It's No Longer A Mystery to Me.
1 Corinthians 2
And God has actually given us his Spirit (not the world’s spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. – Vs 12 NLT
Having the Holy Spirit is like having that secret decoder ring that came in the serial box, except the Holy Spirit really works. He has the ability to decode the mysteries of God that had been hidden for generations, and He reveals them to us. How else would we ever be able to understand what God is doing? According to Paul, without the Spirit, no man would be able to understand the mysteries of God. "But we know these things because God has revealed them to us by his Spirit, and his Spirit searches out everything and shows us even God’s deep secrets" (Vs 10 NLT). Paul goes on to say that "…no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit" (Vs 11b NLT). So God has given us His Spirit so that we might know hidden things of God.
Think about it. Without the Spirit within us, we would be totally unable to understand what God is doing in the world and in our lives. Nothing would make sense to us. Those who do not have the Spirit of God within them, in other words, those who are unsaved, can't see God at work around them. They are incapable of understanding or comprehending God's work in the world. Paul says, "people who aren’t Christians can’t understand these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit can understand what the Spirit means" (Vs 14 NLT). They're like a radio receiver that is tuned to the wrong frequency. The signal is being sent, but they can't pick it up. Like an AM radio trying to pick up an FM signal, it will never happen. But we can understand the things of God. In fact, "we who have the Spirit understand these things, but others can’t understand us at all" (Vs 15 NLT). We become a mystery to those around us because we have the capacity to see, hear, and understand the things of God. We see the world from a different perspective. We can see God at work in the everyday affairs of life. We can see God working in the trials and sufferings of life. We can hear God speaking to us when we read His Word. But our lost friends and family members can't quite understand where we're coming from. Because they lack what we have: the Holy Spirit who lives within us. They operate out of a worldly wisdom. They don't have the capacity to understand God or us. "How could they? For, "Who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who can give him counsel?" But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ" (Vs 16 NLT).
We have the mind of Christ. Thanks to the Holy Spirit who lives within us, we can know the things of God. The mystery has been explained. We understand what God is doing in the world and in our lives. It all has begun to make sense. And now, "…we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us." – Vs 12 NLT
Father, thank You that You chose to reveal the mystery of your kingdom to me. Your Holy Spirit opened my eyes so that I could understand the gospel message and accept it. I could see that I was a sinner in need of a Savior and that You had prepared a way for me to have a right relationship with You. There are still so many things about You and Your Word that I don't understand, but Your Spirit is speaking to me every day as I read Your Word and listen to what He has to say to me. Help me to remain sensitive to His leading and obedient to His promptings. Amen