Life in the Word

Every one has a story about their adventure with the Lord. I thought I would share some of the beginning adventures that I had encountered that caused me to be come the man of God I am today. I thank God for His patience and thoughts of me as I grew to become better acquainted with His plan for my life. I was assistant Superintendent of Sunday School in the local Methodist Church and I had to substitute for teachers who were absent. I became the assistant for the youth class. While working with these young people I decided life was too important to guess or use my experience to answer their questions so I would study my bible to give them God’s answers. While doing this I found that I wanted to know for myself that the word of God was real. The bible was a tool that we could use to help others, but as far as knowing whether it was the Word of God I had my questions. One day I asked a Professor some questions about some things that he had taught. He asked me what did I believe about the bible? Did I believe that the bible was the infallible Word of God? I told him that I had not read the whole thing for understanding. He said that it did not make any difference whether I had read it or not, do I believe that it is the infallible word of God? He said if I read it all how could I then determine whether it was the Word of God? If I accept some and not the other what was I going to base my decision on? He nicely dismissed me from his home and asked me to come back after I had made my decision.

While riding back to my house, these questions kept running through my mind, “Is the bible the infallible Word of God? Is God responsible for its origin?” Then the question came into my mind “If the bible is the Word of God could God watch over it all these years and man not change its original meaning?” Then the question came in the present tense “Am I big enough to watch over my Word?” As I thought about this these questions kept repeating in my mind and I finally said, “Yes! I believe the bible is the Word of God and God is big enough to watch over His Word.” Then the next question entered my mind was, “what are you going to do about it?” I finally understood that I had to do some thing about what I said I believed. I made God a promise that I would believe the bible and do what it said to do. I believed that His Spirit could teach me because I did not know what man to believe. I invited Jesus again to come into my life and take over. Something different happen to me, I had never said take over. I found a special love for reading the bible. I could not put it down. This became a habit. I read all the time. As I continued to read, my conversation with my friends changed. I would always be listening for an opportunity to tell about something that I had read in the bible. What I was saying seemed to be the answer to what they were asking or talking about. It fitted right into the conversation. One of them told me that I was preaching and if this is what I wanted to do then I needed to stop coming around them. I liked this person and felt hurt because this was all I had to talk about. It was the answer. As I was brooding over this statement another thought came to my mind, “You will defeat the devil with the Word of God, Luke four and Matthew four. I got my bible and read Luke, Chapter four and Matthew, Chapter four and I understood that it was important that I keep reading and letting my conversation change because I would be able to defeat the devil by saying what God said.

Using the Word in every day conversation helped me to develop a love for the Word of God. Where I was not sure of what I was talking about before I now knew why I was saying what I was saying. God was teaching me through my mind how to use the word. As I continued to read I would come across a verse that I knew would fit someone’s situation and I would call and tell him or her what I was reading and how I thought this verse answered his or her concern. They would thank me and call me later to tell me how that verse helped them to come through in victory. I found that when verses came to my mind it was the Spirit of God giving me these verses and when I acted on what came to my mind it was an answer from God. I began to ask questions and scriptures would come to my mind and when I looked them up it was the answer to my questions. I had a friend, the Holy Spirit, Who knew everything and as much as I liked asking questions and receiving answers we had a ball. This became an every day practice as I begin to trust the thoughts that were coming into my mind. If I did not understand I would ask for clarification and the Holy Spirit would bring another scripture to my mind until I understood.

I know now that the Holy Spirit of God is the teacher and God wants me to be able to hear His voice and share His Word with others. I have also been able to understand why things are as they are. As I learn more about communicating with God I am better able to help others and myself. It is a joy to do this everyday. It has become a way of life. God talks to me and I talk to others.

I pray that your experiences with God will be rewarding and victorious as you learn to enjoy His presence. May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. That the communication of your faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing that is in you in Christ Jesus. That in your everyday living you may come to know Jesus/Holy Spirit as your friend and Guide IN JESUS NAME, AMEN.