We live in what has been called the Information Age:
a time when knowledge and the availability of knowledge is doubling yearly. However, as our friend Jim Stephens has been known to say, “It is not what you know, but what you do with what you know” that determines many things in our lives. According to 2 Timothy 3:7 it is possible to be “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” The knowledge of God and His truth is far more than information.

A person can acquire an abundance of information and still not have it change their lives. God’s truth brings change to our lives, as stated in John 8:32. Jesus says, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” He wasn’t saying that you shall know about the truth. He was saying that when you become intimately acquainted and identified with the truth, then it will change your life. This kind of truth is more than information. Many will say, “I know about God.” but not all those that say that can say, “ I know God.” This fundamental difference between what we have information about and what we know that changes our lives can be seen an every area of life. For example, I may know about the blessing of right eating and exercise, but that alone does not make me healthy. Or I may say I know that reading the Bible and praying is essential to my spiritual health, but if my life has not been impacted by that information, then I won’t be praying and reading the Word of God. I believe the great difference between having the information and being changed by what I know has to more with revelation than with information.

It is plain to see that if information alone was the answer to man’s problems, then by now we would have most problems solved. However, all the information available to man has not stopped wars, brought and end to divorce, improved moral values, healed nations from poverty, ended violence in our streets, schools and homes, or even helped us raise better children. These things (and so many others) are not changed by information. They never have and they never will. They are changed by the way information is processed, or in other words, how information is personally revealed to us as relevant and necessary for every aspect of our lives.

One of the blessings of being a Christian is that we have been promised the Holy Spirit will reveal all the things we need to know. He will take what we have heard and what we have learned and make it life for us. He will lead and guide us into all knowledge that is life giving and life changing. And He does this through revelation. He brings to our mind the insights, the knowledge of God’s will, the understanding we need, the remembrance of things we have forgotten, wisdom and anything else we need to know by His influence upon us and in us. 1 Corinthians 2:10 says “God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things…”

If what you know isn’t working for you, then before you reach out for more information, begin to pray earnestly for revelation. Let the Holy Spirit work in you mightily to reveal the truth that will bring change to your life.

If you don’t know how to let revelation work in you, then pray for a further infilling of the Holy Spirit to be released in you. He is the One who will reveal to you what you need to know. Then when the revelation comes receive it, believe it, obey it, live in it. So shall you “ grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)