“What you don’t know, can’t hurt you.”

When I was growing up, I heard that one phrase more times than I can count. So what usually happens when you hear something over and over again, is that you will begin to believe it, even if it isn’t true. Thankfully, I was in my late teens when I came to understand that this common saying is a horrible lie. Because the truth is, what you don’t know can not only hurt you, it can destroy you.

I am struck by how many Christians believe this phrase and use it continually, yet nothing could be further from the truth. Here is what the Bible actually says about this.

[blockquote cite= “Hosea 4:6 KJV” type= “right”]“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” [/blockquote]

The Lord tells us in this verse that His own people are destroyed because they have a lack of knowledge. So we must ask ourselves, “A lack of knowledge of what?” The obvious answer is that most of God’s people have a lack of knowledge of God’s Word. And because they do, they don’t know what belongs to them, or what the Lord has provided for them, and what the Lord promised to do in all aspects of their lives, including health, finances and family life, so they suffer destruction because of it.

[highlight]Perhaps you didn’t realize it but the negative circumstances you are facing today can not only be changed, but perhaps could have been avoided, too.[/highlight] As an example, let me show you something that happened in the life of the Apostle Paul.

Paul had been falsely accused by the Jews, and falsely imprisoned by the Romans. And as was often the custom of the Romans, they would flog prisoners in order to beat a confession out of them.

In many cases, these beating were so severe that the individual being beaten was barely alive once the beating was over. It was a horribly vicious form of torture which the Romans had mastered. They even knew how much they could whip someone to bring them to the point of death but not actually kill them. And this is exactly what they had intended to do with Paul.

However, there is one thing we must add to our understanding of how the Romans operated. When it came to flogging, they never beat anyone who was a Roman citizen. In fact, there would be terrible consequences suffered by whomever ordered a flogging of a Roman citizen.

So let’s read the account of this experience in the life of Paul, and see what happens.

[blockquote cite= “Acts 22:23-29 KJV” type= “right”]“23 And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, 24 The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. 25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? 26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman. 27 Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. 28 And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. 29 Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.”[/blockquote]

Notice carefully what Paul does in verse twenty-five. It says, “Paul said unto the centurion.” Paul knew his legal rights. He knew there were “promises” that accompanied his citizenship, and he didn’t hesitate to speak up, and say something about it.

Paul escaped the flogging because he knew his legal rights, he knew what was promised and guaranteed to him as a citizen. But it was more than just the knowledge he had about it. He had to actually speak up and declare his rights as a Roman citizen to stop this flogging from taking place. Knowledge alone would never have stopped it. He had to speak up.

[highlight]And you will have to speak up, too. There are many Christians being flogged by the devil in life all because they don’t know the promises of God’s Word, and their rights as citizens of the Kingdom of God.[/highlight]

And many will suffer for years and years, all because they don’t know what belongs to them, or they don’t take advantage of what belongs to them, and speak up. Yet Paul was immediately delivered from the flogging because he knew what belonged to him, and he did speak up.

[highlight type=”dark”]I wish more believers truly understood the power of their words.[/highlight] Did you know that when you speak, your words have power in the realm of the spirit to either set things into motion, or stop them in their tracks? I have asked some people this question and they responded that they did understand that. But then when you listen to them speak, you quickly realize that they are choosing to speak in opposition to the promises of God, and to their citizenship in the Kingdom of God.

Yet a lack of knowledge of God’s Word, and/or a refusal to speak up and say what God has promised is yours, is destroying more Christians than any other thing I know of.

Because deliverance comes when you know what belongs to you according to the Word of God, and you speak up and say what God says, either about you or your circumstances. So get into the Word and find out what is already yours. Then begin saying continually what God has said, regardless of what you see or how you feel, because this is the pathway to your deliverance.