3 October 2014 by Michael Cheng –
Michael Cheng has written five articles (see below) for how we can pray according to the acrostic “PRAYER.” In this article, he will be touching on the letter “R”, which stands for receiving revelation.
The letter “R” refers to “Revelation”. Here the term “Revelation” is not used in the high doctrinal sense of the original Revelation of God through the written scriptures. Rather, it is used in the sense of receiving wisdom and illumination from God to guide us and help us make the right decision. God can speak to us personally and specifically when we pray, asking God for wisdom and revelation about a situation or problem. This is also what Paul prayed for in Ephesians 1:17.
When we pray in faith (Matthew 21:22), He can and will reveal the cause of the problem and how to solve it as well as the next step to take. Pray expecting to hear God’s voice speaking to you, according to His promise in John 10:27:
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27)
I would like to share a testimony here, of how we received revelation from God concerning a cure for my wife’s eye problem. My wife, Kim had a problem with in-grown eyelashes, medically known as “Distichiasis”, a condition she had for many years. The offending eyelashes were growing into her cornea and causing abrasions and infection, which had to be treated with eye-drops. Although the doctors she had seen recommended certain treatments and corrective surgeries, some of which worked for a season, none of them were effective or permanent cures. We had prayed together for God’s divine healing for her but the “thorns in the flesh” didn’t go away. Instead, her condition seemed to worsen over the years. She almost gave up hope of a permanent solution and was resigned to try her best to live with the condition. This involved having to pluck out with tweezers the eyelashes that were growing inwards, almost daily and using eye-drops whenever there was an injury or infection in the cornea. Although this condition was not life threatening, the constant need to epilate caused her a lot of pain and anguish so she constantly cried out to the Lord for a breakthrough—a permanent cure or solution to the problem. We prayed together constantly for God to grant wisdom and guidance on the appropriate action to take.
Then, one day, in September 2011, she had a serious eye infection, which failed to respond to the usual medicated eye-drops. To make matters worse, she switched to using another eye-drop, not knowing that it contained a substance she was allergic to, which caused her eyes to become painful, red, and swollen. We prayed together for God’s guidance and it was obvious she had to see a specialist, but which one? We asked around and got a few recommendations from friends and relatives. After much praying in the spirit, we felt led to see a certain eye specialist in Kuala Lumpur. Praise God, this doctor not only treated her allergy and infection successfully, he also told her he could perform a minor surgery on her eyelids that would help solve her problem once and for all! How excited and elated she was to hear the good news! At last, there is hope of a permanent cure. We prayed about it and had the peace of God to go ahead with the surgery. Praise the Lord, the surgery was a huge success! God answered our prayer and gave my wife her breakthrough—no more ingrown eyelashes to bug her!
Hallelujah! I’m sure many of you would be able to testify of how you received revelation from God when you prayed and sought the face of our God for help in similar situations.
When we pray earnestly, we can also receive revelation for protection over our lives. I would like to share another testimony in relation to this principle of prayer. Sometime in 2008, I was traveling from Johor Bahru (JB) to Kuala Lumpur after having conducted a course in JB. My colleague was driving with his wife seated in front and I was seated at the back. It wasn’t my habit to fasten my seatbelt when seated at the back but on this occasion, I had the revelation from God to fasten the seatbelt. It is my practice to pray for journey mercies before I go on a journey. I just felt that harm may come my way and I needed to be vigilant. There was a prompting from the Lord to fasten my seatbelt and I am glad I obeyed that prompting because at one point along the way, my friend, the driver, dosed off momentarily causing the car to veer off the road and crash into a drain. Fortunately, there were no approaching vehicles and I was not flung out as I was wearing the seatbelt. The revelation from God in response to prayer had protected me! I thank God that I escaped unhurt although the vehicle was badly wrecked. Surely, God’s hand was upon us.
In the past years, I asked God regularly, “What is the next step in my ministry?” A few years ago, God led me to take up the position of Director of Publications of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship, Malaysia. As I obeyed Him, He prospered my ministry. Later, God opened another door of opportunity to serve Him as the National Secretary of the Fellowship.
Hence, we need to pray that God will grant us the spirit of revelation so that we can discern the situation and make the right decision. The following verse offers the scriptural basis for this:
“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” (Ephesians 1:17)
As we pray, God will reveal truths to us progressively, as indicated in the following verse:
“But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.” (Proverbs 4:18)
We can learn from the Apostle Paul who was able to preach that Christ was the Son of God upon receiving the revelation on the road to Damascus that it was Christ he had been persecuting. He had mistakenly thought he was doing God a favor when he persecuted the Christians. He was sincere in wanting to serve God but he was sincerely wrong in his approach.
As a result of his life-changing encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ on the Damascus road, he was turned around180 degrees from being a persecutor of Christians to be a preacher of Christ. What a transformation!
“Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.” (Acts 9:20)
The entire story of Paul’s transformation is recorded in the Book of Acts 9:1-22. I believe Paul had been seeking the Lord in prayer and as he received a revelation from God, he was transformed in his life and became a faithful and bold disciple of Christ.
Our Lord Jesus Christ also received revelation from His Father in the course of His ministry. Jesus was informed by Mary and Martha that His close friend, Lazarus was very sick. However, Jesus did not immediately go to visit Lazarus. Instead, he waited for two days. Jesus was a man of prayer and he had the revelation from His Father to wait for two days before ministering to him.
“So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.” (John 11:6)
Jesus acted upon this revelation, tarrying for two days and then went on to perform one of His greatest miracles—the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. Even though Jesus had performed two earlier resurrections (Luke 7:11-17 and Luke 8:40-56), the resurrection of Lazarus was most noteworthy for Lazarus’ death was beyond question as he had been dead for four days and had been buried.
Our God is a loving God who wants to communicate (reveal Himself and His Will) to us. Thus, when we pray, we should always ask God for wisdom and revelation regarding the situation we are praying about. As we receive the revelation, we will make the right decision and take the appropriate action with wisdom from the Holy Spirit.
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