discipled living

The Word of God is the Power demonstrated in Creation and exercised in the Prophetic ministry of the Old Testament Prophets.  In Genesis, God sent His Word forth and it produced a creation “ex nihilo” out of nothing.  God sent His Word into the mouths of the prophets and directed kings, the rise and the demise of nations and the course of human history.

The Scripture further records that God sent His Word to dwell in the midst of humanity in the bodily form of the man, Jesus.  Finally, His Word has been given to us in written form and canonized into one book which forms The Book, “The Bible”.   It is important to note that the physical pages, ink and cover of a Bible are not holy.  While the power of God resides in the recorded word, we must resist the temptation to exalt the physical book which we hold in our hands.  We must take care not to make an idol of the printed text we call the Bible. 

Seeing the Big Picture in Scripture

If we step back from the pages of the Bible and look at it with a broad, panoramic view we can see two things particularly occuring within the Bible.  The Bible 1.) points us to our coming Christ who then 2.) points us to The Father.  The Bible is the history of God’s actions in human history to restore His human children in a redeemed relationship to Himself.    If we fail in our understanding of the intent of the Scriptures, then we will miss most of its power. 

The Bible is the point from which our study and meditation departs.  We begin our study in the Bible and we conclude our study by meditating on the wisdom of God we have experienced.  It is through study and meditation that the power of God which resides in the Scriptures is transferred in to our “hearts/minds” and becomes the wisdom out of which we live.  Once the Wisdom of God enters our “KEEP”, it becomes the source of the issues of our life. (See Proverbs 4:23.)

We must study the Word of God as part of our discipline as followers of Christ because we cannot know the Will of God unless and until we have studied His Word to discover it.  Even our prayer will be impotent.  The responses we believe that we have received will be in question if we have not studied the Word of God to know first, His voice, and second, His Will.  ESSENTIAL POINT:  There are some things that God will not say in response to your prayer. 

We have all heard people say, “I prayed about it…and God told me…”  We cannot trust this response unless we can see in it the Will and Way of God as expressed in Scripture.  God tells us this in Romans 12:2.  God says,

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”  KJV

The New Living Translation interprets this passage of scripture in the following way. 

“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.”

Clearly, we are transformed by the renewal of our thoughts.  The only means by which our thoughts can be renewed is through Study and Meditation upon the wisdom we receive in study. The renewed minds of the disciple will seek the Will of God in prayer and will be able to distinguish the voice of God in response to the prayer from their own inner thoughts. 

Just as a “false-positive” pregnancy test suggests that a woman is pregnant when in fact she is not, people often pray and hear their own voice in response.  The voice confirms our heart’s desire, which may not in actuality be the Will of God for us.  The result is that we decry the actual voice of God because it competes with our inner voice. We experience false-positives in our prayer because we have not invested in the Study and Meditation necessary to distinguish between God’s voice and our selfish inner thoughts.

No Idols AllowedThe “people of God” were continually found struggling against themselves and their allegiance to El Elyon (God Most High).  The people of The Bible were caught up with the courtship of idols.  The same allure of the illicit continues today, overwhelms and seduces reason and outwits the best of wisdom.  Idolatry is subtle and cunning because it does not come in the form of carved images and we do not offer blood sacrifices to our idols today.

God says of humanity and our incessant desire for idols,

“The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge! The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make, for their carefully shaped works are a fraud. These idols have no breath or power.  Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies!”  Jeremiah 51:17&18 (NLT)

Today, sex is worshipped, money & conspicuous consumption are worshipped, and “star-powered” personality is worshipped.  The demands of these idolatrous religions are heavy, their burdens are not light.  They are exacting task masters who promise pleasure, but in fact only offer dulled, numbed senses and bondage to the Flesh. 

These godish idols like those of Biblical History are mere fabrications of the depraved human imagination.  We possess the beautiful capacity to see what is not, and call it into reality through the vividness of our thoughts.  Our subconscious minds can not distinguish between something experienced in reality and something vividly imagined.  Both the actual experience and the vivid imagination are registered as memories. 

And so, we create gods wherever we desire, on the stage, in the pulpit, in public office, in our bank accounts.  Our weakness and our strength are found in the Living God’s gift of creative imagination.  Both Faith and Fear find their power in this gift.  Worship and praise of the Only True and Living God as well as the false gods, the inanimate idols is seated in the power of our imagination, our creative ability to see. 

John Calvin said of idolatry,

“Man's mind is like a store of idolatry and superstition; so much so that if a man believes his own mind it is certain that he will forsake God and forge some idol in his own brain.”

We must rely upon the truth of God’s Word to maintain the proper perspective. God has given us the power of intellect and the profound gift of creative imagination. We are vessels filled with power, but the power is not our own. (2 Corinthians 4:7).  If we shine, it is because we are reflections of Him and that He is the Light (John 1:4) 

We keep the proper perspective and overcome contemporary idolatry by, “keeping our eyes on Jesus on whom our faith depends from start to finish.”