Treating the Living Word like a Common Book

My text is taken from Psalm 119:11 and Hebrews 4:12.

Psalm 119:11 says, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” And Hebrews 4:12 states, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

The title of this message bears the heart of the reason for spiritual failure. It is the reason that in daily life, the believers break down, and why the adversary has no trouble in overwhelming and overthrowing them in a crisis. This is the core culprit in why they become spiritual hitchhikers, who are always depending upon someone else’s prayers, someone else’s wisdom, and someone else’s interpretation of the word instead of digging in and knowing it for themselves. They become spiritually disabled and have no life of their own independent from others. In the family of God, they become a ‘yes-man,’ no matter if it is the right or wrong context for the response of a ‘yes’ answer.

Paul describes this handicapped believer in Hebrews 5:12-14. I almost shrink away from pointing out this verse because it can be so personal to so many lives, however, it says, “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”  After a certain time of walking with the Lord, the believer needs to be going through a maturing process where they will go from being the one being taught to the one being the leaders, teachers and soulwinners.

Paul’s sentiment seems to be that it is a pity that they seem to have forgotten the first steps in this divine life. He is noting that instead of them walking in the fullness and liberty and riches of God and His grace, they have halted. They have become stagnant and there has been no growth or development in their lives. The Word of God does not seem to mean much to them because they have not ingested it as the Bread of Life. Though there are certain scriptures that they can quote and that brings conviction to them and makes them miserable, they avoid and dismiss those, and find no life, joy, or peace from the very living Word of God.

David said in Psalm 119:105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Many are trying to find their own way, without consulting the Word for direction. This causes the Word when they do hear it, to just cut and bruise them, making them hurt and feel unhappy and discontent, when it really should be their nourishment, manna, sustenance, and a healing balm. Food for the soul and direction for their pathway. Notice how tenderly Paul said in Hebrews 5, “that someone teach you the rudiments”. Rudiments are the very beginning steps, the basics, the foundation as it were. And why? Because instead of living the word, acting the word, and taking ownership of the word, they have remained babies and not developed spiritually. Your mind can never be renewed, strengthened, developed, and transformed by the word until you begin to practice what is in its pages. It is a Living Word, not just a Common Book.

In 1 Timothy 6:6-12, we find an extraordinary topic discussed called ‘the fight of faith’, it says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.”  If we accept this as the living word in our lives, from this passage, we can isolate two areas of faith. Firstly, the ‘Word of Faith,’ puts you in a position to do battle. Secondly the ‘Prayer of Faith,’ puts God in a position to fight for you. If we put both into play, it will create a threefold benefit for us as believers. Firstly, as the walk of faith begins, we find direction and freedom from our past life of struggles and lay hold onto a new perspective going forward. Secondly, the work of faith in our lives, begins the spiritual maturing process in our hearts and minds and begins to transform us into the new Christlike creatures we are to be, and thirdly, the life of faith becomes second nature to us and brings contentment, joy, and peace in our lives no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in.

The other side of the equation is that if we treat the Bible as it is commonly known as, just as a ‘common’ book, we will not be able to reap these benefits in our lives. Jesus hit the tap-root on the head, as we say in the farming community, in Matthew 7:24-27 when he said, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”  Those not built upon the foundation of the Living Word of God will be swept out by the first tide, into the sea.

My heart grieves for those who do not want to mature, and who want to remain babes. They will always be found in the nursery sucking their thumbs metaphorically speaking, and always whining to have a bottle. This translates literally into them always wanting to be catered to, always fault finding, always offended about something that is quite irrelevant or irrational. This is not to speak poorly of those who are still babies in the Lord, or those who lack understanding, but of those who intentionally refuse to allow the Word to fashion their lives into what God wants them to be. Paul says it this way, in 1 Corinthians 3:3, “For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”  They are still being led and guided by their own senses and not following the Spirit or walking by faith. They are walking just as they were before their first encounter with the Master. There has been no change, no growth, and no development in their lives whatsoever. They are treating the Living Word as just a Common Book.

Diseases both physically and spiritually are often of our own making when we are living in this world. It happens to both Christians and non-Christian and both the mature Christian and the non-mature, with one exception. Those walking by faith can go to the Lord personally for their healing and strength and peace in their situations, however, those not walking by faith have not learned how to rely upon the Lord for themselves and must rely on others in the church to carry them. Not that we do not all need to be uplifted and carried at times, however, there must come a time when we become the one carrying others and not always the one being carried, thereby, being a burden to others all the time. We become a spiritual liability to the body of Christ. Romans 12:1-5 tells us, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 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. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So, we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” Each one of the members of the body of Christ has a function, and if we are not pulling our weight or doing our part, we become a hinderance to the body.

Those who are called of God and have been given talent and ability from God, have a responsibility to the body. Those who could be influential in the community and the church and have been bestowed a position or an office of responsibility and do not fulfil it, because they refuse to grow up, become a detriment rather than a blessing. They become a burden to the church just as when a person has a physical broken leg for example, they will have to carry around a cast and use crutches for an extended period, which renders them inoperable. Matthew 7:1-5 tells us, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considers not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” This message is not to encourage judging one another, or for measuring ourselves against ourselves as 2 Corinthians 10:12 tells us, “For we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”  However, it is so we can examine our own spiritual maturity and see if we are using the Living Word of God to its fullest potential in our lives or just regarding it as a Common book. Hebrews 10:23-25 tells us, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” This is the purpose, to provoke us to grow in the faith to our fullest potential.

Just by way of observation, some of the reasons Christians may be weak in the faith or carnally minded as Paul stated, but not all inclusive are; They do not attend Bible Studies, they do not have family prayer time at home, they rarely ask the blessing or give thanks at the dinner table, they do not linger in the presence of the Lord even if they do go to the alter, they do not read the Word of God or have a quiet time with God for themselves, they hang out with the gossipers, backbiters and busybodies, and they are always finding fault with everyone else. They have become professional, spiritual hitchhikers. Going to church and to the alter are just stepping stones to draw your heart to want to seek the Lord and His word for yourself. They are tools that we should use as needed, however, they are not the culmination of our journey, rather just the beginning. If we feel the need to go to the alter year in and year out seeking for the same thing, it has just become habitual, and we have become a spiritual cripple. John 5:1-9 tells us a story of a crippled man made whole. “After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steps down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked.”  Once he received his miracle, he did not have to continue to wait by the water as he had done for thirty eight years, he just needed to obey the words of the Lord Jesus, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.”

Satan takes control of us and leads us around by our senses. He always rules by fear. We become afraid of the what ifs, what if I fail, what if I really was not delivered, what if I die before I wake. He makes us afraid of everything and anything and causes us to doubt and discredit the very Living Word of God, just as he did with Eve in the garden. Genesis 3:1-5 tells us of the encounter, “Now the serpent was more subtill than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”  First note she did not know the exact command, because God did not say they could not touch the fruit. When she touched it and saw that nothing happened, she was emboldened. Secondly, Satan took advantage of her uncertainty and made her question the word of God, then he twisted it by adding a partial truth into the equation, which would make sense to her. They threw away life’s privileges because they lightly esteemed the Word of God. Satan will do the same to us if we only see the Word of God as a Common Book and not as the Living Word.

Here are a few thoughts to ponder, contemplate and study for yourselves in the Bible. Viewing each through the lens of the Living Word or through the lens of a Common Book will have influence on how you see things and will in turn gauge your response; No one has a better standing in the vine or can draw more readily from it than I can as a child of God. When I ask another to pray for my healing or to pray for any of my chronic needs, I reject the gift of healing and I doubt the giver of the promises. My righteousness was given to me by Christ, and I am what he made me because of His sacrifice. I repudiate my own righteousness in Christ when I refuse to take my place in Him as a son and lose the privilege of using the authority of His Name. When I neglect to study the Word of God or endeavor to live by it, I am in turn not developing the gift He has given me, thereby, ignoring all admonition from Him. Sickness is three-fold, physical, mental, and spiritual. I know that much of my sickness is spiritual and I cannot have full permanent healing in my body until I submit to Him and get my spiritual man whole and in harmony with the Word. Treating the illness and pain will have no effect until I fight against the root cause of it. I know that I often walk according to my senses rather than the Spirit. These are just a few topics to get you started.

We must be a doer of the Word, not just a pretender if we want to see success. James 1:22 puts it clearly, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”  Keep in mind, those looking on are not deceived, but you cannot see your own folly until you acknowledge Him and His Word. 2 Timothy 2:15 states, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” If we know the truth, we will easily be able to detect the lies of Satan. If we do not know what we believe, we can be tricked like Adam and Eve were so long ago. This brought with it grave consequences, not only to themselves but to the world. If we refuse to accept God’s promises from the Living Word, as yea and amen to usward, it will not only be us who suffers but all those around us, because if we do not believe His word as truth, then the privileges, protection, provisions of His word will not apply to us, because this is a walk of faith.

We must turn off our TVs for a while and put down our magazines and novels and make time to dig into the Bible. It does not matter if it is grandma’s old worn out one that you remembered seeing her read as a child, or if it is a Gideons New Testament you found on the sidewalk, or a brand new, shiny, Bible gifted to you with your name engraved on the front of it. It is the words on the inside that are alive, they are truth, and they are everlasting. How do we know this for a certainty? The caveat is found in John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” And inJohn 14:6 there is clarification, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.” By ingesting His word, we are absorbing His very nature, so that we can become like Him. Treat it with utmost respect, care and embrace it wholeheartedly. It is the Living Word, not just a Common Book.