Truth transforms my life

My sister became a Christian in a far-away country where Christianity was and still is illegal. She came home to discover that I also had become a Christian. She told me to have daily devotions using the method taught to her by a missionary (who was also not legally allowed in that country).

Her instruction was simple: Read John five times and Romans twice, then the NT and the OT. Read until God speaks to me then write the date, Bible reference, and what I understood from the reading. This served well for many years.

After a time, I realized that every line in the Bible was truth from God, even the parts that describe human sin. It was written in the Bible because God wanted it to be there and wanted me to know it. While many people pick and choose the parts they want to believe, or only believe the parts they understand, I can see this book is not a manual for theologians or even casual reading. It is truth revealed that I might know God.

Understanding this may have come easy for some, but my mind is wired to solve puzzles, enjoy mysteries, seek answers, and find reasons for everything. I’m a ‘hard sell’ in that if someone tries to convince me that I should have a product or do something, I will resist it. I want to discover for myself whether the sales claims are true and the more I am pushed, the more I resist. I’m the opposite of gullible, but at the same time, once convinced, stick solidly to what I believe.

Sadly, if convinced a lie is true, that causes me great conflict and pain — showing me the reality of why I need Jesus and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Without God’s saving power, who knows where I would be and without the Book of books, who knows what I would believe.

This is the power of God’s Word. Because it is not a book of theories but of actual facts, it feeds my mind with the right stuff. As today’s devotional says, things are not true because they are in the Bible; they are only in the Bible because they are true. When it tells me that God loves me, this is a fact. Otherwise, it would not be in the Bible. Solomon wrote:

Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. (Proverbs 30:5)

Jesus and the NT point out that knowing the truth must be followed up by obedience to it. If told the truth that eating junk food would affect my health and I simply kept eating it, could I expect otherwise? It is the same with truth from God:

But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” (Luke 8:21)

But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:28)

The Word of God changes lives — as long as it is believed and obeyed:

You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31–32)

PRAY: Jesus, it is one thing to read listening for a special word from You, and delightful that for the past fifty plus years You speak to me every day. I’m amazed at You. This truth is in place only because ALL of the Bible is You speaking. I cannot control or even be certain I will hear those special words — only be glad in Your faithfulness, but I can believe whatever has been written and know that as I read it and do what it says, You transform my life.

Water and Bread

 

The word “water” appears hundreds of times in the Bible. In last night’s group study, we looked at some of them and saw how its unique physical properties symbolize the wonder of God’s salvation. That study and the topic today use the ordinary stuff of life to bring out His goodness and His purposes, first water and now bread. The first major instance in the OT is:

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:3)

The OT story of God’s people in their wilderness journey from slavery in Egypt to the land He promised includes supplying manna for their food. It was an object lesson. Like water, bread (or food) is important to life, yet God is the supply. He wanted His people to realize their need for Him was like their need for food and drink. Without both, we will not survive. As Jesus said, He is the Bread of life. (John 6:35)

In other passages, water is compared to the life of God given to and flowing out from believers. This water of life springs from the Word of God, first declared and powerful, then to bring everlasting life to sinners:  

He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes. He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow. He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel. (Psalm 147:15–19)

You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)

These verses declare that just as God uses natural elements like water and bread to accomplish His purposes, He also sends His Word to do the same. And His Word is powerful and productive:

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10–11)

Jesus quoted Deuteronomy to answer the temptation of Satan to turn stones into bread. Instead of performing a miracle to satisfy His own hunger, He said:

It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

As vital as bread (and water) are to our physical well-being, the Word of God supplies spiritual sustenance as it brings conviction of sin, sinners to repentance, encourages God’s people, reveals spiritual truth, gives us a weapon against Satan’s lies, and blesses us in many other ways. Feeding on it transforms our lives.

PRAY: Jesus, I can trust what You say, live in nourished confidence, and be motivated and enabled to do what You tell me. I can also tell others so they can feed on the truth and be spiritually nourished, growing in their faith. You said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:34) indicating that nourishment comes from knowing and doing Your will and that means feasting on it, desiring it like a baby desires milk and like a hungry person desires food or a parched soul craves water. You know that I make and love bread, having some for almost every meal. May my hunger for Your Word be like that — a necessity and not a luxury or a snack but my very life.

PONDER: List the promises in John 14:1–14 and meditate on their significance as something greatly to be desired and greatly needed.

 

 

When God speaks . . . things happen!

When the Bible speaks of the “word” of God, it uses at least two terms. One is logos which is a bit hard to define. Generally, it refers to a message from God using Scripture (the written word) and Jesus (the living Word)

The other word is rhema or variations of it. It means a specific word that addresses the need of the hearer. It is about those times when God speaks directly to the heart. Christians know how this works. We hear a sermon (logos) but there is part of it that is ‘just for me’ as if the speaker and I are the only ones in the room. This is rhema. It also happens when reading the Bible and thoughts jump off the page that answer my questions, confirm my faith, rebuke my sin, encourage me to trust Jesus, or simply bless me in the situation I am in.

Both are powerful. Paul was in prison when he wrote some of his epistles, but prison did not keep the Word of God from his lips. In several places he assured his readers that even though he was bound in chains, the Word of God was not hindered.

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. (2 Timothy 2:8–10)

But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. (2 Timothy 4:17)

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. (Philippians 1:12–14)

There is another sense that the Word of God is not mere words sitting in a page. When God speaks, He is not talking idly; His words have purpose. In the beginning, He spoke the world into existence. He spoke to Abraham and this man believed Him and became known as the father of faith. Others also heard God before him and believed, like Enoch and Noah as did millions since then.

The Word of God is powerful, not because it is a great work of literature or because it is beloved by God’s people, but because He wrote it and uses it to talk to us. The New Testament says, “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:21)

Because this ‘word’ is from God, it will do what God says. Again, He does not speak without purpose:

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10–11)

As the NT says, this Word, specifically rhema, changes lives. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word (rhema) of Christ” (Romans 10:17) and through faith, people are changed: “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” (1 Peter 1:23)

It also continually changes the lives of those who believe it and continue to read it:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

For all this, I must keep on reading it, studying it, just never assuming I know it all, for even if I could memorize Genesis to Revelation, it is that rhema reality that makes it a conversation, not an academic exercise or a theological project. God talks to me. I hear Him in my heart and in His book (these two always agree) and He hears me whenever I speak to Him.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, You are the voice of God who came here in human form to reach into my silence and make all things new. What a blessing to know You and to know that what You say is vital and life changing. My heart is filled with joy because You speak.

Today’s thankful list . . .

God speaks!

A very long conversation with Him each day.

Today having a long conversation with our granddaughter who lives in another country.

Chocolate fudge, yum.

My hubby’s scars are healing wonderfully.