Let Him Speak! Word!

The little voices sang out the words in our school chapel - “Yeah, the Word of the Lord  holds true, we can trust Him!”  Isn’t that a great fact? This morning ‘round 2 am, many concerns arrived in my mind driving sleep away and leaving me tossing restlessly.  People needs, church issues, decisions – large and small – tumbled around inside my head and then the Spirit spoke using the Word, reminding me that I need not stress. Using the ancient words He spoke to tell me "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you." (1 Peter 5:7, NLT)  and that "from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 3:15, NIV)   How thankful I am for those words of life stored in my memory that available for recall, useful to the Spirit when He moves in me.

Is your mind saturated with the truth of Scripture? Do you take time each day to feed your thoughts with the text? Are you engaged in regular study, with others, of the sacred texts?

The old maxim of computing is ‘GIGO’ – Garbage In, Garbage Out.  A computer can only use the data it is fed to produce results. In a similar way, our brain uses the information we feed it to ‘compute’ our responses to life. If we believe wrong things, refuse to learn the truth, our choice will be flawed, our lives less than the whole and holy ones that God desires. But, if the truth of the Word is foundational to our thoughts, everything is different.  The Psalm says "I’ve banked your promises in the vault of my heart so I won’t sin myself bankrupt. Be blessed, God; train me in your ways of wise living. " (Psalm 119:11-12, The Message)

A key to pleasing God is to know His ways.  The Bible teaches us those truths.  From those pages we learn that we are His creation, that our purpose is to love and serve Him, that we are hopelessly lost apart from the love of our Savior, that our true hope is not of this world, and that eternity is our destiny.  From those basics we gain the right perspective and put things right in life.  Some may say, “how can we learn anything about life in 2017 from texts that are thousands of years old?”  Because those texts are ‘God-breathed’ inspired words that have been preserved to guide us.  When God, the Holy Spirit, is working in us, He takes those written texts and making them ‘living’ words. Thus Paul wrote to pastor Timothy to remind him (and us!) that "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NLT)

Love the Word. Listen to the Spirit. Live well!

Here is a word from the Word. "Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." (Romans 12:2, NLT)

Lord, lead us to life with Your holy words. Amen.

___________

Standing On The Promises

Standing on the promises of Christ my King

Through eternal ages let His praises ring

Glory in the highest I will shout and sing

Standing on the promises of God

Standing on the promises that cannot fail

When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail

By the living Word of God I shall prevail

Standing on the promises of God

Standing on the promises I now can see

Perfect present cleansing in the blood for me

Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free

Standing on the promises of God

Russell Kelso Carter

© Words: Public Domain