Some people have it, some dont! There are passages in the scriptures that speak to divine revelation and how we understand spiritual things. Studying the scriptures is a good start, but study alone is actually  not enough.

When I was very young in the faith I had an encounter with an Ivy league professor, the chair of the theology department at Princeton. We were both staying at a missionary training school in North Carolina.  At first I was impressed. This man, probability in his fourties was super well spoken, very intelligent, and I very green with envy. But something miraculous happened that day. Sitting by a campfire and discussing Christianity,  we headed down to a specific topic  to discuss it’s meaning and I soon discovered his intellect was not consistent with my basic, uneducated,  reading of scripture. I asked myself why did I understand the passage differently? Why did he understand it differently? The passage seemed very clear. A debate ensued and a godly missionary man, the head of the organization, chimed in agreeing with my views on the passage. After quite the discussion, I realized the professor was actually not a Christian at all, and this was confirmed to me by my missionary friend who had invited the professor to the mission. How could this be, I thought? (Remember I’m young and impressionable). The chair of the theology department at Princeton,  not a Christian? He was actually struggling with his faith and his friend had invited him to the camp to explore his unbelief.

This was the first time in my young life as a believer in Christ that I realized some people can have a head knowledge of Christianity but lack a heart knowledge.

Shockingly, this was also the first time that I realized that there is a part of Christianity where the Holy Spirit serves as a guide or teacher (to believers only). The Holy Spirit  provides insight into spiritual matters that might otherwise be inaccessible to human understanding.

Loking back, in that  moment the Holy Spirit was having a profound and intimate impact on my knowledge of God. I was being awarded insight into the “depths of God.” A special level of communion or unity between the Spirit of God and myself was happening at that moment. In technical terms I later learned about the Christian trinitarian doctrine which reflects the Holy Spirit’s impact on our lives, the understanding of scripture, and just about everything else.

This professor did not have the Holy Spirit and shockingly he admitted it. We prayed together that night, and I asked God to reveal himself to this man. We never met again, and I don’t know the outcome of his spiritual journey.

For some this Holy Spirit thing may sound far fetched. For believers, if you have not read it, there is a passage which underscores the idea that our spiritual knowledge and wisdom comes from a divine source. The Holy Spirit doesn’t   overide truth, it confirms it. The  Holy Spirit supercedes  mere human intellect and worldly study when it contradicts scripture or tries to subvert God’s will. (You can read a few suppoting verses in Corinthians below.)

This miracle,  the gift of the Holy Spirit spoken of by Jesus himself,  is the great equalizer. All believers great or small possess it. Here I was, a young believe,  practically wearing biblical diapers, taking on a powerful professor from a prestigious Ivy League school on matters of theology. So believer, do not underestimate the role of the Holy Spirit in your  life. Trust in Him.  Understanding spiritual truths that are not obvious to the natural mind or world at large is a blessing you’ll understand better when you listen to God through his Holy Spirit. Embrace the mind of Christ!

(1 Corinthians 2:10-16, ESV) “10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.  11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.  13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.  14 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.  15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.  16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”