August 14, 2008 

 

Living the WORD…The Living WORD

 

            Beth Moore, live! In Datil, NM? Thanks to modern technology and a satellite hook-up, women around the world were able to experience worship and teaching from Bible teacher Beth Moore several weeks ago. There were 25-30 people at our Datil location. But God is less concerned about numbers than with ready hearts.

             I met one excited woman, at the eye doctor in a nearby town, several days later, and she was still about to come out of her seat. She shared how she and a friend now call each other and check up on each other to see if they have each gotten their Word for the day from the Scriptures.

             That is one thing Beth spoke about. She spoke about searching the Scriptures each morning for a Word from the Lord, a verse or maybe two that just seems to jump out at the reader. She challenged the women to seek that Word, and then hide it in their hearts and apply it to their lives for that day and beyond. Can you imagine the impact of just that one point from the conference??

             The woman at the Dr.’s office related that she and her neighbor had been calling each other daily, asking, “Did you get your Word for today?” making sure that the other not only received the Word, but was also pressing it deep down into her heart. What if EACH one of the simulcast viewers, in 717 locations around the world, took that point to heart, and was now seeking a personal Word from the Lord in Scriptures every morning to apply to their lives and hide in their hearts? Can you just imagine the impact of that practice- not only on individual lives, but also on the lives that those individuals touch?

             What better challenge for all of us! God speaks to us through His Word, as well as through His voice. He wants to talk with us, to fellowship with us, to commune with us! He wants us to know Him better. He wants us to know how to live, what to focus on, and how to meet our enemy’s opposition. He wants to breathe a word of Life to us through His written Word, coming to life off the pages of His holy Bible each day.

             So the challenge Beth Moore set before us was to seek Him, and expect Him in our lives. Seek Him early (Psalm 5:3). Ask for His Spirit to make a passage of Scripture stand out to you, then take that specific “Word” (as opposed to the entire word of God found in the Bible) and hide it in our hearts, meditating on it, thinking about it and how our life fits in with it. Let it work its way through our minds and hearts until it becomes part of out being. Then, let’s act on it, and make it not only part of our being, but part of our actions.

             It staggers my imagination, thinking of thousands of women walking around in the power of God’s holy Word, spoken to them personally through His Holy Spirit, each day, and that Word finding a resting place deep in their souls, only to be put forth again in action and deed, to a hungry world, desperate for Truth and sense in all the cacophony of modern life. Think of the impact!

             Do you want to make a difference? The challenge is before us. Search the scriptures, for in them we are pointed to Jesus, and in Jesus we do have LIFE. (John 5:39) Rise early. Search for your “Word” for the day, every day. Hide it in your heart. Press it into your soul. Let it guide your day and your way. Let it become part of your being and actions, and let’s see what God will do with us.

             The Scripture also talks about praise being continually on our lips (Study the Psalms) and each of us encouraging one another with positive words about the Lord’s return, (1Thess. 4:17, 5:11) our faith, our hope, our salvation, to be faithful in our sanctification and righteousness (1Thess. 4:3-10).

             There is a list in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22, of truths for Christians to put into practice. The Word is never boring. Its treasures are endless, and if each Word becomes a life challenge for every Christian, we can only imagine the possibilities we can effect in our hurting, lost world, once we truly take God at His word and be doers of it as well as hearers. Here’s to a new world… a new way of life!