Chapter 5

The Word of God

            When someone tells you something, you believe, disbelieve, or “put it on the shelf” depending on your confidence in their truthfulness. Well how confident are you in God’s truthfulness? Do you believe that what He says is what He means? Or do you think He’s not telling you all there is to know about the subject? If you know Him, you should have complete confidence in His Word. He spoke the universe into existence, so His Word is most powerful. Almost everything He’s said in His Word has come to pass with very few left to be fulfilled. Then why don’t we believe Him when He tells us in His Word about our destiny? How does His Word affect our destiny? We will look at a few of these things in the following pages.

            Performs its work:  

1 Thessalonians 2:13
13 For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.

            When God plants the seed of His Word into our lives, you can be certain that it has a life of its own. It goes to work making us into the image of His Son. It does this for all believers, but more so for those who believe it will do what He says it will do. It will work in our lives, but it will do so better and quicker with our putting our faith into practice concerning its application to our situation. Remember that it’s God’s Word and He cannot lie. Men can lie, but what God says He will do for us.

If you could hear God speak, I believe this is what He would say:

            "You have My Word, My children and have not failed to obey it. I have chosen you as a people of the Word. You will walk in its light and you will walk in it’s power. You will never fail as long as you walk in My Word. I gave it to you so that you would know about Me and come to know when I speak with you. You can know Me through My Word. In it you will see My face and know My ways. Then you can know when it is I that speaks to you; for I will not speak anything that is contrary to My Word. It is My Word that will bring you into the Land and will bring you victory in every situation. Trust in My Word that it will do all that I intended for it to do.”

            49. The Word performs its work in me who believes. It will not fail to accomplish what God has ordained it to do.

Worship in Spirit and in truth:  

John 4:23-24
23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

            Many Christians go through some rote method of worshipping God. Sing three songs and say some canned prayer is how they think they should worship Him. We must come before Him and worship in spirit and truth. It’s o.k. to have a plan of entering into worship, but we should be open to His leading as to how to achieve that goal. It’s too easy to get into a routine of how to do it. We did it this way once, and it was great … so we should do it this way every time. We also need to come to Him in the truth of His Word. We need both in order to worship Him.

            You may have heard the saying, “If you have the Word without the Spirit, you’ll dry up. If you have the Spirit without the Word, you’ll blow up.” We need both. The Word makes sure that what we believe is the direction of the Spirit is according to what God has said. The Spirit makes that Word come alive in our lives.

If you could hear God speak, I believe this is what He would say:

            "You are My children, and I desire earnestly that you would come before Me in praise and adoration. As you do, you will be set free to worship Me. In worship of Me, you will have freedom. You cannot know true freedom apart from worship of Me. You are Mine, and I desire earnestly that you would come into My presence in worship and adoration. You will be free to become what I have destined you to become when you worship Me in Spirit and in truth. There is no other way to achieve this freedom than through worship of Me.”

            48. I worship the Father in the only acceptable way; that is, in Spirit and in truth.

            Our destiny is to know the Father through His Spirit. We cannot know Him apart from His Spirit. As we walk in the Spirit, we will come closer and closer to Him. Then we can discover our destiny and walk fully in it.

Access to the Father:  

Ephesians 2:18
18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

            It is a rare commoner that gains access to royalty or to a high government official. We have access to the God who created the universe. Also we don’t have to bow and crawl on our knees when we come to Him like we would to royalty. We should come in reverence before Him, but also boldly to the throne. We come this way, not because of who we are or what we’ve done, but because of who Jesus is and what He has done.

If you could hear God speak, I believe this is what He would say:

            "My children you are free to come into My presence whenever you wish. My Spirit will guide you into the way. He will show you how to come into My presence. He will not prevent you from being with Me, but will rather show the way to come. He will light your path so that you may see how to walk. I do not resent your coming, but rather desire it earnestly. You may come before Me and offer your petitions, or you may come simply to be in My presence. I will never forbid you to enter into My presence. In My presence is truly fullness of joy.”

            47. Through the Holy Spirit, I have access to the Father. I will never be turned away or receive a busy signal.

Work of the Holy Spirit:

        

            Gives life:  

2 Corinthians 3:6
6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

            The world gives death, but His Spirit gives us life. Too many Christians are living under the letter of the “Law”. Now I don’t mean the Jewish Law (though there are some who try to do even that). I mean the “Law” of “I mustn’t do this and I must do that”. Many times these are actually very good things to do and very bad things to not do. But the driving force behind them is not to do the things pleasing unto God; rather, to try to win God’s favor by doing the good and not doing the bad. There is no life in trying to do things according to some letter of the “Christian Law”. The life is in doing things because we love God and want to please Him because He loves us.

If you could hear God speak, I believe this is what He would say:

            "You have life through My Spirit who indwells you. In the world, you had death; but in Me you have life and that more abundantly. It is not just existence, but true life. It is an abundant life that will more than meet your needs. You need never fear death for I am your life. In Me you shall be more than conquerors. My life is one of freedom. My life is not a prison, but a freedom to rejoice in Me.”

            46. The indwelling Holy Spirit gives life to me. The world gives me death, but He gives me life.