Do You Despise the Word of God?
Hearing the word is not enough. This past weekend, a
national clothing store gave away a pair of men’s underwear. We saw the
advertisement on TV. I told my Man he should go to the store and try them out.
Coincidently, we had just had a conversation about his underwear; he wasn’t
happy with his usual brand any longer and needed to find another brand. (Yes, I
know, the complexity of our relationship is inspiring and shocking.) The
weekend has passed and my Man didn’t go to the store. Hearing the word wasn’t
enough; he needed to act on it to receive it.
Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians to earnestly
desire the greater [spiritual] gifts (1
Corinthians 12:31). For more than a decade I desired the gift of tongues –
a heavenly language. I prayed for the gift, hoping and wishing my desire would
be granted. It wasn’t.
Several weeks after being baptized by the Spirit, I was at a
prophetic conference and a woman stood up during the worship and prophesied she
saw heavenly gifts, wrapped with a gold bow. There was one for every person at
the meeting [if they wanted it]. I heard the word and determined I was not
going to leave that place until I had the gift of tongues. I believed the word
spoken and I received what I desired.
Since that evening 21 months ago, I’ve been in many more
prophetic gatherings (up to that point I could count on one hand the number of
charismatic meetings I had been in). I am now involved in a prophetic community
and church fellowship where many prophetic words are given throughout the
worship time. The problem is prophetic words are commonplace and the Lord showed
me I was beginning to despise the word of the Lord.
We do that, don’t we? I’m not the only one. Whenever we take the word of God for granted,
we are despising the word. Have you ever tuned out during [yet another] sermon
about the Christmas story? How about promises you have received but have not
seen in reality yet? Do you despise the word you received by not acting on it?
Hebrews
11:6 says without faith we cannot please God. We must believe he is, and that he rewards those who earnestly
seek him [and his word]. In other words faith is the platform necessary to
receive rewards [gifts] from God.
You can pray for divine knowledge but without opening your
Bible and setting aside time to read it, you will probably not receive the
knowledge you want. Faith without action (works) is dead (James
2:17). How much do you value the word of God? What are some of the promises
you’ve received from God? What will you do to get yourself into position to
receive his promises?
so convicting, and so true.
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