Alive and Powerful

Hello there 😊!

My sincere apologies for being MIA, it's been hectic and difficult to find a balance between all my activities. I had planned to post at least once a month but alas, that didn't happen so far but I'm working on it :). With that being said, I wanted to share something that's been on my heart and mind for some time now:  the danger of knowing the Word of God but not experiencing it's power.

You see, the Word of God is food for our spirit (1 Peter 2:2, Hebrews 5:12-14) and we need food to function normally. The energy we get enables us to do our daily activities. Therefore, we believers need a daily portion of the Word to keep us functioning properly. If we stop eating, we become malnourished and fail to grow; on the other hand, if we eat a lot but don't use the energy, we become obese and limited in our activities.When I had the idea to write this post, I saw myself as an obese person receiving therapy; that is, I knew a lot but applied very little. I had a lot of information stuck in my head and not in my heart. So in order to avoid either extremes of this spectrum, we need a good balance between intake and work out.

How can we get this balance? We need to understand a couple of things. First, we need to desire and make it a habit to read the Bible daily. Secondly, when we read the Word it first touches our minds, we gain knowledge. But in order for the Word to have an impact on our lives, it needs to reach our hearts because out of the heart flow the things patterning to life (Proverbs 4:23). It's the Word in our hearts that changes the way we see things and our behavior. I'm not saying that the mind is less important, the mind is needed;that's were digestion happens. But after digestion, the Word needs to go where it will be used and that's the heart. But if it stays only in the head, there is knowledge but no application. And if there is no application then we've got a problem because it is meant to benefit you as a believer when you read it. You should be able to bear the good fruit of the Spirit.

I also want to stress that putting to practice the Word in our lives, is the work we do together with the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:26-27). If we try to do it on our own, we become legalistic.As we read the Bible, we ask the Holy Spirit to teach us and to show us ways we can apply it, we also need meditate on the Word (chew on it over and over again until it's in the proper form for absorption and use). This is what am currently learning to do and it's not always easy but it's a start.

There are numerous verses in Scripture that point to it's usefulness in our daily lives and how crucial it is that we apply it in our lives. I have mentioned a couple below.
1. Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. - Psalm 119:105

2.For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. - Hebrews 4:12

3. But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.  - James 1:22-25

4. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.- 2 Timothy 3:16
 
On other hand, however, I also want to remind us that the Bible is not just there to pointing fingers at what needs to be "fixed" in our lives but it is primary a revelation of God. And a friend of mine states it perfectly "The Bible is not only a reflective surface, where you look at yourself and see which areas need patching up. Read it and use it to see who God is and to understand His nature." So it's about learning about His nature that we may become more and more like Him.

Where do you find yourself on the spectrum? What steps do you want to take to do better? 

Blessings 💜

Check out:
- This devotional that spoke to me profoundly about this topic: Bearing Good Fruit
- A post from a friend: Mornings with Jesus

Guest Post:The Word of God by Myriam Ndanga

The Word of God, when we think about it, we think about the Bible.

But the Word of God is so much more. Let's take a look at the Bible and at Jesus.

The Bible is active and alive, it's our daily bread, it gives life, it's the Truth, it shows us the way, it is there for correction, encouragement and teaching, it's as sharp as a double sided sword, it's perfect in itself, it enlightens our ways by enlightening the path of our feet and much more.

Jesus is the living Word of God. He was in the beginning and He was with God and He was God Himself. He became flesh and dwelt among us.

Jesus says of Himself that He is the Truth, the Way and the Life. He says that He is the Bread of Life. He speaks what God speaks without error. When He speaks, He speaks with divine authority, with grace, with wisdom, with power, with knowledge, with truth and love. He proclaims the righteousness of God. And He uses Scripture to rebuke and correct and to guide.

Now, both of them are the Word of God but we can not live with one while neglecting the other one. They belong together and are one. You can not love Jesus but have no desire to read the Word also if you think that Jesus spoke to you but you can't find it in the Word it is not of Jesus, since He doesn't speak anything against or not according to His Word.

The Word of God is what God, Himself, speaks. It is what He thinks and it is coming out of His very heart. When we know and understand His Word, we get to know and understand His heart.

It is very interesting to see that He blessed us with His whole Word. Now, this doesn't mean that God doesn't have more to say, NO! God's wisdom is endless. It just means that He told us everything WE need to know in order to survive in this world and to be prepared for the world to come. He told us everything we need to know from beginning to end. There is nothing which should surprise us since He made sure to tell us everything we need to know concerning history, present and future events.

His Word also says that it is forbidden to take anything away from it or to add anything to it. Otherwise the Word would be twisted and not perfect and complete and holy in itself. It wouldn't be 100% the truth.

With that being said there are two parts of the Word. The reading part and the living part. The Scriptures help us to understand God's heart and will for our lives and Jesus helps us living according to it through His Holy Spirit. 

If you don't read the Word, you won't understand God and you would be spiritually dead and defenseless against the tricks of the enemy. If you don't live it, you can't please God, since your faith wouldn't be complete and faith without works is dead and it's impossible to please God without faith.

We have to abide in Him and His Word to understand and live it. 

Through His Word, by beholding Jesus, we are being transformed more and more into His image.

Just as Jesus is with us everywhere and everyday of our lives, it's important that the written Word is with us everyday and everywhere too.