So Jesus told them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own authority. Instead, I speak only what the Father has taught me.
John 8:28 ISV
So he said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, you will know that ‘I Am Who I Am’; then you will know that I do nothing on my own authority, but I say only what the Father has instructed me to say.
John 8:28 GNT
The mind of man grapples with the concept of God, whether it is to do with the existence of God or the personhood of God. As we think on these lofty to our minds thoughts, we often take the vantage point of a perceived pinnacle of human understanding - of accumulated scholarly knowledge. From this aggregated worldly knowledge, life conclusions about God can be made that oppose God's disclosure of who He is in His Word.
The truth that we find in the Bible is only opened to us when we approach God with a humble, seeking heart - in honesty of heart, acknowledging that we do not know all. The truth that we read in the Word of God is that without the Holy Spirit revealing God to us, we will not know Him. We can only find Him with an honest, seeking heart: "...you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13) and "...seek and you will find" (Matthew 7:7).
Unless we elevate God to being God we will not know God. When we set Christ in our hearts as holy and as the Lord of our lives, we position ourselves to truly know God. A humble and honest heart is a tender trusting heart that the Holy Spirit can lead into disclosing the true nature of God, which is Love. As we turn to the voice of the Word of God, the veil of dulled human understanding lifts off and revelation is opened to us to know God, to know truth (2 Cor.3:16).
God is Spirit and He is spiritually discerned - that is why only the Holy Spirit can teach us about God. The tutelage of the Holy Spirit instructs us into the wisdom of who God is, which is a mystery that is hidden from the carnal mind of man ( 2 Cor. 2:6-16). The Spirit of God reveals Jesus to us, who is the expressed image of our Heavenly Father.
Only through the Holy Spirit can we know God. Therefore yielding to His lead to walk out the life of faith is the ultimate submitting and humbling of ourselves to God. This walk of faith is the very transformation that we undergo as believers - which is a work of the Holy Spirit. This transformation takes us from one level of knowing God to another and ultimately transforms us into bearing the very image of Jesus: "... we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor. 3:18).
As we exalt God, by honouring and esteeming the transformative work of the Holy Spirit within us, God brings forth an exaltation of revelation of Himself to us. God unveils our understanding to know Him in the truth of who He is. There is no greater demonstration of the liberty of the Holy Spirit, than His lead into knowing God deeper.
Today exalt Him so that you may know Him!
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