Revelation, Response And Result

Wasted Revelations.  Revelations that don’t change you. Revelation requires response. Revelation + Response = Results.

Have you ever received a revelation about God or yourself or someone else that was very powerful,  and that, at the time, you thought that revelation would result in a permanent change in your life? But then your life and thoughts and actions went right on as before the revelation, with no lasting change?

God distinctly makes something clear to you, and you completely understand it at that moment, but then you forget it?

Maybe it was an aha moment of clarity when you recognized how messed up you were, and recognized your need for change and personal action. You acknowledged your addiction, your sin, your responsibility for something, that your life was unmanageable. You said to yourself, I need to do _______.  And then… nothing.  It was like it never happened.

Maybe it was a revelation of your calling, a freeze frame of God’s kingdom plans for your life.  You got excited, you had a vision and wanted to be worthy of the calling,  prepare yourself by studying the Word,  praying  and obeying Him completely.  Then… nothing.  It was like God never revealed anything.

But sometimes, you get a revelation that changes everything in your life – the way you think, the way you see people and see God and see others, and most importantly the way you act.  You are not the same,  and others recognize the change.

What is the difference between those times? Why do some revelations stick and others fade away?

I propose to you that your response to that revelation determines the results of that revelation.

MY RESPONSE TO THE REVELATION DETERMINES MY RESULTS FROM THE REVELATION.

Revelation to the mind or even to the spirit is useless if you do not respond in obedience to that revelation. Revelation requires an act of obedience in line with the revelation.

Examples of bible people who got direct revelation from God, and we’re not changed by it.

 

Adam and Eve –

Revelation.  if you eat from the tree of life but not of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,  you will live forever with me.

Response.  Ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Results.  They were kicked out of the presence of God  and eventually died in their sin.

 

Abraham –

REVELATION. Leave your family and go to a land I will show you.

Response.  He brought his father and wife and nephew with him.

Results.  He ended up fighting wars and having trouble with his clan because he brought Lot.

 

Abraham –

Revelation.  You and Sarai will have a son.

Response.  Unbelief and laughter.

Results.  Hagar and Ishmael. Hagar taunted Sarai.  Ishmael became the enemy of Israel to this day.

 

Abraham –

Revelation.  Sacrifice your son Isaac to me.

Response.  Obeyed and was going to sacrifice his son until God stayed his hand.

Results.  Isaac lived, Abraham was blessed and became the father of many nations,  called the friend of God and the father of faith.

 

Moses –

Revelation.  Speak to the rock and it will provide water.  Response.  He angrily struck the rock.

Results. He never saw the promised land to which he had led millions of people and for which he had fought wars, but died just outside of it.

 

Jonah –

Revelation.  If the people of Nineveh repent,  God will save them from destruction.

Response.  Went to the farthest known point in the opposite direction from Nineveh.

Results.  Swallowed by a whale.

 

Peter –

Revelation.  Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

Response.  Denied he ever knew Jesus.

Results. shamed, disgrace.

 

Peter –

Revelation.  Wait and pray until the Holy Spirit comes with power.

Response. Obeyed by praying and waiting in the upper room.

Results.  Received the Holy Spirit and boldness to preach to thousands, and thousands were saved.

 

If you receive a revelation that Jesus is God, and you know you need to surrender to Him as your Lord and Savior, but you instead go out and do your own thing and act as if you don’t know He exists, the revelation has been wasted on you.

If you receive a revelation that you are an addict (of drugs, alcohol, food, sex, work, approval, etc.), but then ignore the Revelation and keep doing what you’ve always done, the Revelation is again wasted, and does  not benefit you at all.

If you receive a revelation that God loves you just as you are, completely messed up and helpless, and you act on it by believing it in your heart and mind, and repeating it to yourself verbally and in writing,  and treating yourself as someone who is loved by God, and treating God as someone who intimately loves you, you will be changed.  The revelation becomes a revolution within you, turning you around in a way that is outwardly expressed so others can see.

If you receive a revelation that you need to be saved from yourself and your addictive habits by a power higher and greater than your powerless self,  and you actually turn to Him for help, instruction and strength to obey,  then the revelation becomes a personal revolution, your life and habits go in a new direction. The revelation is not wasted, but produces the effect for which it was intended.

James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Romans 2:13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.

Galatians 3:2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?[a] 4 Have you experienced[b] so much in vain—if it really was in vain? 5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

You are held accountable for what you have heard from him.

Revelation is intended to CHANGE you.  God  doesn’t reveal Himself or His kingdom plans for no reason. To ignore His revelation is nothing more than an act of ungrateful disobedience. And why should He reveal anything more to you when you have despised His previous revelations? We can’t expect to grow in God’s  likeness if we refuse to confront and change the issues He clearly reveals to us.

If you do not feel closer to God, chances are that you are deliberately ignoring a previous revelation, and you can go no further in your walk with Him until you are obedient to that revelation.