spend our lives asking Jesus two questions: “Who are You, Lord?” and “What do You want me to do?” Man does not discover God; rather, God reveals Himself to man. This is why the Bible says that God has blinded the eyes of the wise and instead revealed His plan and Himself to the simple.
God does not talk to smart people, to people who think they already know. He reveals Himself to any and all who will humble themselves to hear and learn from Him. Only God unlocks revelation knowledge to us. We can’t fake it, can’t buy it, and can’t get it elsewhere. “Teach me Lord, for I know so little”, should be the attitude in prayer.
The Holy Spirit who lives in the believer is a genius. If we let Him and listen to Him, He will make us look smart. 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 captures all of this perfectly. The Holy Spirit talks to us in a way that we can understand, and He explains and teaches us even the most complex of things, regardless of our intellectual levels.
The real barrier is not in the circumstances around us as the devil will have us believe, but in the mind – we do not yet know how capable we are of ‘supersonic flight’. Once you can break one barrier, others will follow. The Spirit of wisdom and revelation is indeed the principal thing.
If it does not capture your imagination and blow your mind, then it is not revelation.
Revelation will come from three sources: the Word, the Holy Spirit and from supernatural relationships.
1 Corinthians 3: 6.
The first time you hear God’s Word, represents the planting process. The subsequent times you hear the same Word represent the watering process. Repetition and meditation bring the increase.
Revelation knowledge makes your cause greater than yourself. Obtaining the spirit of wisdom and revelation is one of the best things that can happen to a Christian.