“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart,” (Hebrews 4:12).
The Word is not called a sword for nothing. It should be handled like a sword in our battle “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms,” (Ephesians 6:12) and against our carnal nature. It does exactly what the Bible says it does and if we read it, know it and apply it, it will make a huge difference in our lives.
If we look at the passage in Hebrews 4:12 above, we see it penetrates to the depths of our being. It tests us and shows us the truth about ourselves; it lifts out those things we try to hide, reveals our true attitudes and exposes us to ourselves. It does this to Christians to stop us from being phony before man and the Lord, and it does it to unbelievers to reveal to them their hearts so they can see their need to have Jesus in their lives. The Word is alive because the Lord is alive. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting,” (Psalm 139:23, 24). This the Lord does through His Word.
When we, however, ask the Lord to use His Word to penetrate our depths and put us to the test, we must be ready for the outcome. The testing might become tough and trying, and we will be faced with choices and decisions that may bring us before serious consideration. Natural man wants to impress others, have comfort, please him- or herself and, in order to accomplish it, often lives a lie. This include some Christians, for if it was up to the Lord we would all live unselfishly like the first church lived – sharing everything we have and being active in proclaiming the gospel to the nations. We would not have harboured secret sins and would not have tolerated sin as it is for instance portrayed in the movies we watch. We would have hated sin as the Lord hates sin.
This is why the Lord said through Paul in 2 Timothy 4:3: “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”
We are put before a choice whether we are going to allow the Word of God to test and change us into what the Lord wants to make of us, or whether we are going to follow the popular ways by being the Christian version of carnal man, who is only interested in self and self-indulgence. We’d have to be very honest with ourselves when the Lord tests us through His Word. During a message at church, on television or when we read the Word, the Lord will address issues in our life through revelation from His Word. Are we going to yield to that revelation? Are we going to do what the Lord tells us to do? Are we really prepared to change or do we prefer to stay phony?
Lord, when your sword penetrates the depths of my being I want to surrender, I want to yield to your promptings to become like Jesus.
In the next few messages we’ll look at different ways the Sword of the Spirit can be used by Jesus’ soldiers.
If you benefited from this, why don’t you link it to your Facebook or Twitter to make it available to your friends? You can also use the e-mail link to pass it on. Please also pray for the spreading of it to those who need it. Please feel free to ask questions or discuss thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment