Imagine for one moment that someone got priceless gifts for you. Your name is on all the gifts and they are perfectly wrapped and preserved in a house that is locked. The person that bought the gifts tells you everything that is in the house and you get all excited and start celebrating but you don’t enter the house to unwrap the gifts. There are a few windows around the house and you admire the gifts from the different windows and you still don’t go in to take possession of the gifts. The gifts will remain of no benefit until they are unwrapped, no matter their value.
The Bible is packed with so much words for our reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness. It also contains loads of promises that Christ has bought and prepared for us. Sadly, many of these promises go unclaimed because we don’t know that they exist. In some cases, when we know that they exist, we do not take enough steps to do all that we need to do to claim them. We often stop at talking about them, and most of what we say are based on what we heard others say about the promises. We do not take the pain to dig in and discover these treasures by ourselves.
God conceals the revelation of his word in the hiding place of his glory. But the honour of kings is revealed by how they thoroughly search out the deeper meaning of all that God says. Proverbs 25:2 [TPT]
If we cast our minds back to when Daniel and his countrymen were confined in captivity to a country that was not theirs. Jeremiah had prophesied that this ordeal would last 70 years (Jeremiah 29:10). It was only after Daniel sought out and understood this prophecy from the scriptures that he went to God in prayer to start asking for an end to their bondage.
In that first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from the book of Jeremiah the prophet that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years. So I earnestly pleaded with the Lord God to end our captivity and send us back to our own land. Daniel 9: 2 – 3 [TLB]
Because Daniel had seen and understood this promise, he was able to go to God and pray aright in faith. He had solid grounds on which to stand and petition God. At that time, his faith could not have been weakened by their continued bondage because he knew what he had seen in the scriptures. This is the same with us – when we study the scriptures and the eyes of our understanding are opened to anything written therein, our faith in that area becomes unshakeable.
When our prayers and confessions are based solely on other people’s revelations our raison d’etre for approaching God with confidence may not always be sure and steadfast. When we have seen it with our eyes and we know that we know that we know, opposing circumstances will mean nothing to us when we approach God with the promises He made to us. We will stand our ground, no matter how long it takes.
We want to tell you about the Word that gives life—the one who existed before the world began. This is the one we have heard and have seen with our own eyes. We saw what he did, and our hands touched him. 1 John 1:1 [ERV]
After this experience, there was no way the disciples could entertain any doubt about the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and glorification of Jesus. Similarly, when we encounter revelation into God’s word, our faith in His promises will become unwavering no matter what we experience with our 5 senses. God’s grace is available for us to study and discover. Let’s get digging.
I will end with Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians
I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honour at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 1: 16 – 20[NLT]
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