AHF Study 13: Understanding Your Inheritance In Christ (4)
Our Attitude Towards The Word
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Today, we shall be looking at the matter of our attitude towards the word of God. From the scriptures quoted above, we discover that God himself is the person of the word, and he is the one we want to study.
Our attitude towards the word refers to our attitude towards the Bible. Christ is the person of the Bible. Hence, our heart attitude towards the Bible should be regarded as our heart attitude towards Christ. Because the Bible contains the word of Christ, who Himself is God. The word of God is alive because the one who spoke it is still alive. We don’t treat the bible as one of those historical books.
Our inheritance is kept in the word of God. All we are to do, all that we are to be is in the word of God. Your destiny, your purpose is in the word of God. You cannot find the definition of your life in any book except the word of God.
How Do You Respond To God’s Word?
Our attitude towards the word of God determines the position of God in our lives daily. For instance, if there is someone you respect, and the person beckons on you, you’d abandon whatever you are doing and quickly respond to that person. In contrast, if someone who you do not have respect for called you, you might answer him, but not respond to the call. If the word of God comes to you, and your attitude towards it ignores God, that attitude disrespects God and it signifies you’re not a child of God.
Just as we said last week, not everyone who comes to Bible Study is a child of God. Children of God love to hear God’s word daily. How do you respond when you heard God today. Did you promptly respond to it? Or you postponed it? Your attitude shows to God that you have no respect for him.
The Word Is God Speaking To You
Anytime, anywhere, from whomever you hear the word of God, you should see the word of God as your Father speaking to you. Whether you are reading the Bible or someone stands to preach the word of God to you, you should take it as though your Father is speaking to you directly.
Although certain preachers are used of themselves to preach or to teach the Bible, however, if you are spiritual you should be able to discern if it’s your Father speaking. When it comes to you and the Bible alone, you should take it as your Father speaking to you. The reason why your life is the way it is is because of the way you respond to the word of God.
One of the troubles we have, which makes us unspiritual, is because we do not see the Bible as the word of God spoken to us in secret. We ought to take it as God speaking to us. It should never be like a message from an ordinary book.
The Bible Is An Inspired Book
You can downplay anything you read from any other book, but the word of God is not an ordinary message. The Bible is an inspired book, it is written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible is not just an ordinary book. It is a spiritual book, but not an occultic book. You cannot study the Bible and become a demon. If you are demonic and you are reading the Bible, you can never understand it. You may be able to quote any passage of the Bible, but it will be evident you do not understand it.
No Holy Spirit, No Bible
When you don’t have the Holy Spirit, you cannot understand the Bible. That is why a professor of Religious Studies will remain a sinner. You may be familiar with the Bible but you can never understand the words of the Bible without the Holy Spirit because the Bible is beyond the letters. It is Spirit and life. It has nothing to do with your experience in teaching the Bible or studying. Only those who have the Holy Spirit can understand the Bible, and only such will treat its content with the seriousness required.
The point is, if you have been treating the Bible as an ordinary book in the past, you are not born again, you do not have the Holy Spirit. You may be speaking in tongues, not all the people that speak in tongues have the Holy Spirit. You can be prophesying, not all the people that prophesy have the Holy Spirit; you can be a pastor, an apostle, a primate or whatever your title may be, that is not synonymous to having the Holy Spirit. You can attain the height of religious position, but the Holy Spirit can only be found in the heart of the children of God — those who have the Word. You cannot have the Word when you do not have the Spirit of the Word. The Spirit of the Word is the Spirit of truth because the Word itself is the truth.
How About You?
Please check your heart, what has been your heart attitude towards the Word of God? Have you not been seeing it as an ordinary word from an ordinary book? Or you have seen the Bible as a book you can use to get what you desire? It should be to you, a child of God, as the Father speaking to you. It should be as real as though the Father is standing in the room and speaking to you personally.
Who is your master? Jesus is the Master over my own life. When I got born again by God’s grace, I accepted Jesus to be the Saviour of my life and I also submitted to His Lordship. This has been my experience since my conversion, anytime I sit down to read the Bible, it is as real as though my Master — the Lord Jesus — is there speaking to me personally. This should be your experience. When it is not this real to you and you are sure that you are a child of God, you should take it to the Lord in prayers, tell Him “I don’t want to be studying the Bible alone, I want you to be with me anytime I read Your word.”
The Covenant and The Conditions
2 Cor 6:18
And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
KJV
There is a covenant word from the Lord, but that covenant is only enacted when you separate yourself from the world. This is beyond believing in Jesus. You have to fulfil the conditions for this.
You should understand how the covenant of God works. Read 2 Corinthians 6:14–18. If you are born of God and you are clothed with the righteousness of God, there are some people among the brethren that are unrighteous. If you associate yourself with them, God will never dwell in you, He won’t work with you, He will deny being your God, and renounce you being among His people.
When you are light but you are fellowshipping with darkness God won’t be your God, He will not be real to you; same when there is a communion between you — God’s temple — and Belial or idol.
What does it mean to bow to an idol? This does not mean bowing down to your father’s household idols. When you bow to people who are attempting to play God over your life. They want you to do their bidding at all cost. It becomes a problem if you fail to obey them. Bowing to their wishes is synonymous to worshipping idols. This makes God withdraw from being your God.
Come Out From Among Them
The instruction of God to you on this is to come out from among them. You don’t just come out, you must separate yourself as well, you must stay clear and let them know that you are not in their camp. Make it plain that you don’t fellowship with darkness. Be radical about it.
If you do not come out of this darkness and separate yourself from Belial — all form of worthlessness — it would only mean you are a child of God by confession, but not one in reality. It’s like playing politics with God — with your mouth you worship the Lord, with your heart you fraternize with darkness God isn’t moved by what you say or the degree of your service. Rather, He’s moved by the state of your heart and your commensurate obedience to His word.
If only you can respond to God’s word to be separated, then He will be your God. Then His promises never to leave you, nor forsake you will be established.
Three Eternal Gifts From The Father to The World
There are three gifts that God gave the world, he gave the world
- Christ
- The Holy Spirit and
- The Bible
These three gifts are eternal. Spiritual gifts are not eternal; ministerial gifts are not eternal; Christ is eternal; the Holy Spirit is eternal, the Bible is eternal.
The Bible is settled in heaven. When your eyes are closed in death, the Bible you refuse to read here on earth will condemn you when you get there in heaven. If you live by the word, the Bible you live by will open the door for you.
God gave us the bible to take the place of Christ when He is no longer here with us. Christ — one of the three gifts — is in heaven. The other two gifts are still here with us. The Holy Spirit is in the world and so also is the Bible. The Holy Spirit is in the Church, hence in the world.
That which is written in the Bible is sealed up, however, God still speaks, through the Bible and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is sent to bring to us the word which is meant for us, which is not written in the Bible.
Your attitude towards the Bible is the same response that God expects from you towards the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit takes the word from the Father and Christ. Christ is not here physically, but He has left us with His Word, so He’s the one speaking to us directly from the Bible, and through His Holy Spirit.
The Word Should Should Be Personal To You
You should take the word of God personally, as though you are the only one in the world. This should be your heart attitude to the word. God speaks and deals with people individually. He may speak to all men, but His address is for particular persons. See the word of God as written in particular for you. Every other person may ignore it, but you must not copy them.
The men of God in the past didn’t have a Bible. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, never had the Bible to hear God. But they responded to God each time He came to them. They took the word personally. The word changed their course in life, it changed their situation. Sometimes it makes them nomadic, yet they were devoted to God’s voice. This is proof of our love for God.
Your Obedience, Your Love For God
Noah didn’t doubt God when He was instructed to build the ark. He didn’t bring his common sense into God’s instructions. This he did because of his love for God. It didn’t matter whether it was reasonable or not. It seemed unreasonable to build such a big ark, and only one window was included in the blueprints. Noah did exactly as God commanded, without questioning God.
The trinity comes to tabernacle with those who love God (John 14:23). You don’t have to scream on top of your voice to reach God. Because the trinity is residing inside of you. It is foolishness to think by shouting on top of your voice God will hear you. It is rather wise to love God so that you can have God dwelling right inside of you
Our refusal to love God is what has turned many churches to becomes psychiatric home, where people scream and do all sought of crazy things just to get God to listen to them.
When the Father is with you, you do not have to trouble yourself. In times of weakness, He’ll be your strength. In times of need, He will be your supply. Because He knows everything you need (Matthew 6:32). His presence brings comfort and joy to your soul. No running helter-skelter.
To enjoy all these wonderful benefits, you need to change your attitude towards the word of God. Because your attitude to God’s word determines God’s position in your life.
What shall be your response today? Will you repent of your past responses to God’s word and commit yourself to God today to change your attitude towards His word?
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