By: Dan Stone
The Holy Spirit teaches both by revelation and experience. The revelation can be instant and direct, without being transmitted by any formal "teaching." We say, "Oh, I see." The Spirit then uses seen and temporal experiences to work that revelation into us. The revelation gets established in us through personal experience.
Some people have a hard time relating to that, because they associate the word teacher with a schoolroom, where we just impart knowledge. But the Holy Spirit's teaching is experiential teaching. Of course, we do learn facts, but I'm talking about the process whereby we become one with what we are taught. We become one with the truth through experiential teaching.
This experiential knowing is indicated in the biblical words for know. Both the Greek and Hebrew words for know that I am referring to indicate experiential understanding of and oneness with. When "Adam knew his wife...", it wasn't an intellectual thing. Adam experienced oneness with his wife. That's exactly what knowing is. There is no anxiety about those things that you know, because you become mixed with them. You and what you know are one.
On the natural level, I remember experiencing such knowing with high school algebra. When it came to algebra, I didn't have a clue. I'd work those silly problems, then I'd look up the answers in the back of the book. I'd get some answers right, but I didn't know how or why. None of it made sense. But one day the scales fell off my algebra eyes and it all made sense. I said,
"Oh, I see! I see why you put this here and that here, change this sign, etc." Then I could do it. I was relaxed about it. Until then I was striving and trying and working. Now I was at rest. I was one with algebra. Of course, we don't need the Spirit's revelation to do algebra. But it works the same in the spiritual realm.
When God gives you a flash of insight, that's it. "Oh, I see!" Everything else, from then on, is just an elaboration on that flash. When you know, you are forever changed in that area. You'd have to make a conscious effort to go back on what the Holy Spirit showed you. That's why it's hard to sin in an area when the Holy Spirit truly shows you something. It's hard to go back on truth. Truth liberates.
I've always liked the word awareness more than the word growth. Because what really happens in each of us? Our awareness simply expands. We become more aware of Who already was. "Oh, I see more and more of Him." We're not seeing more and more about Him. We're seeing more and more of Him. He is the peace. He is the joy. He is the life. He is the love.
Until we see that, we are always saying to God, "Give me something. Gimme. Gimme. Gimme." But when that insight comes (and I'm not saying it has to be sudden, although it was with me), we say, "Oh, I see. I already have life. I already have Him."
When God gives your spirit a revelation, often your soul responds with, "That can't be. That can't be." But your spirit is saying, "It is. It is." Revelation doesn't take place in your brain. God reveals Himself in our spirit. He says, "Yes, the absolutes are true. When you begin to live in My reality, you'll begin to say, 'I am.' Until you live in My reality, you'll say, 'I am becoming' or 'I want to be' or 'I hope I am."'
How many times have I said, "I'd like to be. I wish I were. Maybe someday." And God was on His throne saying, "You are! You are!" When you truly see that Christ is your life, time ceases to be a decisive factor in your life. Everything is just now. You live in the present tense of God. He is not becoming. He is. You are not becoming. You are. You operate from "I am," not "I will become."
The unique thing about the Spirit of God as our teacher is that He has time to be an individual instructor to each one of us. He doesn't have a single lesson plan that fits everybody. He has tailor-made lesson plans based on our individual experiences, needs, and desires. So it's of little value for me to say to you, "This is the way He taught me." Because in all probability He never has taught you that way. He has taught you in His way for you, and it's just as real and valid as His way for me. The life experiences that we have in the seen and temporal realm are the milieu out of which He does the teaching.
The encouraging news to us is that God is in control of this whole process: both when it will happen and to whom it will happen. He has chosen to reveal Himself, not to the chief muckety-mucks of the world system, but to us simple folk:
At that time Jesus said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight." (Matthew 11:25-26)
That seems a strange thing for God to do, but Paul understood it. He told the Corinthians that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And look at you, Paul said. You're not much, by the world's standards. You're not the wisest in the world. You're not the cleverest. You're not looked upon as people of power, but God has chosen you.
Every revelation is according to God's good pleasure and His own timing. Timing is so important. You might get the itch before God wants to scratch. You think that you're ready to stop the itch, but God may say, "You're not itching enough yet. If I were to meet you right now, it would be like harvesting something before its time. You wouldn't grow to full maturity." In His own way, in His own time, God reveals.
What is it that the Holy Spirit primarily reveals to us? Jesus told us:
[The Holy Spirit] will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me; for He will take of Mine, and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. (John 16:13-15)
The work of the Holy Spirit is declaring to us the Father and the Son within us. The Spirit makes no declaration about Himself. He attempts no glorification of Himself. He doesn't point to the fruit or the gifts. The Holy Spirit does not single Himself out because nothing originates with Him. The Spirit is the means by which the life of the Father and the Son comes forth. He wants us to know that we manifest the life of the Father and the Son. That is His revelation.
From: Stone, Dan, The Rest of the Gospel: When the partial Gospel has worn you out. Dallas: One Press. 2000. pgs. 126-129.
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