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Your Word
by
Mark Baker
Psalms 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a
light to my path.
God has given His children the awesome privilege of praying for guidance
and direction, however if you are seeking guidance all you have to do is
pick up your Bible and begin to read it. His Word is a lamp, in other
words a spotlight to light our path and give us direction so that we can
not only see where to go but where not to go. The light makes things
clear and visible so that we will not trip and fall. God has given us
His Word for direction and guidance in our everyday walk. Without it, we
would surely wander off the path, for we would not be able to clearly
see the correct way to go.
The Living Bible says it like this…
Psalms 119:105 Your words are a flashlight to light the path ahead of
me, and keep me from stumbling.
I like that. He knows where we are to go; after all He is the One
leading us isn’t He?
If the path is well lit and clearly visible we will be able to see the
way and not stumble.
We all know the 23rd Psalm as it is probably one of the best known of
all the Psalms. David said this in vs. 3 He leads me in the paths of
righteousness For His name's sake.
I want you to consider something. God doesn’t want us to fail. He wants
us to succeed.
But we have to follow after Him. We have a choice to stay on the lighted
path or we can stumble out into the darkness, the choice is ours. This
can happen when we make our own choices based on OUR own wants and
desires and not follow the well-lit path. He leads but he will not push
us. It is our choice to follow.
He leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. He has a
lot at stake. His Namesake is at stake. You might say what do you mean?
We were bought with an incredible price. He has a very big investment
in us. He wants us to succeed, but in order for us to succeed we have to
follow the lighted path. He’s the One giving us the light to see so we
will not stumble and fall. His Word gives us this light. He doesn’t want
us to stumble into the darkness, He would not have given us His Word if
this were the case would He? His lamp has to be carried by us. We need
to know the Word of God in order for It to do us any good. If we don’t
know His Word then we don’t have a lamp to guide us. We will most
assuredly stumble, for there is no light to see the path set before us.
We will be led by emotions and circumstances that can not lead us on the
correct path. Being upset and annoyed at our surrounding circumstances
is not the leading of the Holy Spirit. People have left Churches because
they didn’t like something that has gone on or something somebody said.
Being upset is not the leading of the Holy Spirit. We need to grow up
and be responsible children of God.
When we need direction and guidance we can always go to the Word of God.
There have been so many instances in my life when I needed direction in
a certain area and the Holy Spirit would quicken a verse of Scripture
that would change my direction. His Word lighted my path. He showed me
the way to go when I didn’t know the way. Many times I didn’t even know
I had stumbled off the path. He corrected me and set me back on the
lighted path. Thank God for His Holy Spirit! Thank God for His Word!
John 16:13 "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will
guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority,
but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to
come.
Our Father cares for us even in the smallest areas of our lives. He will
show us how to walk after Him if we will take the time to learn His Word
and listen.
Without knowing His Word we will have a hard time hearing and following
the voice of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit and the Word always agree. One
will never contradict the Other. That is impossible. Christians are
often seeking after spectacular manifestations of God to show them the
way, or to hear the audible voice of God, and will often ignore that
still small voice that is on the inside of them. That is the
supernatural leading of the Holy Spirit.
There are times when we have to get quiet in His presence and just
listen. After all communication is a two way street. How would you like
it if someone always came up to you and began speaking without taking
the time to hear what you have to say? After a while you would probably
get tired of that wouldn’t you? Communication is not only speaking but
there should be a lot of listening as well. If you ask for direction and
don’t take the time to wait for a reply then you have no one to blame
but yourself, besides that would be rude wouldn’t it?
We learn His voice when we learn His Word. Jesus said in Johns Gospel…
John 10:27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow
Me.
We not only hear His voice, He knows us and we follow Him. If we were
not able to hear His voice we would not be able to follow Him would we?
Jesus said we hear His voice. I know from experience that many modern
day Christians would think you are loony if you told them God actually
speaks to you, and that you actually hear His voice.
This should be the norm for God’s children, not the abnormal. Why is
this so hard to believe? Was Jesus telling the truth when He said My
sheep hear My voice? This is a simple yes or no question, He was either
telling the truth or He was lying, there is no in between. I believe He
was telling the truth. My question is this, then why aren’t most
Christians hearing? Since He was telling the truth then the problem has
to be with us. Lets just get honest about it, God is doing His part
therefore we have to be the ones who need to be doing something
different.
There are many things that could stop us from hearing God’s voice. Jesus
often said this… "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!'' This
statement is said by Jesus 8 times in the Gospels. It is our
responsibility to hear.
He said this in the Gospel of Luke in the 8th chapter "But others fell
on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.'' When He
had said these things He cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him
hear!'' He cried, He said this with much emphasis, Listen, Hear. If we
won’t hear He can't lead us can He? He has given us the ability to hear
or he would not be just in telling us to do that very thing would He? We
have spiritual hearing; we just have to learn to tune in. It is in our
best interest if we will but listen, Our Heavenly Father wants us to
succeed in everything we are given to do hear on the Earth.
Firstly we have already discussed that we have to know the Word.
Secondly we have to take the time to listen. Many Christians have never
done this and need to learn this very important part of being a
follower. We have to understand we do not hear spiritual things with
our physical ears, we hear spiritual things through our spirit or inner
man. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Our spirit has to be
trained just like our flesh or mind has to be trained. We have to learn
how to hear spiritually.
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of
the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned.
We have to be able to tell the difference between God’s thoughts, our
thoughts, and the thoughts that come in from outside sources, including
the devil. He will put all kinds of thoughts into our mind if we will
let him, but we don’t have to let him. When we are born again we become
a new creation in Christ Jesus
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become
new.
We are a born again spirit that has the life of God dwelling within us.
This is where God speaks to us, not our fleshly man but this new born
again man. We can train our spirit to hear and tune into the voice of
God. We have been trained all of our life to listen in the natural and
sometimes we have to set aside our earthly training and begin to
relearn to do things God’s way. This can take time but the rewards are
great.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on
your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
I want to encourage you to take the necessary time to learn God’s Word,
and to spend time in His presence, and to learn His voice. Don’t allow
life’s many distractions from keeping you from this most important part.
Rv:7:17: For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed
them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Do you want to be a joint
heir with Christ?
If so, I urge you to earnestly pray the following prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. Your word
says, “…and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”
(Jn.6:37),
So I know You won’t cast me out, but You take me in, And I thank you for
it. You said in your Word, "whoever calls upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved.'' (Ro. 10:13).
I am calling on Your name, So I know You have saved me now, You also
said, “…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe
in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made to salvation.” (Ro.10:9,10).
I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe He
was raised from the dead for my justification. And I confess Him now as
my Lord, Because Your Word says, “… with the heart one believes to
righteousness…” and I do believe with my heart, I have now become the
righteousness of God in Christ. (2 Cor. 5:21),
And I am saved! Thank You, Lord!
I can now truthfully say, I see myself as a born again child of God!
Glory to
God!!!! Amen.
About the Author:
Article by Mark Baker.
Mark is the webmaster of The Olive Branch,
http://www.olivebranchministries.us,
a site dedicated to helping all that are seeking to come into a deeper
understanding of what God has done for us through Christ Jesus. Please
visit his site for more free studies and resources to help you in your
search.
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