We are blessed with God’s word. It is not just a book. It is something far, far greater:
Hebrews 4:12 (NLT) For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
It is the sword of the Spirit, with which we fight the enemy. It also teaches us how to be God’s people:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT) All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
It is the word that teaches us not to kill or steal. We know not to commit adultery, or be drunkards. It teaches us how to live proper, wise, lives, where we prosper in all that we do. It keeps us from sinning against God:
Psalms 119:11 (NLT) 11 I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
The word is an absolute necessity in a believer’s life. It is our foundation. Consider this, however:
John 14:26 (NLT) 26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
Jesus himself told us that when the Spirit would come, He would teach us everything. This demonstrates that there are things we will learn that are not in the word of God. The word is not exhaustive, in other words. In many areas concerning the gifts of the Spirit, for example, the word tells us very little.
The gift of the word of knowledge is mentioned 4 times in scripture, all in 1 Corinthians. What is it? How does it work? How is it used? The word doesn’t tell us.
How does the gift of tongues work? What about interpretation? How do you know if you are getting an interpretation of tongues? What about prophecy? How does that work? Some prophets appear to see things, while others hear things. When someone gets a gift like these, is it obvious to them?
What about dealing with demons and such? How do we know what to do? Where is that explained?
It turns out that missionaries don’t have the luxury of not knowing. They have to know. They’ve had to rely on the promise that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things. But they’ve also found that the Lord wants us to have faith. In other words, He expects us to take risks, trusting that He will lead us. This led them to be experimentalists.
They read the word, they pray, they experiment. They see what works and what doesn’t. From that, they devise new experiments to try. They discuss their experiments with other missionaries. Over time, they’ve figured a number of things out.
But each of us, in our journey in the gifts of the Spirit, will need to experiment. We’ll need to work together with other believers and try things. We’ll get suggestions and pointers from other believers and try them as well. We’re going to get it wrong sometimes, and it might be embarrassing, but we keep trying.
Throughout all of our experimentation, we’ll have to continually return to the word of God. It is our foundation. Since we are dealing with things that we often don’t understand, and some things that have power we can’t imagine, we have to continually rely on the guidance that the Lord has given us. If we don’t, we’re setting ourselves up to be deceived. This could lead us down a path that will bring trouble to us or to others. But we can’t let this deter us. The early believers knew what they’d been called to. They knew that they were being asked to step out in faith, led by the word of God, sometimes in extreme ways. That’s what modern believers are also being called to, and many today have answered this call.
Most of those on this journey that I’ve heard from recognize that there are things they just don’t know yet. We’re going to have to recognize this as well. That’s why we’ll have to get used to stepping out in faith. If we want to be a powerful Christian, answering the call of God Most High, moving in the Holy Spirit, we’re going to have to become experimentalists.