What Does it Mean When God Gives You a Revelation?
What does it mean when God gives you a revelation? Have you ever heard someone say “God gave me a revelation”. What does it mean?
When God gives you a revelation, it means that you are suddenly able to understand a spiritual truth. Revelation from God is spiritual knowledge suddenly made understandable to your intellect.
Perhaps you’ve been reading a passage of scripture over and over without knowing what it means. Then one day, all the sudden you “get it”. All of a sudden, you understand exactly what it means. You just received a revelation from God. A truth from God was quickened to your spirit.
Receiving revelation from God is personally one of my favorite things in the world. You receive wisdom and understanding that is clearly supernatural and beyond human intelligence.
How to Receive a Revelation from God
If you have received Jesus as your Savior and understand what He did to obtain your salvation, then you have received that understanding by revelation. The Holy Spirit gave you that understanding as a revelation of who Jesus is and how to receive salvation. But there’s so much more revelation that you can continue to receive for the rest of your life. And it’s exciting!
Breakthrough always comes through revelation. God said that His people perish for a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6).
If you are desiring a breakthrough in any area of your life, you need revelation in that area. Ask the Lord to show you what you don’t know and give you a revelation.
So how exactly do we receive revelation from God?
1. Ask for the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation
The first step to begin receiving revelation from God is to ask for the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, who is the Holy Spirit.
When you receive salvation the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you, but the Bible explains that there is a separate baptism of power where the Holy Spirit comes upon you.
This is called the baptism in the Holy Spirit. If you have not experienced this, you are missing out!
One of the first things that happens when you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit is that your spiritual eyes are opened and you are able to begin understanding the Bible.
The Bible comes alive and you begin to see things that you never saw before. Understanding is given to you and it is awesome! The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the greatest gift in this life apart from salvation.
This is a prayer that Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus. I pray it regularly over myself and others.
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power Ephesians 1: 17-19
2. Meditate and Study the Word of God
As you read, meditate, and study the written Word of God, the Holy Spirit will give you revelation, or spiritual understanding of what you are reading.
When you have the Holy Spirit as your teacher, He will make known to you the meaning of the Bible. All the sudden, a scripture will jump off the page at you and in an instant, you will understand it. This is so exciting when it happens.
When you receive revelation of the Word of God, the dots will connect, the puzzle pieces will come together, and you will understand spiritual things that you never did before. You will see Jesus throughout every story. You will understand what He actually did on that cross and how it applies to your life every minute of every day.
The truths of the Kingdom of God are always given by revelation. They are not understood by human intellect. In fact, they are foolish to those without revelation.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18
The carnal, or natural mind cannot understand the things of the spirit without revelation. If you are trying to simply understand the Bible with your natural mind, it’s not going to work. It has to come by revelation.
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14
People can spend years and years going to seminary and studying the scriptures and only know the Bible intellectually.
The Holy Spirit must be present to unlock the truths found in the Word by revelation.
The ways of the Kingdom are so simple that a child can understand them, but they come only by revelation.
This requires humility. The Bible says we must become a fool in order to be made wise.
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 1 Corinthians 3:18
This means we must humble ourselves and realize that all the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God (vs. 19).
Acknowledge that you don’t know what you need to know, and then God can begin to teach you His ways.
The Apostle Paul said that the things he taught did not come from man, but through revelation.
But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. Galatians 1: 11-12
how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery.. Ephesians 3:3
3. Pray in the Spirit
Praying in the Spirit, or praying in tongues is a key to unlocking revelation. As you pray in tongues, you are praying the hidden wisdom of God.
For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. 1 Corinthians 14:2
When you pray in the spirit, ask God to give you the interpretation of your tongues so that your natural mind can receive the revelation of what you are praying in the spirit.
Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. 1 Corinthians 14:13
Paul said he prayed in tongues more than all the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 14:18). I believe this is why he had such an incredible amount of revelation and wrote the vast majority of the New Testament.
In my own life, I credit praying in the spirit to how I have been able to receive the understanding I have.
When we pray in tongues, it allows our mind to begin to grasp spiritual truths. It takes the wisdom of God that is in our spirit and brings it to our natural mind so that we can understand it.
For more about praying in the spirit, read How to Activate Speaking in Tongues.
4. Listen to Bible Teachers Who Have Revelation
You can learn in thirty minutes what some people have spent 50 years learning by listening to their teachings. God has called and anointed some men and women with a teaching gift in order to impart truths to the body of Christ.
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, Ephesians 4:11
Take advantage of this and find anointed Bible teachings that explain spiritual things. Then, meditate on these truths until they become your own revelations. Don’t just take people’s word for it.
When you hear something taught, take it to the Lord and ask Him to give you even more understanding.
Open your Bible and read the context of what was being taught. Think about it and apply it to your life until it becomes a revelation from God to you.
Good Bible teachers have been a major key in my spiritual growth. I honor and appreciate so much those who have taught me the Word.
5. Ask for Understanding
Did you know that Jesus can open your understanding so that you can comprehend the Bible? He did this for his disciples in Luke 24.
Jesus was explaining to them that all the things prophesied in the Old Testament about Him must be fulfilled. Then it says He stopped, and opened their understanding so that they could comprehend the Scriptures.
And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Luke 24:45
Ask the Lord to open your understanding. Ask Him for wisdom to apply the Word to your life. The Holy Spirit is your master teacher and is more than capable of teaching you in the way that you learn best!
