2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue (2 Pet. 1:2-3).
All things we will ever need in life has already been provided to us – through the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
“For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Col. 3:3)
We have been placed “in Christ”. This is part of the mystery of the Gospel. When Jesus died, we died with Him. When Jesus rose from the dead, we rose with Him. We were placed in Christ by being united with Jesus in His death and resurrection.
In the Old Covenant, the approach was that God was up in heaven, and we down of earth. For something to happen, we needed to call on God to come down. However, in the New Covenant (after the cross, the resurrection, and the day of Pentecost) the secret to the Christian life is to realize that Christ lives in us.
27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Col. 1:27)
Christ is not far away. He now resides, through the Holy Spirit, in the hearts of all born-again believers. This means we have something very significant that the Old Testament believers did not. We have Christ not only with us, but in us!
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. (1 Cor. 2:12)
The Holy Spirit’s job is not to tell us what we lack. It is to tell us what has already freely (by grace) been provided to us in and through Christ.
The approach in the Old Covenant was that we do not have what we need. Therefore, we need to ask God to come down, or to “rain down” His blessings. However, in the New Covenant, the approach is: God has already sent everything we will ever need through Jesus Christ. We are united with Him. We already have everything we need (peace, healing, finances, wisdom, righteousness, holiness, you name it…) in Him! God has already moved. We only need to discover what we already have so that it – through faith – can manifest in our physical lives!
This only makes sense to us if we understand that we are spirit, soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23). Our body is what we see in the mirror every day, what we can touch with our hands. Our soul is our intellect, our thoughts, or will, and our emotions. Our spirit, on the other hand, is our innermost man. When we are born again and filled with the Spirit, the Holy spirit dwells in our human spirit.
”But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” (1 Cor. 6:17)
Our born-again spirit is one with God! It does not say that our physical body or soul is one with God. When Paul says, ”We have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16), he did not mean that we always think, feel, or want the same way Christ always thinks, feels, and wants. I used to wonder about how I could have the mind of Christ, well aware of that not all of my thoughts or emotions were godly one hundred percent of the time. But one day I realized that we have the mind of Christ – not in our human mind – but in our born-again spirits! This is a very important revelation!
Knowing that our born-again spirit is one with God, and that the mind of Christ is found in our born-again spirit, we realize the following: The Christian life is all about renewing our minds in accordance with the reality of God’s word (which is spirit and life, Jn. 6:63). It is all about drawing the knowledge that is already invested in our spirits into our minds, so that it can affect our bodies and actions. This is why Paul said:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Rom. 12:1-2)
Since we have the mind of Christ in our born-again spirits, we have all the knowledge that we will ever need.
”But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.” (1 Jn. 2:20)
However, this knowledge needs to be transferred – from our born-again spirits – to our mind. And here is why the renewing of our mind is so important. As we renew our in mind with the word of God, our soul is being transformed according to what has already taken place in our born-again spirit.
Revelation knowledge is when we understand an important truth about God not only with our natural mind but also with our heart. It takes place when our physical mind is being enlightened by something we hear, read, or think about, and receives a confirmation from our spirit – which knows all things – that this is indeed true.
It is the faith in our hearts that moves our mountains and makes us live a victorious Christian life. Revelation knowledge is the foundation of true faith. Everything we need for life and godliness has already been provided to us – through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. We need to discover this knowledge and act upon it. When doing so, the very life of God is drawn out and released, from our born-again spirit to our soul, body, and physical circumstances.
