Attending to God’s Word

                                                                                                                                                    As children of God, how important it is for us to give attendance to our Heavenly Fathers words.  It's not enough just to hear it preached on Sunday, or at Wednesday night Bible study, and to be absent from it the rest of the week.

Jesus said that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 

We need to give just as much attention to the state of our spiritual body as we do our physical body.

2^nd Timothy 2:15 says, “Study the Word, to shew ourselves approved by God.  We need to be students of the Bible studying it, meditating upon it, and developing it in our lives at all times, until the Word begins to live in us.  We need to not only read the Bible, but we should live it also.

Some one once told me what they thought the Bible stands for, the BIBLE, ‘Basic Instructions before Leaving Earth’.  Now I don’t think there is anything basic or general about Gods Holy word.  It’s so much more than that.  The Encyclopedia says, ‘The Holy Bible is an archived collection of ancient writings including both the Old Testament, and the New Testament’.  So I realize that the Bible will mean many things to many different people.  I wonder what does the Bible mean to you, and how important is it to your walk with Christ today?

I can’t tell you how many times I have seen the Holy Bible sitting in the back window of some ones car, its cover faded from being in the sun, or I’ve seen the Bible thrown around like its just an old book.  We should never handle the Bible without having respect to it.  It’s more than just a religious book, or a collection of writings.  For those of us whose lives have been changed by the words of this Book, the Bible means so much more than that.

Johns testimony of Christ says, ‘in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father’.

This Word was spoken by the Prophets, revealed by the angel, guided by a Star, Born of a virgin, and herald in by a multitude of the heavenly host.

This Word brought Joy to the world.  To all people, all races, all nationalities, and it’s for all time.  From generations to generations, this word has not changed.

This Word came to heal the sick, and make the blind to see.  It raised the dead, and turn water into wine.  It calmed the stormy winds and stilled the raging sea.  This Word of God has all Power and Authority in His name, the name of Jesus, and demons fear and tremble at the very presence of this Word.

This Word can break every yoke of bondage, and set the captive free.  It can lift heavy burdens, and can supply all our needs; it will cleanse and wash away every stain of sin, and give hope and life where there is death.

This Word is still the same today, and its Power is still the same.  It will do what it says it can do, without fail.  Heaven and earth may pass away, but this Word will never fail. 

How do we put Gods Word into action?           Let me give you an example…

Some one comes up to you out of the blue, and begins to accuse you of something that you hadn’t done.  They say all manner of evil about you, they destroy your character right in front of others, and they strike out at you, swearing and cursing and threatening you.

Now our natural reaction to that is to defend ourselves, and to speak up, but often times our emotions get the best of us, and we come right back raising our voices, saying things to them that that later we wish we hadn’t have said.  All we are doing is adding fuel to the fire and letting things get out of control.

So let’s back up and ask how we could have put Gods Word to work in this situation especially in those times when we don’t know how to move, or what to do.

What would Jesus do?

Remember those refrigerator magnets and buttons that we use to wear with the WWJD on it?  What does Gods Word say to us about this situation, and how can we apply it to our life.

In this instance the Bible tells us, ‘where no fuel is the fire goes out’, or ‘a soft answer turns away wrath’. This is why it is so important for us to develop Gods Word in our life.  We need to have it written upon the tables of our heart, and then we need to go and practice it.

The Word of God says, ‘Love your enemies, and bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use and persecute you.  Now I realize that’s not always the easiest thing to do, but when we become doers of the Word, Good results will always come of it.

Mark 10:18-21 The Bible tells a story of a man who came to Jesus one day, and asked Him what he needed to do to get into heaven.  And Jesus replied by saying, ‘You know what the commandments say, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.  And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.

Now Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, ‘one thing thou lackest; go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.  And at that point the man walked away saddened at His sayings, for He possessed great wealth.

To observe means to watch and pay close attention to, to adhere to and to abide by it.  Christ tells us that we are to observe all things that He has commanded us in His Word.  This means we are to obey the Word, not only by hearing it, but by practicing what it says, putting it to work in our lives.  God wants us to put action behind what the Word is saying. 

Matthew 7: 24-27 Jesus says, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.  And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

When we live in the Word, and allow the Word to live in us, others will see the very nature of God in us, which is Love!  Gods Love was seen in you, in those times when you opened your home and invited the stranger in, when you visited them who were sick in hospitals and nursing homes, when you went into the prisons and the jails to witness the name of Christ. 

Those times you gave of your time and your monies to those who were in need. You gave food to the hungry and clothes to those who were without.  You counseled them who were in need of instruction; you comforted them who were sick and dying. You gave out of the abundance of your heart!  You have been the examples of Christ to them, by your love.  I want you to know that your labor has not been in vain!

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago.  They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner.  In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere.  Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. 

All but one!  He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.  He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight.  Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. 

He was glad he did.  The 16-year old girl was totally blind.  She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one to care for her plight.

The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display.  As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become bruised, these he set aside in another basket.  When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did.  Are you okay?  She nodded through her tears.  He continues on with, ‘I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly’.

As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, ‘Mister… He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes.  She continued, ‘Are you Jesus?’  He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered.  Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about his soul. ‘Are you Jesus?

Do people mistake you for Jesus?  That’s our destiny, is it not?  To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, and grace.

Rev. James A. Lewis, Word of Life Ministry

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