The primary way to be dependent upon Jesus Christ is through the written Word.
We must build our relationship with God on scripture before experience. Anyone who lives off experience without the granite rock of scripture will easily become a deceived person. We are living in days of absolute deception, uncertainty and fear but we can live in the joy and unsurpassable peace of knowing Him through His Word.
The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 that we are spirit, soul and body. You are a spirit that has a soul, that lives in a body. If you've ever seen someone after they've passed away – it's just an empty shell – the person is gone – they're no longer there.
Your body is a vehicle. If you drive a Toyota, when I see you driving it I don't wave and shout: 'Hello Toyota!' That is just the vehicle carrying you.
The real you is your spirit man that lives inside your body. Your spirit is the core essence of who you are. Your soul is your mind, will, and emotions.
How do you have a relationship with a person? Yes you can see them, you can touch them, but primarily it's through their word. Jesus said what's in a person's heart (the core of their being) comes out of their mouth. The essence of who you are is expressed through your voice.
It was said of Jesus: 'What authority He has is His voice!' In other words: What life and power his voice carries? (Mark 1.27)
Life and death are in the power of the tongue. Words carry either life or death, they express what's inside a person. (Proverbs 18.21).
When you have a relationship with someone, you have it primarily through that person's word. You audibly hear it but it comes from inside them and you feel a connection with that person. This is why we have to be careful who we're connected with: Bad company corrupts good character.
We have a relationship with God through His Word. You could say: 'Well, the Bible's a book not a person. You can't tell people to have a relationship with a book!' But it's more than a book! It's the Living Word of God. Yes, the Bible is, in a sense, what God has said (past tense) and when you're in a relationship with a person you don't just read letters that they wrote – it's dynamic and on-going. The Bible is what God has said, but as we're filled with it, it becomes living in us! It becomes 'rhema' - a 'now word' for us personally. It is not just what God has said. It is God speaking to us NOW! It's active now! It's working in us now and as we hear it and it produces faith in us and quickens us. It's so powerful! There's no other book like it! We should get excited and expectant for God to speak to us every time we read it!
A person who lives constantly filled with scripture will be a person who is hearing the voice of God, the wisdom and counsel of God in their life.
Research from the BARNA group in the U.S shows that believers who read their Bible a minimum of 4 times a week, are the people who will see character change. We all need character change and to grow and develop in our character and real change and transformation comes through the Word.
Sadly, because the Church has tried to be relevant, in many places these days the Bible has been removed from church and replaced with a Ted-talk. We don't want to put people off! But in this world today, we need to offer certainties. Why should we be ashamed to say that we have absolutes? Why should we be ashamed to say that the Word of God is final and cannot be changed to suit us? We have a God that is absolute and He offers absolutes in His written Word. The Word of God is established and it stands forever. We need to know as Christians: What do we stand for? Will we unashamedly stand on the Word and refused to be moved from it? If we do we will never be shaken and after the storm we will still be standing.
In John 14 Jesus talked about what happens to the one who 'keeps My commandments'. The word 'keep' means to retain them as well as to live them out. If you retain His commandments you are empowered to obey them. He says the one who does this is the one who loves Him and 'I will love him and manifest myself to him'. Do you want a manifestation of Jesus Christ in your life? Therefore if you put the authority of His Word first place in your life, before your own opinion, He will manifest to you. He actually says He and the Father will come and make their abode in you. Before that He was telling the disciples that He would not leave them orphans, He would come to them. How? Through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is poured out upon a Word-filled life! Upon a Scripture-filled life!
Have you ever had the feeling: 'I'd really like God to totally personally understand my issue and really speak to me about my problem'? Have you ever wanted to know that He deeply, personally understands what you're going through? Have you ever wished that Jesus would just come and sit in the chair next to you?
Jesus said it was better that He go away because then the Holy Spirit would come. From His point of view – having the Holy Spirit is better than having Him in the flesh. According to our feelings, though, we'd rather have Jesus in the flesh with us in person, having a one on one chat.
How is having the Holy Spirit better than having Jesus in person? The Holy Spirit comes to live in us and He will take the Word of God and make it real and effective in our lives and as a result we will know God being very real and personal with us, really knowing us and understanding us.
Hebrews 4:12: 'For the Word if God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword'
The word of God is alive! It's not Shakespeare! It's not just a great piece of literature. The word used here for 'Word' is 'logos'. The word here for 'living' is from the word 'zoe' which means 'the God kind of life'. It is powerful! It carries the power of God in it! It is speaking right now! Yes it's historical but it's also NOW! When you read the historical narrative of Jesus healing someone – that's not just there so we can read a nice story, it means God is still doing that now! That is God's revealed will now! The faith to see it happen now is imparted to us from reading and hearing the living Word of God!
When it says in 2 Peter 1.20 that no scripture is of private interpretation it means that it is not exclusive. You can read a promise written down 2000 years ago and it is personal for you now! It is God-breathed, it's full of the life of God and it's prophesying to you now!
Hebrews 4:12 is the Message translation says: 'God means what He says. His powerful word is as sharp as a surgeon's scalpel cutting through everything whether doubt or defence, laying us open to listen and obey'.
It is not to injure you! It is to open you up precisely for the purpose of healing you! Who here has had some defences that God has had to cut through? Did he just hack away like beating through the jungle? No. He is expertly precise. He cuts through our resistance to Him. Our defences are the result of us hiding from Him out of fear of punishment and shame – like Adam. It doesn't have to take years to get healed if we let the surgeon's scalpel, the word, do it's job.
The Word opens us up to listen to Him. In the listening comes the impartation, the power, the transformation of the character to obey Him. Obeying Him, submitting to Him is a good thing! The nature of the flesh is to be in rebellion. There's nothing more harmful to us than rebellion, than 'I'll do it my way'. Obeying God doesn't mean we become a robot, it means we become a mature son or daughter – because we've let the word deal with us and that is how we get healed, whole and mature.
God wants to deal with us through His Word. This is the only way to be transformed into His image. Some people think God wants to deal with them by sending all sorts of trials and tragedies their way We may go through hardships of life and learn lessons, but God's primary way to teach us, discipline us and direct us is through His Word. We can say, as the psalmist said in Psalms: 'Lord don't lead me through bit and bridle. Lord speak to me!' The Lord's prayer says: 'Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil'. The word 'temptation' here means trial. It's biblical to say: 'Lord, please don't use trials to teach me'. He wants to use His Word to teach us. He wants to direct us, correct us, teach us, show us when our attitudes are wrong – all through His Word. Yes, He can and does use trials for our good but it's always biblical to ask God to deliver us from them. God does not send the trails. The devil does not work for God! He's not employed by the Lord!
Psalm 51:6 says: 'Behold, you desire truth is the inner parts and in the hidden parts you will make me to know wisdom'
We can have a 'I just wish God could really know my situation' attitude and feel desperate to get our case heard by God. We might be searching everywhere for that 'key' or that special anointing through a minister. But we have to start with what's right in front of us: the scripture. The surgeon's scalpel needs to come and get right to the root of the issue and brings truth that is everything you need and will set you completely free.
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