Beloved: I am delighted to welcome you into another week of the month of February 2020. And may grace, mercy and peace be yours abundantly from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
As we go this new week, I want to remind you how important it is for us not just to be hearers or readers of God’s word but to also be doers of it as well. Indeed, the bible makes it clear that when we read or hear God’s word, we are blessed. That means there are activities or provisions of God that are activated on our behalf when we listen to God’s word being taught by others or when we read and meditate on the Scriptures ourselves.
For instance, John, speaking about his book, the Revelation of Jesus, says, “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.” (Rev 1:3NIV) Observe that there are three categories of blessedness that John speaks of here. First, he speaks of the blessedness of reading the word of God. So, each time you put aside other things to read or study God’s word, there are blessings of God (in form of inner strength, courage, hope, faith and so forth) that are released on your behalf. You may never know anything about them, but good things happen to you, for you and in you each time you read the word of God. And that is why if you know how to read, then, do your best not to cheat yourself of the blessedness of reading the Holy Scriptures as often as you can.
Second, John speaks of the blessedness of hearing the word of God. Whether you know how to read or not, each time you present yourself or make yourself available to hear God’s word read or taught to you, there is a release of certain blessings of God on your behalf. This explains why people sometimes get healed of terrible sicknesses, diseases and deformities, just by listening to the word of God and without anybody praying for them. And it explains why certain destructive addictions and bad behaviours sometimes just disappear from people’s lives, just by listening to the word of God again and again, without anybody praying for them. So, inasmuch as God has blessed you with the gift of hearing, make the most of the preaching or teaching time in your church meetings. Don’t allow anybody or anything to distract you when the word of God is being taught to you. And also do your best to use your resources to take advantage of the different means of listening to the word of God that modern technology now makes available to us. That is because no one can comprehend or quantify the extent to which God’s blessings can manifest in your life just by listening to His word.
Finally, Johns speaks of the blessedness of taking the word of God to heart, so that one may act on it. And this, as supported by other Scriptures, is what enables one to continually enjoy and experience all of the blessings of God that have been poured out upon us in all their fullness. For instance, our Lord Jesus and Apostle James both tell us that anyone who hears God’s word but does not act on it is foolish and deceiving himself, if he is expecting the word to fully produce the results it is meant to produce in his life. That is because the word of God can only fully release the blessings of God in the life of the one that acts on it, the one that does what the word says. (Cf. Matt 7:24-27; Luke 6:47-49; James 1:22-25)
Also, our Lord Jesus, once while responding to a woman who had said to Him, “Blessed is the mother that gave birth to you and nursed you,” said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” (Cf. Luke 11:27-28) Think about that. Mary’s natural relationship with our Lord Jesus could not readily unleash the flow of the fullness of God’s blessings into her life or through her life. She also, like every other person, had to take God’s word seriously in order for that to happen (Luke 1:26-45; Acts 1:14). In the same way, our natural relationship with great preachers of God’s word or our closeness to them or to the bible cannot release or activate the fullness of the blessings of God for our enjoyment. We must give ourselves to acting on the word of God for that to happen. So, if we want to continually enjoy all that the goodness of God is able to make available to us or carry out on our behalf, we must not stop at reading or hearing His word; we must also give ourselves to practising His word wholeheartedly. And I pray that the Spirit of God will continually strengthen our hearts to take these things seriously every remaining day of our lives here on earth. Amen.
Do have a very pleasant week.
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