The Importance of God’s Word in our Everyday Lives
Here are some ways God continues
to get my attention:
·
He allows me to go through trials and testing
·
Marriage often exposes my self-centered sinful nature
·
God allows me to experience the Consequences of my sin
·
Conversations with believers awakens me to insightful
ways to live set apart to God and receive Godly counsel
·
God uses sermons, testimonies and lectures to speak
into my situation
·
The Holy Spirit knows how to get my attention, He convicts
me often and for my good
filters
my words and thought life
But I also find that God speaks regularly to me in a
very powerful way through the study of His Word. With the help of the Holy Spirit in a unique
and supernatural way, I can understand scripture,
know God’s purpose, plan, principles and spiritual concepts that will challenge
me and transform me into the man He wants me to be.
What I love about Scripture
is that it explains who God is, how He works and what He has planned for
humanity.
God’s inspired Word revealed
to me that a faith and belief in Jesus is a saving faith. And when
I gave my life over to Him,
I received direction for my life, new hope new purpose, and a fulfillment of my
deepest need for unfailing love.
Can we really trust God’s Word?
My answer would be yes for these reasons:
·
God is the Author of the Bible (He who breathed it,
inspired it, and conceived it)
·
The
Bible was written down by Godly men directed by the Holy Spirit
·
Prophecy in the
Bible is Fulfilled. For example: Bible scholars point out that
nearly 300 references to 61 specific prophecies of the
Messiah were fulfilled by Jesus Christ
·
The Bible
accurately foretells specific events-in detail-many years, sometimes centuries,
before they occur. Approximately 2,500 prophecies appear in the pages of the
Bible, about 2,000 of which already have been fulfilled to the
letter-no errors.
·
Archeological
discoveries confirm history recorded in the Bible
The Bible
is completely compatible with real science for example:
·
The Earth is round (Isaiah 40:22) –
discovered in 15th Century
·
Earth is held in place by invisible
forces (Job 26:7) – discovered in 1650
·
Infinite number of stars exist
(Genesis 15:5; Jeremiah 33:22) – discovered in 1940
·
Earth’s weather follows rules and
cycles (Genesis 8:22) – discovered by Galileo around 300 years ago
We can look to the testimony of those who wrote the
Bible and we see examples today that God has the power to Change lives > the
bible confirms this:
2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new.
·
The Bible through
the power of the Holy Spirit – Awakens the human soul to seek, know and walk
with God.
·
The Bible reveals
our sin and need for a Savior.
·
The Bible
explains the world’s brokenness and how Jesus came to redeem and restore what
sin had stolen.
·
God’s Word
teaches us about life as God designed it to be lived.
·
The Bible brings
life, hope and eternal perspective
The
Bible exhorts us to walk according to God’s Word:
Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who
walk according to the law of the Lord.
Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart - Psalm 119: 1-2
The Bible explains the importance and nature of Scripture:
All
Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting
and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly
equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3: 16-17
The
Bible tells us what to do with God’s Word:
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive
yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the
word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a
mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away
and immediately forgets what he looks like - James 1:22-24
Eternal truth is not
altered by the constant change, and new ideas adopted by the culture and the
world. The truth God established in the Bible overrules the winds of current
trends, the waves of cultural patterns, and the tide of modern thinking.
God’s Word tells us about
His solution to the problem of sin and shows us how we can live in a way that
reflects and honors the God who made us.
The Bible tells us how
much God loves us and the lengths He went to rescue us.
God’s Word gives
life purpose, and renews our mind so that we can understand God’s will:
Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what
God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)
God’s Word gives us the most important teachings of Jesus:
“I
am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me.”
(John
14:6)
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them
to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always,
to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28: 18-20)
8 But you
will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends
of the earth.”
(Acts
1:8)
And of
course, read Matthew Chapter 5 > The Beatitudes and other teaching and
parables of Jesus.
Closing thoughts:
(spiritual discipline challenge)
Let’s take time each day
to take God’s Word to heart so we can get the right kind of perspective to help
us navigate this fallen world in a humble God honoring way.
How about no Bible no breakfast > let’s make our first priority of our day to
acknowledge God with Gratitude and prayer and read His Word, He just might be
trying to get our attention.
Caution: we
need to be careful when things are going well. We may be tempted to rely on our
own strength and wisdom. We need to always be on the lookout for pride and
selfish ambition creeping back in and igniting the old self. We must be careful
not to take it for granted that we already know what the word says. Just remember what Jesus said:
“It is written:
‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth
of God.’ (Matthew
4:4)
Jesus has chosen us to
change the world beginning with the inside of ourselves, our hearts, minds,
actions and works. We can live this
transformed life so others know that God truly has power.
With the help God’s Word,
we can put off the old self and put on the new self:
Ephesians 4:22-24 New International Version
You
were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old
self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made
new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new
self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
One of the best ways for anyone to grow spiritually
and to serve God is through the reading and study of God’s Word:
James 1:25 New
International Version
25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that
gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard,
but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
For all these reasons,
God’s Word should play a role in our everyday lives!
Blessings………………..Dave
