Saturday Open Heavens Devotional - Seek Revelation

MEMORISE: That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. EPHESIANS 1:17.

READ: ACTS 16:25-34.
25.And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners  heard them. 26.And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. 27.And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. 28.But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
29.Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, 30.And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31.And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 32.And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 33.And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. 34.And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.

MESSAGE
There is a relationship between information, knowledge and revelation. Information is a collection of known facts on a subject matter, particularly those garnered from cumulative experiential knowledge. There are pieces of information to help you in various areas of life. For instance, in marriage, there is a lot of information that can help a couple with marital problems to improve their situation, which can be found in books, tapes, CDs, DVDs, seminars and so on. As long as a couple does not access such information, it remains simple information, but the moment they take it, it becomes knowledge. The knowledge you receive but fail to act upon cannot profit you. If anything, it will lead to condemnation when the negative event that could have been averted through the use of that knowledge finally occurs. However, getting insight into how knowledge can be applied in solving a specific problem is dependent on inspiration, which is closely related to wisdom. Having knowledge is good, but having revelation is much better, because revelation tells you how to apply your knowledge to a specific situation you are confronted with in order to get the best results.

Take for instance the jailer in today's Bible reading; by asking Paul and Silas what he must do to be saved, it shows he already had the knowledge that salvation was available, but he did not know how to get it. It also shows that information was available on salvation at that time. Although he had obtained the knowledge about salvation, he remained in the dark and joined the authorities to punish and oppress innocent citizens, because he had no revelation on salvation. When eventually he caught the revelation of salvation through Jesus Christ, He received Jesus into his heart and restituted his ways. He washed, fed and took care of the same prisoners whose beating and imprisonment he had supervised. As long as you remain at the level of knowledge, you are bound to make series of mistakes or take regrettable steps concerning certain situations of life.

Today, many people have information but lack revelation. They acquire knowledge but do not know how best to utilise it. Being religious is all about having knowledge. That is why you find out that the most religious people commit the greatest sins. Beloved, knowledge is not enough! You need revelation. This was the essence of Paul's prayer in our memory verse. Call on God to give you revelation concerning the things you know. Revelation links you with the purpose of a thing, in order to optimise that purpose.

ACTION POINT: Religious fanatics like Saul of old persecute other religious people,because they have knowledge but lack revelation. Pray that God will reveal Himself to them.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: PSALM 40-44 AND HEBREWS 3:7-4:7.