There are several books that I like to read annually or, at least, review on a yearly basis because they have had such an impact on my thinking and, I hope, on my doing. One of those is Dutch Sheets’ classic book, Intercessory Prayer. I was scanning it again this evening, when a section once again caught my eye. I want to quote from his writing and then make a few of my own comments. It’s a little section on the difference between information and revelation and is worth thinking about.
“We need to understand – and I’m afraid most of us do not – the difference between information and revelation. Information is of the mind; biblical revelation, however, involves and affects the mind, but originates from the heart. Spiritual power is only released through revelation knowledge. The written word (graphe) must become the living word (logos). This is why even we believers must not just read but also abide or meditate in the Word, praying as the psalmist: “Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from Thy law” (Ps.119:18). The word “open,” galah, also means “unveil or uncover” – revelation. Information can come immediately but revelation is normally a process.
As the parable of the sower demonstrates, all biblical truth comes in seed form. Early in my walk with the Lord, I was frustrated because the wonderful truths I had heard from some outstanding teachers were not working for me. When I heard the teachings, they had seemed powerful to me. I left the meeting saying, “I will never be the same!” But a few weeks and months later, I was the same. As I complained to God and questioned the truth of what I had heard, the Lord spoke words to me that have radically changed my life: Son, all truth comes to you in seed form. It may be fruit in the person sharing it, but it is seed to you. Whether or not it bears fruit depends on what you do with it. “ (Dutch Sheets, Intercessory prayer, p.173).
The process of changing seed into fruit is all about cultivation and exercise. Many of us are full of biblical information. We quote what others have told us and, in a sense, live our Christian lives vicariously through them. When they talk about hearing from God, we feel as if we have heard from God through their experience although we have yet to hear from God personally. When they talk of supernatural moments, we revel in what God is doing out there somewhere, but we have never personally laid hands on a stranger we just met on the street and asked God to heal him. We rejoice in stories of what God is doing on the mission field, but we have yet to go there ourselves.
Information is rather one dimensional like ink on a page. However, it begins to take on additional dimensions when we begin to chew on it, ask questions about it, pray over it, fuss with God about it, imagine it happening in our own lives, and most importantly when we begin to actually act on it. As we do that, the Holy Spirit begins to reveal its reality to us and adds layers of meaning that we could never know apart from actually attempting what scripture calls us to do.
In his book, The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey summarizes the wilderness temptation of Jesus as a moment when Satan tempted Jesus with a shortcut. Satan told Jesus that he would give him all the kingdoms of the earth if he would only worship Satan. Jesus came to be king, and he could be a king without suffering on the cross if would only worship the devil. In effect, Satan offered Jesus a crown without the cross. But in the kingdom, we must all experience the cross before we get a crown. Revelation is the crown that comes after some hard work, long prayers, lots of questions, some frustration, and a bit of risky behavior. Too many believers live their Christian lives in the same way as a man might read a book on fly fishing, then start lecturing others on its merits and techniques without ever actually having put a line in the water. You really don’t know fly fishing or understand why you do certain things and avoid others until you have tangled your line in the bushes, lost a record rainbow because you tied a knot carelessly, or tried to cast a four ounce line into a 30 mph wind. The experience turns information into revelation.
The sacrificial and supernatural life of a believer was never meant to be lived vicariously through others. We are all meant to plunge into deep water, live with spiritual successes and failures, be content to live without all the answers, cry out to God when we get egg on our face, and become more determined to go deeper because we prayed for someone without effect and commanded a spirit that never budged.
As we stumble through the process, God’s seeds of truth become fruit that has substance, understanding, and deeper insights about God and life in Jesus. Importantly, that revelation has now come from our own hearts, rather than the heart of another. Jesus put it this way – we are to be doers of the word and not just hearers only. Hearers get information, doers get revelation. Jesus also said that if we keep his commandments (doing) he will come and show himself to us (revelation). So…when the revelation seems to dry up, we probably need to start living it out again (or for the first time) rather than living through others. Now quick, go do something spiritually risky! Blessings today in Him.
