DAILY LIFE IN GOD’S WORD

               “This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your Word has given me life” (PSALM 119:50)

The Thief, The Teacher and God’s Promise Of Life

 The Word of God is one of the most important parts of a believer’s life. Like the psalmist says, ‘His Word gives life’.

   Every human hungers for the Word of God whether they know it or not. Many times people struggle to understand the Word or receive something from it, and such disappointments suppress our hunger for the Word leaving us with feelings of frustration. One thing I have learnt though is that God wants so much to talk to us. He really, really, really wants to talk with us.

   In this discussion we hope to discover ways of hearing God’s Word more cleary, discover how to cope with disappointments and also to stir up the hunger inside of ourselves.

    Let us come afresh to the Word, “for man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4).

   Saint Irenaeus said this;

                                    “The Glory of God is man fully alive”

 It is when man lives in the fullness of life that God is truly glorified. God is not glorified when man lives in sickness and depression.

   From the creation of man in Genesis, to the promise of redemption, new life and the resurrection in the New Testament, the Bible could not be clearer...GOD WANTS TO GIVE LIFE. (“I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly” John10:10b). Now then, God wants to speak to us through His Word for it is the Word that gives life, yet let us not be unaware that we have an adversary who seeks to steal and choke the Word from us. We can so easily miss God’s warning about this by being too caught up with the second half of John 10:10 (where God promises us abundant life), that we miss the first half of the verse.

“The thief (devil) does not come except to steal, and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly”

  One of the big mistakes we can make when reading the Bible is to think that God’s promises will just drop out of the pages into our lap without anything being required of us. Christ asks us to be aware, be alert (Matt 26:41). God longs to speak with us and also longs for us to hear Him. One of the translations for ‘Word’, is ‘answer’ and another is ‘revelation’. God is longing to communicate with us and He will do so through His Word.  To achieve this we must also understand another one of God’s promises the promise of the Holy Spirit. The devil will try to steal the Word from us but the Holy Spirit is He who stops the devil and helps the Word grow in our hearts.

  “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is for your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He comes, He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgement. Of sin, because they do not believe Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more. Of judgement because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is mine and declare it to you.”                                                                             John 16:7-14

 It was essential for Christ to leave this world for becoming human meant He was under the same restrictions we are. By putting on flesh He was no longer omnipresent but his preaching was limited in terms of scope and broadcast. The Holy Spirit however dwells in the heart of every believer, He is your own personal tutor, 24hours a day, 7days per week. We must learn to rely on Him.

 You can receive a word from God. Daily life in God’s Word begins with us coming before the Lord in prayer. We must use our faith. Believe that God wants to speak with you.

                   “Call to Me, and I will answer you and show you great and

                      Mighty things, which you do not know”.    (Jeremiah 33:3)

     Then we should call upon the Holy Spirit to bind the activities of the devil and to be our guide and teacher as we begin to read. Never forget this verse;

     ‘Greater is He that is in you (Holy Spirit) than he that is in the world (devil)’                             

                                                                                                                      1 John 4:4

                     We should begin our time of reading Gods word with prayer.

                                FINDING YOURSELF IN THE WORD

   The Bible is pretty much just one big storybook. It is also largely a history book but mostly it tells us the stories of hundreds of different men and women who lived thousands of years ago. Life is people. The Bible is about people. The God’s Word is about life. It is about human struggles. It is about disappointment and heartache, about work and rest, love and anger, heroes and villains, me and you.

   In life have you ever discovered apart of yourself from listening to a song, reading a book or watching a film? Stories and Myth are something that is of extreme importance to mankind. They are things that help you to discover yourself,

       ‘As former Wheaton College President Clyde Kilby explains, “Myth is the

       name of a way of seeing, a way of knowing”, not fantasy, not lies, but

       things coming to us from beyond the walls of this world. Rolland Hein

       observes, “They are a kind of story that wakes you up, and suddenly you

        say, ’Yes, YES, this is what my life has really been about! Here is where

       my meaning and my destiny lie!”                                       (John Eldridge)

   My implication is not that the stories of the Bible are Myth, for the stories of the Bible are factual, but in the age that we are now living in they can often seem as Myth. Stories of burning bushes, giant floods, a giant ark, fire falling from the skies. These are the kind of things we see in films such as ‘The Lord of  the Rings’. The Bible is full of stories cause we best understand ourselves when we have something to relate our life to. We will find ourselves in the Bible and we will find the life that God has for us.

   How is it though that we can relate to such large stories that seem way beyond anything we’ve experienced? It’s simple, we relate to the characters mostly in their weaknesses. God has never been ashamed to tell the world about the weaknesses of the people who are supposed to represent Him on earth. The Bible tells us of King David’s sin with Bathsheba. It tells us of King Solomon’s wives and Peter’s denial. God shows us the weaknesses of these great people cause He wants to bring you into the story, He wants you to find yourself and then He wants you to discover what you can be.

        ‘For God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise,

         and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things

         that are mighty’.                                     1 Corinthians 1:27

   A verse in Psalm 138 reveals another great truth to us;

       ‘For you have magnified Your Word above all Your Name’ Psalm 138:2b¹ (NKJV)

    God is more concerned about His word than He is His reputation. He is more concerned about bringing you into the story than He is about what people will say about Him.

   It is only by placing our own personal stories amongst the stories of God that we can begin to see how much God has for us. His Word gives us life cause it shows us the kind of life God wants us to live. The stories of the Bible are big cause God has something big planned for our lives.

       ‘At the very centre of our beings we sense there is something more. We want

       our lives to count for something. And the only way we are going to get there

       is to connect our lives to a dream that is bigger than we are- a dream that is

       big enough for the times and world in which we live. we will find that

       connection only when we merge our lives and our stories with the story of God’.

                                                                                                                                         (Tom Sine)

                                               God’s Word For Our Needs

  Psalm 119 is a psalm that is about the excellence of the Word of God. Here are a few things the psalmist says the word will do for us;

  It will,  

Cleanse us                                                               Protect us from sin

Guide us                                                                 Give us understanding

Enlarge our hearts (make us more loving people)    Bring us salvation

Revive us when we lose hope                                  Comfort us when we are sad

Protect us from anyone who rises against us            Satisfy us

GIVE US LIFE

 THE WORD IS OUR SWORD

   Because the Word of God can give us such freedom for our lives it is apposed greatly by our enemy who continually seeks to steal it from us. Ephesians 6:10-20, lists a number of spiritual weapons which God has given us. Verse 17 shows us that the Word of God is our sword (The Sword Of The Spirit). The Word is the weapon we must use on our enemy to destroy his lies and gain our freedom. What is a warrior without his sword? Even with the rest of his armour on he cannot advance in the battle and can barely protect himself. It is of extreme importance that we take up our sword. But we also have another enemy that we are often equally unaware of. This enemy is our own minds.

                  ‘The carnal mind is enmity against God’           Romans 8:7

   I heard a prophetess once speaking, and with great boldness she said, “The first thing you do once you receive the sword of the Spirit is to turn it around and use it on yourself”. Hebrews 4:12 highlights this point with great strength and revelation.

     ‘For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart’

   You see, we don’t always know what is going on inside our minds and our hearts, but the Word of God searches deep destroying our wrong motives and thoughts, setting us free. It says in Proverbs 4:3, ‘Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it springs the issues of life’. The Word of God gives us life because it goes to work on our hearts. To have abundant life we must learn to live our lives from our hearts, hearts that are restored and set free.

 Nelson Mandela once said this;

       “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world, there’s nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the Glory of God that is within us...And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others”.

   God has for us the FULLNESS OF LIFE. The Word of God will help us live in it.

  Find time quietly away from things. Spend time in Gods Word and listen to God speak. Be patient and be open.

   Be aware that there is an enemy (even your own mind), and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and make you as good soil receptive to the word.

   Enjoy the stories of the Bible. Think of the characters fondly, find yourselves in them and discover the path they followed to freedom as well as learning from their mistakes so that you will not make the same ones in your life.

   Let the Word of God examine you. Do not stiffen if you read something challenging, God is trying to help you.

    DREAM BIG DREAMS- The stories are for you.

   Be open to receive the abundant life that God has for you.