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Sharing God's Word
Sharing God's Word
Hearing God is the key to growing closer to Him. Hearing is God's firsts choice among the senses when it comes to spiritual growth. Our Westernizing culture puts emphasis on sight “Seeing is believing”; “I have to see it to believe it”; etc. Just for a moment, reflect on the bombardment from Las Vegas marquees , news paper ads, T.V. commercials - all visual Why? Sight sells!
But seeing does not aid intimacy; that belongs to the sense we call hearing. As mentioned, it is God's primary choice in relation to His creation: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” This exhortation was uttered by Jesus in over 14 different places in the New Testament alone.
Scripture makes it clear what is required of us “please God.” Take a look at Hebrews 11:6 “ But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him”. How can we grow in faith? Check out Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
We are admonished in the Old Testament in the book of Deuteronomy “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart”(Deut 6:4-6).
With that being established, the next question should be -“How can I hear God?” What a great question: How do you hear God? Do you: Meditate? Focus on a word or mantra? Take a walk? Retreat to a cave? Seek counsel from others?
Seriously, how does one hear God? It is undoubtedly the one thing that we should all love to do. Can you imagine what it would be like to “hear” God on a regular basis? When was the last time you know that you heard God? Wouldn't you love to have that experience on a much more regular basis?
I would like to address this issue and give you a challenge because I believe God intends for us to hear Him.
As we begin to build a foundation, lets begin with the importance of words. Words are the building block of language, and it is language that constitutes the major portion of communication. Lets focus on one of the titles of Christ. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not”(John 1:1-5).
Jesus Christ is the WORD and in order for us to communicate with Him we need to immerse ourselves in His words. These words have been written and preserved for us in the Old and New Testaments. These words are not just historical writings, but much more! It's encouraging to know “the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, it shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you”(John 14:26).
The followers of God who do not deposit much of His Word in their lives have a difficult time “HEARING GOD”.... It is the Comforters job to help make God's words of truth come alive for us in our personal daily lives. Jesus Christ said - “ I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me,) to do thy will, O God”(Heb 10:7). If we want to “hear God”, and if we want to “know God” in an intimate way we must read the book, “His Book”! It is believed that the called of Christ who do not deposit much of His Word in their lives have a very difficult time “hearing God” and thus they do not know much about Him- they do not know His ways.
Jesus Himself gave us an important lesson in regards to knowing the Word. Jesus the Creator of the entire Universe following His baptism and the forty days of fasting, when being tempted by the evil one chose to combat him how? By snapping His fingers and yelling, “Be gone”? By calling legions of angels to His rescue? No! He chose to fight with the Word of God. “And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God” (Luke 4:4). This was being quoted from the book of Deuteronomy, “--- man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live”(Deut 8:3).
The time has come to raise the bar personally and to commit ourselves to being “the people of the book” ! When we return to the book of truth we will “hear” God in ways that we would never imagine!
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