Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours forever from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am delighted to welcome you to this new week and pray that you will be led and strengthened to access and enjoy the best of God for you in all things all through the week, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Now, as beautiful as it to offer this kind of prayer for you, it is equally important you know that it cannot take the place of acting on the word of God in your life. What I am saying is that prayer is never a substitute for acting on the word of God. So, even though it is important that we continually pray in order to be able to receive and enjoy God’s provisions for us, if we will not give ourselves to acting on His word, there are certain provisions of His that we will never be able to access or enjoy.
Paul, while speaking to the elders of the Ephesian church in a meeting, said, “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32NIV) Can you see what he says here about God’s word? First, he calls it the word of His grace. That means God’s word communicates God’s grace. So, if you want to experience and enjoy His grace, receive, embrace and act on His word. Yes, when you pray, God’s grace is released to meet your need. But until you learn to walk in the light of His word, your experience and enjoyment of His grace will never be to the full. It will always be limited. And in fact, there are situations that it is only by acting on the word of God that you will experience and enjoy His grace. Any other thing you do, be it praying, fasting or giving, will not work.
The second thing Paul says about God’s word in that text is that it is able to build up our lives. It is able to make us strong and steadfast to thrive and excel, regardless of our life’s circumstances. As our Lord makes clear in a parable of the wise builder and the foolish builder, challenges are inevitable in this life. So, we all are going to have our fill of them. But what will determine whether we remain strong and steadfast after each challenge is our attitude to the word of God. (Cf. Matt 7:24-27)
If we learn His word and give ourselves to building our lives, marriages, businesses, children and so forth on its foundation, then, it does not matter what trial we are faced with or what opportunity comes our way, we will thrive and remain ever strong. But if we will not learn His word at all or if we will not take His word we are learning seriously, so that we may act on it and use it in building our lives, then, every little challenge or opportunity that comes our way will threaten our lives and want to cast it down. And if we maintain this foolish attitude towards the word of God long enough, our lives and whatever we are building along with them are guaranteed to collapse someday. It is only a matter of time.
The last thing Paul says about God’s word in his admonition is that it is able to give us our own inheritance among the people of God. That means there are things God has prepared for each of us to enjoy, as His children. And it is the word of God that will lead us to see these things and show us what we must do to enjoy them. For instance, health, peace, protection and satisfaction are our inheritance in Christ. How do we know this? It is through the word of God. And how do we begin to enjoy these things? It is also by learning what His words says about them and acting on it.
So, you see that the life we are called to by God is a life that is founded and built on His word. And if we want to live this life and enjoy it to the full, we must take His word seriously in our lives. My prayer is that your heart will receive strength everyday from the Spirit of God to always do the right thing with the word of God. Amen.
Do have a splendid week.
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By: J.O. Lawal | Date: September 27, 2020 | Series: From Pastor’s Desk | Number: Vol. 9, No. 21
