It is written, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has known what God has prepared for those who love him." But God has shown it to us through his Spirit. The Spirit understands all things. He understands even the deep things of God.
Who can know the thoughts of another person? Only a person's own spirit can know them. In the same way, only the Spirit of God knows God's thoughts.
The Spirit helps us understand what God has freely given us. That is what we speak about. We don't use words taught to us by people. We use words taught to us by the Holy Spirit. We use the words of the Spirit to teach the truths of the Spirit.
Some people don't have the Holy Spirit. They don't accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. Things like that are foolish to them. They can't understand them. In fact, such things can't be understood without the Spirit's help. (1 Corinthians 1:9-17 NIRV)
Much of life is a mystery awaiting an epiphany; a sudden spontaneous leap of understanding. By way of epiphany God is redemptively re-writing our stories. The Bible calls this “gaining understanding”. But there is a huge distinction between learned understanding and the sudden spontaneous understanding of epiphany. The first is processed in the intellect and the second from the heart.
Only the new heart Jesus gives us can process the nuances of epiphany. Why is this so critical? Because it awakens the possibility of living life surprised by Holy Spirit! Apart from the spontaneous understanding Holy Spirit brings we remain stuck in the futility of our on thinking. “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (Romans 1:21, NIV)
“They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.” (Ephesians 4:18) This renders us vulnerable, weakened and interpreting our life from tainted mindsets. Holy Spirit helps us see life from God’s perspective and awakened understanding.
“In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us when we are weak. We don't know what we should pray for. But the Spirit himself prays for us. He prays with groans too deep for words. God, who looks into our hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit. And the Spirit prays for God's people just as God wants him to pray.” (Romans 8:26-27, NIRV)
By way of heart epiphanies Holy Spirit keeps our hearts open and teachable-which sensitizes us to being surprised and molded by Him. It is amazing how He uses the simple experiences and occurrences of our life to teach us a truth we couldn’t get otherwise. A word from Dr. Larry Crabb, in 66 Love Letters: A conversation with God that invites you into His story…which helps you to accurately unpack your new story.
“God says you are living between two epiphanies. You have no higher calling in this life than to reveal the beauty of My Grace until the beauty of my glory fills your heart with joy forever.
My High calling, the vision I am about to set before you, corresponds perfectly to your deepest desire…which releases the power you need to live into My calling, to live the way you most want to live.”
May we have a fresh heart epiphany this Easter! Ron Ross
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