The abundant life is experienced through revelation that comes as a result of being in a relationship with Holy Spirit. The natural result of any relationship is that those in the relationship begin to reveal themselves more and more to one another.

Jesus says,

I have still many things to say to you, but you are not able to bear them or to take them upon you or to grasp them now. But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message (on His own authority); but He will tell whatever He hears (from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him), and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come (that will happen in the future). He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you.

The disciples had just learned that Jesus was going away and that He would be sending them Holy Spirit. He essentially tells them that “I have much more to say to you, but you cannot handle hearing it all right now. So your relationship with Me is going to have to continue with Holy Spirit.” It is the communication that we receive by Holy Spirit that is known as revelation. His job is to receive and draw upon the things that Jesus wants to communicate by declaring, disclosing, and transmitting them to His people.

As God’s people, we are called to live by the revelation of the Spirit rather than the information that we get with our natural senses, allowing us to trust God at His Word over our feelings and circumstances. If we are going to trust God as provider, then we must have a revelation of Him as our provider. Often God speaks a word to us and in our uncertainty we change His Word in our minds according to how we feel at the moment. Holy Spirit says, “I want to heal you!” So we change it to say, “God wants to make me feel better.”

God responds to us by saying, “If that’s what you really want!” He will not force His will on you. He allows us to experience the consequences of the Word in which we choose to agree. If we agree with our circumstances, then we get to continue to live in those circumstances. If we agree with His Word then we get to move out of our circumstances and into the promises of God.