A Personal Revelation of Christ

If you are a preacher, missionary or teacher, think about this: What are you teaching? Is it what a person taught you? Is it a rehashing of the revelation of some great teacher? Or have you experienced your own personal revelation of Jesus Christ? If you have, is it ever-increasing? Is heaven opened to you?

Paul said, "In him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts17:28). True men and women of God live within this very small yet vast circle. Their every move, their entire existence, is wrapped up only in the interests of Christ. Years ago I knew the Holy Spirit was drawing me into such a ministry, one that preached Christ alone. Oh, how I yearned to preach nothing but him! But my heart was unfocused, and I found the circle too narrow. As a result, I had no flow of revelation to sustain my preaching.

To preach Christ, we must have a continuous flow of revelation from the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, we will end up repeating a stale message. If the Holy Spirit knows the mind of God and searches the deep and hidden things of the Father, and if he is to well up as flowing water within us, then we must be available to be filled with that flowing water. We must stay filled up with a never-ending revelation of Christ. Such revelation awaits every servant of the Lord who is willing to wait on him, believing and trusting the Holy Spirit to manifest to him the mind of God.

Paul said Christ was being revealed in him, not just to him (see Galatians 1:16). In God's eyes it is unfruitful to preach a word that has not already worked its power in the preacher's life and ministry. It may seem all right for certain shallow ones to preach Christ with contention--but not so for the man or woman of God. We must preach an ever-increasing revelation of Christ, yet only as that revelation effects a deep change in us.

Paul also voiced a personal concern: "Lest...when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway" (1 Corinthians 9:27). Paul certainly never would have doubted his security in Christ; that was not in his mind here. The Greek word used for castaway means "unapproved" or "not worthy." Paul dreaded the thought of standing before the judgment seat of Christ to be judged for preaching a Christ he did not really know or for proclaiming a gospel he did not fully practice. This is why Paul speaks so often of the "living Christ" or "Christ living in me."

We cannot continue another hour calling ourselves servants of God until we can answer this question personally: Do I truly want nothing but Christ? Is he truly everything to me, my one purpose for living?

Is your answer yes? If you mean it, you will be able to point to a dung heap of your life, the one that Paul spoke of when he said, "I...do count them but dung, that I may win Christ" (Philippians 3:8). Have you counted all things as loss for the revelation of him? If you want nothing but Christ, then your ministry is not a career--your ministry is prayer! You will not have to be prodded to seek him; you will go often to your secret closet, knowing that the moment you walk in you are seated at his table. You will worship him, sitting in his presence unhurried, loving him, praising him with upraised hands, yearning after him and thanking him for his wisdom.