All Begins in Revelation

In Christ - By the Power of the Spirit

If we begin to talk about the work of God and take these truths with our natural minds, we will take them completely out of the context in which God is working. Although God is working His plan sovereignly, He does not work "in spite of us." God's plan shall come to completion, and it will be worked out in a practical way, but to understand this we must first see that all God's working begins in Christ Jesus.

The first and most important aspect of God's working is His revelation to your heart of who you are in Christ. It is who you are that gives meaning to what you say and what you do. Take away that one element, and what you say or do has very little or no value.

The reality of who you are in Christ will provide you with a beginning place in the church. Everything that is being done in the body of Christ is done by the Spirit and in His ability. We cannot move in the body of Christ unless we have revelation. Lack of revelation will completely prevent the natural person from being a part of the body of Christ. There is no place for the natural man to function in the body of Christ. If we are to function, it must be by the Spirit and the ability He gives.

You may look around and see things that are being done by men without the power of the Spirit, and think that they will last. But they will not. Only that which begins in God, in the revelation, will change your life and cause spiritual fruit to come forth in your life.

Seeing the revelation will also affect the words that you speak. Out of the abundance of your heart your mouth will speak the mysteries of God. It is only out of the revelation that God gives that we will recognize all the men God has called who have had a ministry of life because the revelation possessed them. God has not changed His manner of working. If each member of the body of Christ is going to grow and be fruitful, he must begin with revelation, and there must be a continuing growth in that revelation.

Don't think of the word "revelation" in a light way, because it properly demands of us submission and obedience. The revelation is in God, and when God reveals Christ to us by the Spirit, He will give us the power, the ability, the zeal and the determination to do His will. It is easy to work up zeal for a moment, but that kind of emotional zeal is short-lived. You can be on fire one day and down in the valley the next, because there is no constant burning revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. What took Paul to the end of his life, when he could say, "I have finished my course, I have kept the faith"? It was revelation, the revelation that brought him into a relationship, the revelation that caused him to lay aside every weight. It was the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ and what He was doing that caused him to take everything of this world to the dunghill, not only saying that he counted it lost, but actually losing it for Christ's sake.

Next: Revelation - The Controlling Factor in the Church