Devoted to the Word

Devoted to the Word

There is so much we take for granted. Today I attended a funeral of a friend and the speaker made the suggestion that in many areas of life we are ok with not really understanding things as long as they work… like your motor car or your mobile phone etc.

We take the intricacies of things for granted as long as we get what we want or it does what we need it to do.

I got to thinking that we do the same with the Word. We don’t really delve into the meaning of scripture and as long as the scripture works for us or makes us feel good in the situation we are in, we are quite ok with not understanding how it works.

When our transmission or gear box breaks because we have failed to top up the transmission fluid or depress the clutch when changing gears, we complain about the car and declare the car a “hunk of junk”. We don’t readily think that our lack of thorough understanding was to blame for the huge bill we have to cover with the mechanic. The same is true with scripture and the Word in our lives. We think we kind of know it well enough and we use it at will but then when it does not seem to be working we throw it aside or doubt it or even worse, doubt our ability to ever understand the great mystery of God. We even camp on our understanding thinking we really have clarity but actually we are just grating the gears. I used to think I knew the Bible, but then I took one chapter of the Bible and I read it 8-10 times a day for 8 months. I thought I knew it, I thought I understood it. I had preached on it, taught on it, written parts of it in letters and cards, but when I finally stopped taking the scripture for granted, stopped thinking I had this, and allowed myself to simply allow the power of revelation from the Holy Spirit to work, the scripture exploded. Since that time I refuse to take scripture for granted. I will not tolerate mediocre explanations of the gargantuan subject of God’s love and I will never trick myself by thinking that “I already know that scripture.” Simple biblical truths need to be studied and we need to ask for revelation.

We are not fighting some political battle, or legal argument. We are participating in a spiritual battle that will culminate in catastrophic consequences for those we fail to reach. To find that passion, to kindle that fire, to operate against all worldly forces, I need to know, really know, the Words of God. I will not take them for granted any more.

We have become lazy with our Google-based understanding of the Word. We have lost ourselves in the midst of our Facebook whining and are completely distracted by the views we absorb from the media.

We know the Lord’s Prayer but don’t really study it to know how it is entrenched in every part of our prayer life…

We know the Lord has a plan for us and that it is a good plan, but we don’t dive into the promises that make up that plan seeking the workings of that plan with everything we have.

We raise our eyebrows at the neighbor in debt because of their poor choices and we say “you reap what you sow”, but we never really study the impact of that statement or the context of it.

I pray that we, the Church, return to the passion of the Word. That we don’t become disheartened at scripture because of our circumstance but that we, in faith, adjust our circumstance based on the genuine, Holy Spirit led, revelation of scripture.

I will no longer simply be a devout Christian, I will be devoted to seeking revelation through every letter of the Word.

Over the next few weeks, I will be blogging on some of the Words most well known portions of scripture. We will start with “Sowing and Reaping.”

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4 Comments

  1. Norma Lombino

    I loved this and I eagerly wait to hear more from you. I read scripture every day and reflect on it many times during the day. It seems like I am constantly talking to God! Thank you for your words. They give me something to reflect on today as I go about my business of trying to live the word of God!

  2. Lisa Jordan

    Yes, yes and yes! I am guilty of wanting more revelation from the Word but choose not to spend the QUALITY time eating it. Instead, I seek teachers that do the eating for me and devour what they receive. Now I know why I’m still left dissatisfied. I must eat the Word for myself. Allow my eating to create more hunger. As you said so beautifully…”We are participating in a spiritual battle that will culminate in catastrophic consequences for those we fail to reach. To find that passion, to kindle that fire, to operate against all worldly forces, I need to know, really know, the Words of God.” THANK YOU!!

  3. Brenda Miller

    Pastor Craig, I love this article. Over the past several months (far too many), I have struggled to consistently study the Word. In the past, I would read the Scriptures daily, but the legalistic background in which I had begun seeking the Lord left me not knowing anything about relationship with Him in terms of one that was intimate and loving and personal and deep. It was only after I encountered Andrew Wommack and, as a result, others in relation to his ministry, that I started to understand that, in effect, most – if not all of – what I had learned was nothing but a legalistic burden that led me to turn away from God because I knew I was never going to be capable of living up to what was expected of me. Andrew and others who taught the Truth of the Word have shown me that I am already loved perfectly; it is not up to me to please God so He will respond to my needs. Rather, it is up to me to seek Him in an intimate, personal relationship so I can really, really know Him as the God of indescribable love that gave His all so that He could have relationship with me as His very own! I cannot even grasp that at this point in my journey with God, but I very much long to do so. The problem that I am experiencing is a sense of paralysis when I turn to the Word. Instead of diving in and asking the Spirit to lead me to where I need to be, I do nothing because I do not know where to begin. Thus, I end up doing nothing but feeling regret and guilt and shame at my inability to make a decision.
    Pastor Craig, do you have a suggestion as to the best place to begin, or how to study when I do not yet know how to clearly hear or discern the voice of the Holy Spirit leading me?

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