GEMS OLD & NEW (1)
I have now started to read and meditate in The book of Revelation written by the Apostle John. Let me say again I will NOT be sharing any Last Days/Second Coming concepts but sharing gems old and new that I will glean from this Book.
Chapter one verse three very quickly stood out to me as John highlights three important truths we must embrace if we are to be all that God wants us to be. Although writing specifically regarding the prophecy contained in this Book, He tells us we must:
READ God’s Word. We are living in a generation of Biblical illiteracy, many of God’s people never spend time reading the Word of God, perhaps they were never discipled and encouraged to develop an appetite for the Scriptures, to see the Word of God as their spiritual food to cause them to grow, to see the Bible as God’s love letter to them, and for God to speak to them through the pages of the Book of Books. The Amplified Translation suggests we should actually read the Word of God aloud, so as to hear as well as read, I guess reading aloud also causes us to concentrate more on what we are reading.
HEAR God’s Word. There is a joke that many married men have “selective deafness” and have learnt to respond in the right places when their wife speaks to them. Sadly, as Believers we can have “selective deafness when it comes to the Scriptures. We can actually READ WITHOUT HEARING and this can make the Word of God to have no effect on our lives. We can sit in church and during the preaching have “selective deafness” even though God has chosen His servants to be His spokesperson and break the bread of life to us, we leave the service unfed and unsatisfied.
KEEP “those things that are written”. In other words embrace, and believe and put into the practice what the Word of God says to us. This is letting the written Word of God (the Logos) (information) become the Rhema Word of God to us, it simply becoming revelation to us that can change our lives.
Two words come to mind:
DISCIPLINED & SYSTEMATIC
Life can be full of interruptions, we must seek to set aside a particular time in our day, and without distraction have a plan to systematically read the Word of God. All the Bible is the Word of God, and just as naturally we should have a balanced diet if we are to maintain good health, so we need a balanced systematic reading of the Word of God.
If you do not have a Bible reading plan, if you send me your email address I can forward two plans that will help you do this.
Remember the words of the Psalmist, “Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”.
Lord help us to fall in love with your Word once again, and learn to hear you speaking through every page, may we let the Word of God change us, for we really want to be more like Jesus Amen
