Bible Study on Jesus and the Kingdom of God, Jesus Walk Bible Study Series

Bible Study on Jesus and the Kingdom of God, Jesus Walk Bible Study Series

BENEFITTING the MOST of HIS WORD

Blessed Saints of the Most High, As a continuation of the last message about the strength of having heart knowledge, I can't emphasize enough of the benefits of taking quality time and meditating on the powerful truth of His Word. When a person becomes strong in the Lord, it has nothing to do with any natural ability that we have inherited, so no one is at any disadvantage over anyone else because of any greater intellect or physical endurance. Individuals who benefit the most by becoming stronger in the Lord are the ones who spend quality time with God by meditating on the Truth of His amazing attributes, His love and care for them and knowing deep within that only His Word brings eternal LIFE. The strength of a Godly character of a person is more evident when he/she listens and takes heed (taking time to meditate) to His instructions more and more. It's always about getting the powerful truth of His Word into our heart which is why it takes time and effort on our part. A person cannot expect to be strong in the Lord if they will only listen to a message once or read a message once and think they get it. To get the most of His Word and benefit from it the most, we need to take time to meditate by first seeking His guidance and studying and meditating over and over in our minds until it gets into heart. It always comes down to the "heart issue". This is why God says He sees the heart of man and not the outward appearance (1 Sam 16:7). That's why to Him, the heart of a person is more important than anything else, and He knows what we spend our time on the most is whatever is within ones heart. Any individuals who are the most intellectually gifted people in the world will NEVER benefit from receiving any Truth of Gods Word within them as long as they have a hard and unbelieving heart. Just like the parable of the seed that falls on hard ground, which allows the enemy to steal from you what is meant to bring forth richness of life (Luke 8:12). The Word of life spoken will never benefit anyone whose heart is hard. For our heart to be conditioned right, we have to strip that ugly pride from our heart and see our desperate need of His instructions for us. I know I mentioned this many times, but I always like the response Peter gave to Jesus in John 6:68 after many of the Disciples left Jesus and He questioned the remaining twelve if they were going to leave Him also (John 6:67). Simon Peter replies: Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have the words to eternal life! I would like to add "Selah" to that so we will take time to meditate on that powerful truth. The problem today is that we want so much in an instant and we don't want to take time or effort to meditate or study to get the most of His Word. When we do try to grow too fast and not taking the time to study His Word, its like the parable of the seed that grew too quickly that had very little roots, and when trials came, it didn't last and the plant quickly died (Luke 8:13). Knowing His Word takes time and He knows when a person is young in Him, He doesn't expect a new Christian to be thoroughly knowledgeable in the word, but He does expect us to continue to grow. For those whom they have been saved many years, Paul tells us that some of them ought to be teaching others, but continued to be taught the same elementary principles of Gods Word (Heb 5:12). My guess is that these people failed to spend any quality time in prayer, failed to take time to seek greater revelation or failed to utilize any time to give any thought to what they have read or heard. When we do take the time to know the Word, we have the ability to rightly divide the word of truth from what is false in order to benefit the most that is meant to edify you and help you be strong in the Lord (2 Tim 2:15). When we do come to know the Word by meditating on it more and more, we know when to shut out and refute the lies of the enemy and benefit by allowing His Word to build us up that is able to help us stand under any pressures (Eph 6:13). I believe all would agree that we would rather benefit from Words that edify and build us up rather then simply listening to every false pretense that only brings doubt and fear. Therefore, I want to encourage each of us to take some scripture each day and take time to meditate on it so it gets into your heart. Jesus tells us that when we take time to seek, we will find (Matt 7:7,8). It doesn't have to take hours, but take some quality time to think His Truths over in your mind. Seeking treasures takes time, but when it is found, it is priceless. When the life of His Word gets into our hearts, it is priceless because no one can take the life from you when it is in your heart and this only comes by spending quality time with Him and allowing the power of His Word to reside within you. God promises in Joshua 1:8 that when we do meditate on His Word, this is what will help us be prosperous (by having that inner Peace and Joy within), be able to deal wisely and have good success by not living under the lies of the enemy. Let's benefit from the One who KNOWS BEST and LOVES US THE MOST.

STRENGTH OF HAVING HEART KNOWLEDGE

Blessed Children of the MOST HIGH, I have been thinking of how many Christians suffer. Not only that, but many suffer in silence. I know because I suffered in silence also and regret not reaching out more to those whom I know can and are more than willing to help earlier than I did. Because it is NOT SAFE to suffer in silence, I believe God has equipped many of His Saints within reach to one another and be His hands to each of His hurting Children. A true Christian should always be willing to help others in their time of need or at least be willing to lead them to someone whom you know can help. You may not be a counsellor, but just the fact that you tell others that you are praying for them and have their best interest does more than you think. The enemy (satan) will always make a person think that those who suffer are alone and no one else is going through what you are going through. In fact, God tells us in 1 Pet 5:9 that many of your Brothers and Sisters suffer the same way as we do. When I read several verses before and after that from 1 Peter 5:7-11, He starts out by telling us to cast all of our cares, our anxieties our fears and anything that holds us back from moving forward in Him. We are to cast it ALL to Him. However, we can only be effective to cast all of our cares upon Him when WE KNOW deep within us that He truly does care for us (vs 7b). In other words, if we don't have that revelation knowledge that gets down into our heart and our spirit that He truly does deeply care for us, it is going to be very difficult for any of us to be able to cast all of our cares unto Him. This is pivital to know first and foremost that HE CARES FOR YOU and I. We need to know He deeply cares for us before the remainder of the text found in vs 10 and 11 will be of any value to us. This is the promise that after we have suffered alittle, we will be grounded, be secured, be strengthened in Him and settled with His Peace within us (vs 10). So when you read this context, it starts out by knowing He cares for you. And when this reality goes from our head to our heart, we can stand firm in our faith because we know He cares for us deep within our heart. Just thinking over this thought this past week, I realize that when people strongly believe a thought or opinion, it is because they thought about a certain idea long enough that it travelled from their head to their heart. Once any thought becomes a belief within their heart and they continue to meditate on this certain agenda, they become stronger and bolder in their opinion because it is now lodged into their heart wehre it becomes a strong conviction of belief. Ever notice that many times when things happen, we can forget they happened in a short period of time. But when we give special attention or thought to a certain event that happened in our life and meditate it over again, it's something we will remember for a long time. So when people say horrible words to one another that tear down their confidence it becomes a stronghold within their heart when they give thought to what was said to them over and over again and it becomes a strong belief they have towards themselves even though it is nothing but a lie. I gave an example several years ago about reading Psalm 91. When you read this Psalm, it talks about everyone in general terms. When you re-read this same Psalm, insert your name and speak this Psalm audibly to yourself and go over it several times as though God is speaking directly to you. Don't just read this, but speak it over you by inserting your name. This goes for any other encouraging scriptures by inserting your name and hearing you speak them over you and envision that God is speaking directly to You with the interest of His heart for you. When you do this enough times, you will start to build a strong bond of Gods Word that will get into your heart and you will be strongly convinced that Gods Word is Truth and you will become stronger in resisting the devils lies over you. This is why the Lord encourages us to spend time meditating on His Word like He tells us in Joshua 1:8 as follows: This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success For those of you who are struggling, I would ask you to please invest even a short time each day by doing this because you owe this to yourself and the One who loves you and cares for you like no other. Even just thinking each day the pain He suffered by taking your place being nailed on the Cross will become strong within our heart and our love for Him will become much stronger when this Truth becomes a revelation that gets into our heart. By meditating on this truth through time and being consistent, you will see the benefits of His Word that gets into your heart will really work for you. You will be strongly convinced of how much God loves you and knowing your identity in Him when you read His Word (His love letter to you) and you meditate and speak it over and over yourself until it gets into your heart. May the Truth that is only found in His Word richly bless you. In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Associate Director Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/