PREPARING TO RECEIVE THE WORD They are three conditions that have to be met if one is to benefit from the word of God (The Bible .The person has to Revere Scripture. The person needs to be humble and dependent on God. Finally the person needs to have a receptive heart. Now let’s look at three conditions: 1. Revere Scripture Reverence simply means having a deep respect. We must treat scripture with deep respect. It is Gods Word (2 timothy 3:16; John 1:1). Therefore, it is infallible (incapable of making mistakes or being wrong), sufficient (enough; adequate) and authoritative(able to be trusted as being accurate or true; reliable; commanding). We must not approach the Bible in a flippant (not showing a serious or respectful attitude) or careless manner. Instead, we ought to emulate the Christians at Thessalonica. And we also thank God continually because, when you received the WORD OF GOD, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as THE WORD OF MEN, but as it actually is, THE WORD OF GOD, which is at work in you who believe.( 1 Thessalonians 2:13) 2. Humility & Dependence upon God The second condition is that we must have humility and a sincere dependence upon God. We need the Holy Spirit to illumine our minds. We know that apart from the Holy Spirits work in us; we cannot receive and obey Gods Word. Humility is a prominent Christian grace. It is a state of mind well pleasing to God (1Pe 3:4) it preserves the soul in tranquility (Ps 69:32, 33) and makes us patient under trials (Job 1:22) Christ has set us an example of humility. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--(Eph 2:6-8 NIV).We should be led therefore by a remembrance that the greatest promises are made to the humble ( Ps 147:6 Isa 57:15 66:2 1Pe 5:5 ). Therefore, humility is accompanied by prayer. Like the psalmist, we should pray, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” (Psalm 119:18) Dependence on God mainly focuses on our dependence on the Holy Spirit as the helper and God. Paul in his second epistle by the revelation of the Holy spirit states that “the man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14).It is an established fact that we cannot comprehend the word of God minus the Holy Spirit. 3. Heart that Is Receptive The third condition is that we must have hearts that are receptive to Gods Word. In the parable of the sower (Mathew 13:1-10) Jesus likens a receptive heart to good soil. When the seed of the Word is sown in such a heart, it takes root and bears fruit pleasing to God. James exhorts us to be doers of the Word, and not only hearers. 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 a man 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 the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does(James 1:22-25). The Bible should not only instruct our minds, but should also transform our lives. The bible should make us grow in conformity to Christ through a changed life.
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 03:22:52 +0000
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