Responsibility increases with revelation. When we are young in Christ, we may find we are primarily concerned with forgiveness, love, compassion and finding out how to please God. Our knowledge of God may increase rapidly but our maturity and depth in God may have some catching up to do.

 

As we grow in faith, we grow in understanding. Our increased maturity allows us to handle God’s mysteries with greater capacity. God also longs for us to grow nearer to him in relationship. With mysteries concealed, we are invited to journey deeper into God in order to reveal his secrets. Secrets are revealed to those we trust, so God reveals his secrets (mysteries) to us, whom he has called friends (John 15:15). Jesus teaches us what he has learned from our Father in heaven, we are alive in a spiritual dynamic of constant revelation and teaching, which is done spirit-to-spirit.

 

An example of how my maturity level affected how I handled revelation:

 

When I started moving in the gift of prophecy, I would  become overwhelmed with the information I received from God and would find it hard to describe the revelation in words. I inquired about this and I felt led by the Holy Spirit to share what I have seen. So for a few years, I just shared the vision literally as I saw it. Most of the time this did not make sense to my hearers, and I would often be met by blank stares from the people who received the message.

 

As I grew in maturity, I learned how to discern what to share, when to share it and how to interpret what I am perceiving. This came through practice with trusted friends who were able to weigh the revelation and interpretation. It also came through making many mistakes (which I was able to learn from in a safe environment among friends who understood I might get it wrong).

 

After many years of trying out interpretation and discernment of spirit, I am more confident than I was to handle God’s mysteries, although it seems that the journey of maturity is constant.

 

God conceals his mysteries because he longs for us to learn, to grow through our discipleship in Christ. He longs for us to learn of his ways through drawing near to him in relationship with his Spirit. He wants us to pursue him with our heart, our mind, and all our strength. To hunger for his truth.

 

God wants us to understand and lean on his understanding and wisdom, as we grow in our faith and gifts. Along the way we learn how to recognise God’s wisdom and voice, which is so crucial for understanding and his mysteries.

 

Jesus said that wisdom is justified by her deeds (Matthew 11:19) and by wisdom God designed all that is seen and unseen. We need his wisdom to unlock his mysteries. Jesus is the truth and every true revelation of the spirit realm will come through him to us.