Word for Today, Thu, 07 Sep 2006: Let the Word Change Your World

#1 · September 7, 2006, 9:45 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on September 7, 2006, 9:45 pm
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

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Word for Today, Thu, 07 Sept 2006: Let the Word Change Your World

Dear friends, the title of today's message is Let the Word Change Your World.
There is more to that than we might first think. You see, many of us read
words, and many of us even read The Word (The Bible), but just reading words
alone, while it sets the stage, does little until we take action on that Word.

I firmly believe that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God,
but that is part of it. Another key part can be found in the book of James,
where the brother of our Lord Jesus makes this strong statement: Faith
without works is dead. Why? When we act upon what we claim we believe, we
demonstrate that we actually believe what we say, rather than our words
having no real meaning at all.

Faith most certainly IS important. It is vitally important. So is the
evidence that we respond to what we believe.

At the Cross, one man hung on one side of our Lord, one on the other side.
One man taunted Jesus, saying if you are really the Christ, the chosen
One of God, then bring yourself down from the Cross. The other man, however,
did not taunt Christ, He believed Christ. Just as we should do, he admitted
that he deserved his punishment, but that Jesus had done no wrong. He
criticized the man who mocked Jesus, then he asked Jesus to remember him
when He came into His Kingdom. Jesus recognized this as faith, and testified
that this man would indeed be with Him in paradise.

You see, for every situation, there are at least two responses we can make.
We can respond with faith, trusting that God will do what He promised, or
we can do nothing.

I am convicted by this, for there are too many times when I say I believe,
yet I fail to act. Am I really any different than that robber who was
guilty - at least in that case?

Well, I need not stay in that position, but failing to act or respond is
an implicit act of unbelief. At the very least, we are ineffective in our
work. At the most, we may even go so far as to question whether our faith
is genuine or not.

Now most of us believe at some level. I certainly do. But my actions, at
times, are inconsistent. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will use this
conviction to change my heart and that this, in turn, will result in my
turning away from past behaviors and turn in agreement toward my Lord, and
then respond to Him and live for Him.

We all fall far short. Jesus Christ took that into account. He paid the
price for our sin. Nevertheless, that is no excuse to continue living in
sin. Instead, we ought to regularly take a careful inventory of our
behavior and ask the Holy Spirit to counsel and lead us where He wants
us to go, and help us to translate that into a behavior change that in
turn results in positive action and response to our Lord, just as the
forgiven robber chose. Let's respond and find our works pleasing to
God - faith in action. Remember, our works themselves do not save us,
Jesus Christ saves us. Our works do reveal the true nature of our
heart, however. We ought to be checking up regularly on that heart,
and asking The Spirit to help us turn in a different direction with
our choices.

Yours in Christ,

- --
Brian Masinick
masinick at yahoo dot com

Let the Word Change Your World

by Larry Ollison, Ph.D.

Anytime somebody tells you something amazing, it can be difficult to believe at
first. I remember where I was standing in the hallway in high school at Raytown
South High School when I found out President Kennedy had been shot. I remember
my reaction. The first time I heard it, I didn?t believe the person. The second
time I heard it, I thought, ?There must be something to this.? But when enough
people told me the same thing, I started believing it and then I had enough
confidence after a while to start speaking what I believed to other people.

That?s the way the Word of faith is. When someone is bound in a bad situation
in their life and someone speaks the Word of God and tells them they can be set
free, they may not believe it at first. When you?ve lived with an ailment or
bondage all your life, and all of a sudden you hear somebody say, that you can
be free, it may be difficult to believe at first.

That?s why Romans 10:17 says ?So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by
the Word of God.? What we need is to hear the Word again and again and again.
It may take several hearings before we start believing. It?s a continual thing.

In Acts chapter two the Spirit of God fell and people were filled with the Holy
Spirit. It says, ?They were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another,
?Whatever could this mean??? (Acts 2:12)

That?s the condition of people who don?t understand what God is doing. They
say, ?What?s going on? What does this mean??

I remember the first time I ever heard somebody speak in tongues. I thought,
?What does this mean? What is going on?? I remember the first time I heard
somebody prophesy. I thought to myself, ?What?s going on??

At that point in my life, I had a decision to make. Would I continue to expose
myself to the Word and allow my belief, understanding and faith to grow or
would I ignore and avoid what I didn?t understand. Every Spirit filled
Christian has made this choice and the result is they are Spirit filled. Those
who chose to ignore and avoid the truth of God are now in a dry place. So when
you hear someone speak and what they say seems amazing, check it out with the
Word of God. If it doesn?t align with the Word, reject it. If the Word of God
backs it up, then meditate on that Word and your amazement will change to
confidence and faith will develop.

All rights reserved. Used by permission.
This article may be reproduced for teaching purposes but not for commercial resale
The Cutting Edge Devotional by Dr. Ollison is a daily feature of www.CFAITH.com
The Cutting Edge Devotional - PO Box 880, Osage Beach, MO 65065 USA
When writing about this devotional, refer to devotional #0149

www.larryollison.com

www.walkonthewaterbooks.com

Larry Ollison Ministries never sells, rents or shares your email address.

For more information, please contact office@ollison.org
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Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Word for Today, Thu, 07 Sept 2006: Let the Word Change Your World

Dear friends, the title of today's message is Let the Word Change Your World.
There is more to that than we might first think. You see, many of us read
words, and many of us even read The Word (The Bible), but just reading words
alone, while it sets the stage, does little until we take action on that Word.

I firmly believe that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God,
but that is part of it. Another key part can be found in the book of James,
where the brother of our Lord Jesus makes this strong statement: Faith
without works is dead. Why? When we act upon what we claim we believe, we
demonstrate that we actually believe what we say, rather than our words
having no real meaning at all.

Faith most certainly IS important. It is vitally important. So is the
evidence that we respond to what we believe.

At the Cross, one man hung on one side of our Lord, one on the other side.
One man taunted Jesus, saying if you are really the Christ, the chosen
One of God, then bring yourself down from the Cross. The other man, however,
did not taunt Christ, He believed Christ. Just as we should do, he admitted
that he deserved his punishment, but that Jesus had done no wrong. He
criticized the man who mocked Jesus, then he asked Jesus to remember him
when He came into His Kingdom. Jesus recognized this as faith, and testified
that this man would indeed be with Him in paradise.

You see, for every situation, there are at least two responses we can make.
We can respond with faith, trusting that God will do what He promised, or
we can do nothing.

I am convicted by this, for there are too many times when I say I believe,
yet I fail to act. Am I really any different than that robber who was
guilty - at least in that case?

Well, I need not stay in that position, but failing to act or respond is
an implicit act of unbelief. At the very least, we are ineffective in our
work. At the most, we may even go so far as to question whether our faith
is genuine or not.

Now most of us believe at some level. I certainly do. But my actions, at
times, are inconsistent. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will use this
conviction to change my heart and that this, in turn, will result in my
turning away from past behaviors and turn in agreement toward my Lord, and
then respond to Him and live for Him.

We all fall far short. Jesus Christ took that into account. He paid the
price for our sin. Nevertheless, that is no excuse to continue living in
sin. Instead, we ought to regularly take a careful inventory of our
behavior and ask the Holy Spirit to counsel and lead us where He wants
us to go, and help us to translate that into a behavior change that in
turn results in positive action and response to our Lord, just as the
forgiven robber chose. Let's respond and find our works pleasing to
God - faith in action. Remember, our works themselves do not save us,
Jesus Christ saves us. Our works do reveal the true nature of our
heart, however. We ought to be checking up regularly on that heart,
and asking The Spirit to help us turn in a different direction with
our choices.

Yours in Christ,

- --
Brian Masinick
masinick at yahoo dot com

Let the Word Change Your World

by Larry Ollison, Ph.D.

Anytime somebody tells you something amazing, it can be difficult to believe at
first. I remember where I was standing in the hallway in high school at Raytown
South High School when I found out President Kennedy had been shot. I remember
my reaction. The first time I heard it, I didn?t believe the person. The second
time I heard it, I thought, ?There must be something to this.? But when enough
people told me the same thing, I started believing it and then I had enough
confidence after a while to start speaking what I believed to other people.

That?s the way the Word of faith is. When someone is bound in a bad situation
in their life and someone speaks the Word of God and tells them they can be set
free, they may not believe it at first. When you?ve lived with an ailment or
bondage all your life, and all of a sudden you hear somebody say, that you can
be free, it may be difficult to believe at first.

That?s why Romans 10:17 says ?So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by
the Word of God.? What we need is to hear the Word again and again and again.
It may take several hearings before we start believing. It?s a continual thing.

In Acts chapter two the Spirit of God fell and people were filled with the Holy
Spirit. It says, ?They were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another,
?Whatever could this mean??? (Acts 2:12)

That?s the condition of people who don?t understand what God is doing. They
say, ?What?s going on? What does this mean??

I remember the first time I ever heard somebody speak in tongues. I thought,
?What does this mean? What is going on?? I remember the first time I heard
somebody prophesy. I thought to myself, ?What?s going on??

At that point in my life, I had a decision to make. Would I continue to expose
myself to the Word and allow my belief, understanding and faith to grow or
would I ignore and avoid what I didn?t understand. Every Spirit filled
Christian has made this choice and the result is they are Spirit filled. Those
who chose to ignore and avoid the truth of God are now in a dry place. So when
you hear someone speak and what they say seems amazing, check it out with the
Word of God. If it doesn?t align with the Word, reject it. If the Word of God
backs it up, then meditate on that Word and your amazement will change to
confidence and faith will develop.

All rights reserved. Used by permission.
This article may be reproduced for teaching purposes but not for commercial resale
The Cutting Edge Devotional by Dr. Ollison is a daily feature of http://www.CFAITH.com
The Cutting Edge Devotional - PO Box 880, Osage Beach, MO 65065 USA
When writing about this devotional, refer to devotional #0149

http://www.larryollison.com

http://www.walkonthewaterbooks.com

Larry Ollison Ministries never sells, rents or shares your email address.

For more information, please contact office@ollison.org
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