Epiphany - "a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something" (dictionary.com)
Recently I woke up with a rather important thought about a work experience. I had not thought about it the during the previous day or evening. The subject had become a bit more prevalent but not to the point of daily reflection.
It felt like it could have been an epiphany. I am sure many of you have had some of these moments. These moments when you feel like you now know something that was delivered to you through a momentary illumination of reality. You feel it may not have been totally apart from your mental capacity, but not within it just yet. It came in advance of you reaching it. I believe these could be "next level" blessings of the wisdom God gives.
Real epiphanies are truth and understandings. Truth is Christ. Like my apparent epiphany, it is real easy to dismiss God as the spiritual author of these special events. Of course there is also the danger of thinking a crazy idea of your own is from God too. The first filter that I use is I ask myself a question. "How much was I thinking of this subject, and how important did I think it was at the time? If those two measurements are fairly low, then I ask myself "is there a particular personal gain that makes the reality super sweet for me?". If that is low too it is a good sign, if it is not, that does not mean it is a bad idea, ... it just means to proceed with caution. When you are comfortable with the filters, then please join me in acknowledging the fact that we did receive them ... they are being delivered to us, from Jesus Christ, through the role of the Holy Spirit.
I believe that when one becomes a Christian, every future aspect of their natural talent and/or human wisdom becomes an experience with God. It seems to me that the whole book of Ecclesiastes is an account of the delivery of an epiphany to Solomon! As much as he tried Solomon just could not separate what he may have felt his natural wisdom could attain and the wisdom God gave him. When he tried to separate it he always realized that it became "a chasing after the wind". This was such an immense epiphany Solomon writings became 12 chapters long.
Epiphanies are not always dramatic illuminations, they also can be dramatic reminders. I had one of those lately too. About a month ago I had a scheduled debate with a former pastor who, through his own declaration, had become an agnostic. With the acquisition of a M-Div, and over 8 years of pastoral ministry, this man somehow has succumbed to the devil's efforts (he does not believe in the devil either) and now denies the deity of Christ or that there is any deity.
This person (let's call him John) is a very intelligent person and has several other degrees in psychology. As you might imagine, the potential of this person's intelligence in the community of Christian theologians is something that the devil is very aware of. Right now it is not clear whether the devil is succeeding in damaging the faith this man already has or whether or not he is repelling a faith that he never had. Either way, the devil has won many battles. Please pray for my next "debate" with him in June.
Two hours into a four hour meeting with him I felt a dramatic reminder from God. I was enjoying immensely the "debate". It actually was the deepest conversation of my life and I was enjoying it, hoping that at some point I could influence him with a logic that would "win" and thus help his "human wisdom" move back toward Christ. However, two hours into the discussions God delivered to me a dramatic reminder, and that reminder was ... "you cannot influence him apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, not only working in John, but also working in you and any godly wisdom that comes out of your mouth". As John was speaking and explaining a certain point, I prayed earnestly with eyes wide open that Holy Spirit would completely take me over along with what comes out of my mouth. I remember that was a point of relief as I finished the next two hours of discussions.
Whether or not you woke up one day with a important thought so intense you wondered why, or whether your sensed you experienced a remarkable reminder, let us all thank the deliverer of all phases of wisdom.
Let's fight the temptation to claim them for ourselves.
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