Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Faith or fear? Life or death? Blessings or curses? We have a choice. Yes, the choice lies singularly and independently with us. We cannot blame anyone or anything else for our choices.
James 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Notice The Holy Spirit has taught us before we can resist the devil, we must first submit ourselves to God. What does it mean to “submit yourselves therefore to God?” It simply means you submit your heart, submit your thinking, and submit your attitude to The Word of God. “Well Larry, I pray.” Great! Do you also regularly read and study The Word of God? “Not really, but I pray. I don’t have a lot of time to read The Bible, but I pray.” May I lovingly share with you the statement just made is akin to hunting with no bullets. You have the semblance of power, but in reality, you have no power. You see, prayer is a discipline, faith is an attitude. Prayer doesn’t make faith work. Faith makes prayer work. Where do we get faith?
Romans 10:17
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by The Word of God.
The Holy Spirit, through Paul, in Romans 10:17 makes it clear the source of our faith. Faith comes by hearing what? The Word of God. “Larry, I listen to podcasts, I listens to evangelists and preachers on TV, I go to Church, etc.” This is fantastic. Keep it up. But do you read and study The Word of God, yourself? “I don’t have a lot of time. I do every now and then. But I make sure I listen to The Word of God on my way to work.” Again, this is awesome. Don’t stop doing this. But this is not what God meant by “hearing” in Romans 10:17. It is part of what God meant by “hearing.” However, God’s hearing is defined in Joshua 1:8, among other Scriptures.
Joshua 1:8
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Notice what The Holy Spirit says in Joshua 1:8, “shall not depart out of thy mouth….” When The Holy Spirit writes, “this book of the law” through Joshua, He is speaking to The Word of God. “The Word of God shall not depart out of thy mouth…..” Why mouth?
Psalm 119:13
With my lips have I declared all the judgments of Thy [God’s] mouth.
The Holy Spirit, through David the Psalmist, explains the purpose of our mouth: “to declare all the judgments [The Word] of Thy [God’s] mouth.” Every single judgment of God’s mouth is in The Holy Scriptures. And, according to The Holy Spirit in Joshua 1:8, if we want to always make our way prosperous and to always have good success, it starts with our mouth. Notice in Joshua 1:8, “but thou shalt meditate therein day and night….” Meditation means, “to mutter, to chew on, to ponder, to contemplate.” How do we meditate according to The Scriptures? By using our mouths and muttering, or speaking, The Word over and over again in contemplation. This is the “hearing” referred to in Romans 10:17. We hear our mouth speaking to our ears and to our heart The Word of God. This is “HOW” The Word of God gets into our heart. Listening to others speak will put The Word of God in our head. If we want The Word to get into our heart, WE must meditate it and WE must speak it to ourselves, so our heart hears it. Bottom line: listening is for our mind; speaking is for our heart. Jesus had a lot to say about meditation of The Word.
John 15:7
If ye abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
John 8:31-32
31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed;
32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
“Larry, I don’t see where Jesus said anything about meditation in these verses.” Oh, contraire. Notice in John 15:7 Jesus speaks to “abiding” in Him and His Word “abiding” in us. “Abiding” is “meditation.” Notice in John 8:31 Jesus speaking to “continuing” in His Word. “Continuing” is “meditation.” Jesus also states in John 15:7, “If ye abide in Me..” Jesus is saying “we” must abide, or meditate, in Christ. We actively “abide” by reading and meditating God’s Word.
In Psalm 119:11, The Holy Spirit through David writes, “Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee.” How do we hide God’s Word in our heart? Yes, meditation of The Word of God. In other words, read God’s Word and study it for yourself. Don’t substitute podcasts, TV evangelism and teaching, prayer, Sunday Church, and reading of books about The Word of God in place of actually reading and studying The Word of God. We need to meditate on God’s Word, hiding it in our hearts, so we can pull it out like a sword and use it against satan and any persecution or affliction he brings against us. Our prayers become powerful, proper, in the right protocol of the courts of Heaven, and we will see actual results. When we pray, we will be certain our prayers ARE ANSWERED. We will not be hoping God will answer them.
As Believers, are we called to excellence in everything we do? Yes, we sure are – in everything as if we are doing it unto God. It is no different with The Word of God. God expects us to handle His Word with excellence. This is why He put II Timothy 2:15 in the Bible.
II Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing The Word of Truth.
This is not God wishing we would do this as a Believer. This is a commandment. “Study” is putting our eyes on The Word and meditating on It – regularly. Notice what The Holy Spirit says will happen if we don’t study with excellence: we will wrongly divide The Word of Truth and bring shame to ourselves in the eyes of God. Boy, can we see the evidence of this Truth in all the various denominations we have in the Christian faith. There is one Word, one doctrine, one accord. Not 50. I have made a promise to God I will not stand “ashamed” in front of Him for lack of studying to show myself approved unto Him – rightly dividing The Word of Truth. I refuse to wrongly handle The Word of God and to wrongly teach The Word of God. This requires I study, meditate, and ask The Holy Spirit for wisdom, for discernment of God’s Word so I don’t handle it wrongly.
In closing the loop from where we started with James 4:7, submitting ourselves to God means we submit to His Word – we study it, we meditate it, and it becomes faith in us. When satan comes against us with affliction or persecution, or, better yet, before satan comes against us with affliction and persecution, we decree The Word in faith to “resist the devil.” Jesus resisted the devil when He was tempted the three times in the wilderness by doing what? By speaking ONLY The Word of God to the devil with each temptation. What happened at the end of the three temptations? Satan fled from Jesus just as James 4:7 says will happen. We resist the devil with The Word of God. But this can only be done if we start by “submitting ourselves to God, to His Word, daily.” Do so regularly, and I guarantee you will see more and more victories occurring in your declarations.
If The Word abides in you, faith abides in you. Faith is in The Word.
In Christ,
Larry