Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” John 3:9–12 ESV
Nicodemus entered this conversation knowing that this guy from Nazareth had something special going on. Jesus responded with talk about a new birth that comes from the Spirit. Nicodemus was stumped. He asked the obvious question: “How’s this gonna work, Jesus?”
Jesus’ response may have been just a little sarcastic: “You’re supposed to be a spiritual leader. You have been instructed in the Scriptures. Why don’t you already know this stuff?”
Then Jesus pointed out that His knowledge was not just Pharisee head knowledge. My Oklahoma paraphrase might read, “I’m just sharing with you what I know because I have seen it.”
Thank God for all the knowledge we have. I’m in favor of learning and of knowing why we believe what we believe. But it’s possible—I would say common—for highly educated folks to trust their brain to the exclusion of their heart.
Paul, a very educated guy, referenced this several times. To the Corinthians he said, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). One of my favorites is his description of those who are “always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7).
It’s easy to slip into the habit of parroting Scripture out of our head while having no real sense of the reality in our heart. We all do it.
One night in 1980, I was sitting on the couch in a duplex in Oklahoma City. My girlfriend (now my wife), her mom, and her aunt were going to pray for me to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. They had given me a little book on the subject, which I had read. I was nervous, but convinced and ready to go.
They first read Scripture, then led me in a short prayer from Luke 11:13, asking my Father God to fill me with His Spirit. Then they put their hands on my head and shoulders and began to pray in other tongues. When they did, I had the most remarkable experience.
As they prayed, it felt as if someone were pouring warm oil over my head. The sensation moved slowly over my head and shoulders and kept flowing until I was completely engulfed in a warm and wonderful blanket of liquid love. The ladies were still in the room, but I was only marginally aware of them. I couldn’t speak or move, nor did I want to. The experience lasted nearly an hour before it began to slowly abate. The effect persisted all night.
As a baby Christian, I had heard over and over that God loved me. If you had asked me, I would have happily told you that He did. On the other hand, I lived most of the time with a vague sense of inadequacy. I was intimidated by other “spiritual Christians.” My many personal failures randomly flashed through my mind. Fear often pressed in on me at night so that I lay awake repeating, “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear” (Psalm 118:6).
That night, in that little duplex with three ladies and a broken-down couch, I knew that God loved me. I wasn’t just a spare part that came with the package He purchased at Calvary. He knew me by name. He knew all about me. He knew what I’d done and what I would do tomorrow, and He loved me anyway. It was wonderful. It’s still wonderful.
Much later, as I continued to explore the Scripture, I found a prayer in Ephesians 3 where Paul, praying for Christian people, asked that they would “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.” I knew what that meant.
Here’s the point. There is a blessing in knowing about something—in knowing what the Scripture says. That’s wonderful, and it should be encouraged. Study! There is also a knowing that exceeds the limits of my little bitty brain, and I want to know that, too. I want you to know it as well.
Pray. Visit the prayers Paul prayed for the church and pray them for yourself (Ephesians 1:15–23; 3:14–21; Colossians 1:9–14; Philippians 1:9–11).
Whatever you struggle with, I pray that God would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, strengthen you with might by His Spirit in your inner man, and fill you with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
Thank God for His Word. Thank God for His Spirit. Thank God for the Word illuminated by the Spirit and indelibly written on your heart. The old-timers used to call it “knowing in your knower.” Don’t settle for less.
