God is lovingly leading us into higher places, a spacious realm of unlimited understanding where the living relationship with the Father, through the indwelling Holy Spirit and our inner “knower,” becomes the primary reality. For many of us, this shift feels both exciting and unsettling. We have been taught that every insight, every inner feeling, and every sense of direction must be “backed up” with a Bible verse before it can be trusted or shared. Scripture is indeed precious and holy, but when we use it this way, it often becomes something else: a tool of control and a hiding place from fear.

The constant need to validate everything externally keeps us locked in the Tree of Knowledge mode. We treat the Word like a legal document or a safety net — something we clutch to manage uncertainty, to prove we are right, and to protect ourselves from being deceived or rejected. This is driven by fear: fear of being wrong, fear of looking foolish, fear of stepping outside what the mind can analyze and approve, and fear of truly depending on God in childlike trust. Underneath it all is the fear of losing control.

But the higher place Jesus invites us into is different.

Here, we trust that the same Spirit who inspired the scriptures can speak directly, freshly, and personally today. Unlimited understanding is not the accumulation of more correct doctrines or proof-texts. It is the expansive, flowing knowing rooted in the Tree of Life — the ongoing experience of abiding in the love, joy, and sustaining presence of the Father. Jesus modeled this freedom perfectly. He did not live under the heavy weight of constant quotation or intellectual control. He pointed people beyond rigid religious knowledge straight to the Father’s heart, saying, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life… yet you refuse to come to me”. Jesus lived in complete dependence — only doing what He saw the Father doing, only speaking what He heard the Father saying. There was no fear-driven need to prove or control. Only intimate alignment.

In this higher place, inner guidance — the gentle, clear voice of our “knower” — becomes central. This is not vague emotion or self-will. It is the Holy Spirit speaking directly to our spirit: a quiet knowing, a holy nudge, a deep peace or conviction that aligns with the heart of the Father. A true man or woman of God in these days will be known less by how many scriptures they can quote and more by how faithfully they listen to and obey this inner guidance. They move when the Father says move. They wait when He says wait. They speak what they hear in the secret place. Like Jesus, they live in ongoing dependence, allowing the sustaining Life of the Father to flow through them moment by moment. This kind of living produces deep spiritual authority — not the authority of titles, platforms, or perfect doctrine, but the quiet authority that flows from intimacy with God. It is the authority of a surrendered heart, a purified “knower,” and a life that reflects the love, joy, and ongoingness of the Father.

This calling to “come up higher” is especially timely in this season of correction and healing. Many believers are exhausted from the heavy, limited, fear-based approach to faith. The need to always be right, always be safe, always have the scriptural backup — these are chains of control that keep the heart small. Deep down, people are sensing there is more: a simpler, more relational way of walking with God, where the inner “knower” is honored and the Father’s voice is trusted in real time.

The goal is not to reject scripture. It remains a beautiful and powerful companion. The invitation is to dethrone the need to always use it as the final proof or the first defense. When our “knower” is awakened and aligned with the Father, scripture will often rise up naturally to confirm and illuminate what we are sensing. But it no longer has to come first or be forced. Yes, this shift can feel scary at first. It gently takes our hands off the illusion of control and leads us into childlike trust. Yet it is precisely in this place — beyond fear and beyond the need to manage God — that we begin to experience the fullness of the Father’s love, joy, and ongoingness. The fear that once held us captive loses its power when we choose dependence over self-protection. The control we thought kept us safe is revealed as the very thing that kept us limited.

In the days of Jesus, people did not have a Bible to compare what He spoke to them. They simply knew in their hearts that what He was saying came from the Father. It was the religious people — those bound by fear and the need for control — who constantly demanded external validation, proof, and alignment with their interpretations. May we not repeat their mistake. May we have the courage to come up higher and live in the same simple, trusting relationship that Jesus modeled and invites us into today.