God’s plan for each of us is that His Word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path on a daily basis. How can we, otherwise, maintain spiritual strength, wisdom and knowledge day to day? How can we, otherwise, know where to walk, at what pace, when to stop and where to turn? When we are walking in the way of God, we will have ears to hear Him direct our path. Isaiah 30:21 says, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.”
The only way for us to have the ability to hear Him speak on a regular basis, is to get to know Him personally through His Word -- His Holy Scriptures -- that He gave mankind for this purpose.
Someone might say, “Well, one time God spoke to me out of the blue when I was not even ‘saved.’ ” Yes, that can happen. An example might be when a person is about to make a decision such as going through the door on the right vs. the door on the left. This type of example might be a soldier in an urban combat situation. God can certainly do a sovereign work and speak clearly to him and say, “It’s the left door. Go on in.” As I said, this may be a sovereign act of God as He sees fit at that moment. Perhaps He is answering the prayers of the young man’s mama or grandpa, down on their knees interceding for that precious loved one.
What we are talking about today is the importance of learning to let God show us the way to live our lives in uttermost abundance through the light of His Word.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
Part 1 Continued: My plan for you ---Your heart's desire
If you do not have revelation of these things, I implore you to ask God to help you receive this truth into your spirit -- that it will be Ramah Word to you. And ask Him to put into your belly a hunger for God’s Word that cannot be satisfied. He wants to do that and you will benefit in ways you could never have imagined.
In the natural, when we eat food, our hunger gets satisfied. Our digestive system kicks in and that food provides nourishment to our bodies so that our life is sustained, our cells are nourished and we have energy to do the physical and mental things that we do day to day. Each time this occurs, we are then hungry again in a few hours and must have more food.
The same thing should be happening when we ingest the Word of God. We take in a portion. With the help of the Holy Spirit residing in us, our mind, soul and spirit will digest or process it. It then becomes nourishment to our mind, our soul and our spirit. It sustains life and health in the core of our very being. That is in the who we are in our innermost parts. It is our spirit being, which is that part of us that communes with God and determines the real you or me. This is that part of us which wars with our flesh over what we will give ourselves to, at any given moment. Do you ever detect that battle going on between your flesh and your spirit?
It might be a battle over: to see or not to see a movie, to participate or not in a certain conversation, to eat a large piece of cake vs. a small one, to buy that pair of shoes or not, to make that remark to my spouse or not, to study God’s Word this morning or sleep another hour, to ask that hurting person if I can pray for him or not. The list could go on into eternity.
The point is, in this battle between flesh and spirit, which part will be stronger? Which part has been strengthened most by the things we have chosen to do, up to that point of making the decision? Have we been feeding our flesh more or our spirit more? Which one is stronger? Which one has been winning these skirmishes in the past and is likely to win them in our future. Just as our physical bodies need nourishment daily, our spirit needs nourishment every day in order to be strong enough to win these daily altercations. I am not talking about that devotional scripture in the little book we keep in the bathroom or on the bedside table or the one that comes across the computer screen each day. I am talking about devotion not devotional! I am talking about setting aside significant time in the daily routine to spend alone with God and His Word.
In the natural, when we eat food, our hunger gets satisfied. Our digestive system kicks in and that food provides nourishment to our bodies so that our life is sustained, our cells are nourished and we have energy to do the physical and mental things that we do day to day. Each time this occurs, we are then hungry again in a few hours and must have more food.
The same thing should be happening when we ingest the Word of God. We take in a portion. With the help of the Holy Spirit residing in us, our mind, soul and spirit will digest or process it. It then becomes nourishment to our mind, our soul and our spirit. It sustains life and health in the core of our very being. That is in the who we are in our innermost parts. It is our spirit being, which is that part of us that communes with God and determines the real you or me. This is that part of us which wars with our flesh over what we will give ourselves to, at any given moment. Do you ever detect that battle going on between your flesh and your spirit?
It might be a battle over: to see or not to see a movie, to participate or not in a certain conversation, to eat a large piece of cake vs. a small one, to buy that pair of shoes or not, to make that remark to my spouse or not, to study God’s Word this morning or sleep another hour, to ask that hurting person if I can pray for him or not. The list could go on into eternity.
The point is, in this battle between flesh and spirit, which part will be stronger? Which part has been strengthened most by the things we have chosen to do, up to that point of making the decision? Have we been feeding our flesh more or our spirit more? Which one is stronger? Which one has been winning these skirmishes in the past and is likely to win them in our future. Just as our physical bodies need nourishment daily, our spirit needs nourishment every day in order to be strong enough to win these daily altercations. I am not talking about that devotional scripture in the little book we keep in the bathroom or on the bedside table or the one that comes across the computer screen each day. I am talking about devotion not devotional! I am talking about setting aside significant time in the daily routine to spend alone with God and His Word.
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