DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT 07-23-2013 WHAT IT MEANS TO HAVE A HUNGER FOR THE WORD OF GOD PART 1 By: Gina Novobilski-Heenan (Posted by Fred Trokie) The first and most essential evidence that the Spirit of God dwells in us is an insatiable hunger for the Word of God. We can know that we have the Spirit if we experience a growing desire to know and obey the Holy Scriptures of God. For where the Spirit comes to dwell, He comes to feed us with God’s Truth. Nothing can substitute for a driving hunger for Gods Word. It is not enough just to open the Bible. There must be a hunger for God to reveal himself in his Word. If you feel like there is not yet a hunger for the Word of God, make this a priority in prayer. Ask God to give you a hunger for His Word and you will find that this is a prayer he delights in answering. Proverbs 2:1-6 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding — 3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, 5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. If you’ve already discovered the stirrings of hunger for Gods Word, then you will find that the Bibles pages will ring with the voice of Gods Spirit. God has hidden treasures for you in His Word. Each page is like the cave of wonders in the story of Aladdin, a hidden labyrinth of treasures - spiritual gold, silver and precious gemstones. But the key that unlocks all those treasures is the hunger of an open heart. Obedience to the Word of God When God specifically highlights an area of your life he wants to change, God requires you to respond in an act of obedience. James 1:22-25 New International Version (NIV) 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 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. Obedience is the evidence of a life genuinely aligned with God in love for him. No one earns points with God for the number of sermons they listen to, nor for how many times they have read the Bible through. What counts with God is not that we talk the talk, but that we walk the walk. 1John 2:3-6 3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God[a] is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. Now that you have read this passage, we encourage you to stop, go back and read it again. What is this passage talking about? What is the measuring stick it places against your life? Without a doubt this is one of the most challenging statements in the Bible (yes, you can go back and read it again, if you want!). John 15:9-10 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. Notice how the Bible does not say that if you obey God, he will accept you. The Bible says that we have already been accepted in Christ (Ephesians 1:4-6). This is the wonder of the work of the cross on our behalf. What the Bible does do, however, is equate remaining in my love with obeying my commands. This means that you cannot claim to have a close relationship with God yet live a lie. Obeying God is proof of the genuineness of your intimacy with God. You cannot have one without the other. The Seriousness of God’s Word Our attitude to Gods Word sets the pace for how that Word will affect our lives. If we treat the Word of God lightly, we should not be surprised if that Word has little impact on our lives. Isaiah 66:2 New International Version (NIV) 2 Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the LORD. “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word. What does it mean to tremble at Gods Word? The Bible itself encourages us to stand in awe of Gods Word and gives us many examples of those who do (for example, Psalm 119:161). We should never treat the Word of God casually. If we disregard Gods Word for our lives, we will experience the penalties of a life not aligned to God. This is no light matter. The trembling described in the Bible, however, is not a reaction of fear but an attitude of awe. God, through his Word, will convict you of sin (anything in your life that is not aligned with Gods holiness). You then have a decision: do you harden yourself against his Word and find an excuse for why it does not apply to you, or do you respond in obedience to that Word? Your choice will directly affect your continuing openness to Gods Word and thus the impact of that Word on your life. The Spirit of the Word Having authored the Bible, however, the Holy Spirits involvement in Gods Word does not end there. The Holy Spirit and the Word of God continue to form a close partnership so that you cannot have one without the other. In fact, many of their descriptions overlap. ~ The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth” (read John 15:26) and Gods Word is called the word of truth” (read James 1:18). ~ The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of life” (read Romans 8:2) and Gods Word is called the word of life”(read Philippians 2:16) ~ The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of grace” (read Hebrews 10:29) and Gods Word is called the word of his grace”(read Acts 20:32). Gods Spirit and his Word go hand in glove (note Ephesians 6:17). Both play a vital and complementary role in the Christian life. Many Christians, however, have an overbalance with one or the other. Some Christians are Spirit-oriented they emphasize the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the moving of the Spirit in their lives. Others are Word-oriented they put an emphasis on the teaching of Gods Word and the establishing of strong biblical foundations. Both the Spirit and the Word are needed. If you have Gods Spirit without his Word, your life will lack boundaries. You will be like a river without banks. On the other hand, without the Holy Spirits work in your life, your life will have no power. You will be like river banks without a river flowing between. Both the Holy Spirit and his Word have equally vital roles to play in bringing the Christian toward the goal of maturity in Christ. The Spirit of God provides the impetus; the Word of God provides the direction. The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation Ephesians 1:17-18 New International Version (NIV) 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[a] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, Note that in this passage Paul writes that he keeps asking” that God give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. He keeps on praying, not because he believes that God hasn’t heard him, but because he knows that his prayer needs to be answered on a continual basis. Each and every day, we need the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in our lives. Colossians 1:9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. God Bless Gina.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 01:47:40 +0000
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