Our Bible is made of paper . . . in fact black ink on white paper . . . and can start fires quite well. It also has the potential of releasing the LIFE of Jesus Christ into our hearts and walk. On its own, without any revelation or illumination, it truly is a text book of knowledge of good and evil. It contains the facts concerning God and what He is like. It lays out what He wants from us and how He wants things done. It contains the record of the words that have been spoken by people who knew God personally. There’s never been a book like it before and probably never will be again. It is however lifeless knowledge unless the Spirit of God (who is God) opens it up to us. When that happens, out from the pages of the Book the very life, purpose and desires of God are released to us in Jesus Christ who is called the Word of God. Truly these words testify/speak of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We refer to the Bible as the Word of God — THE WORD OF THE LORD — preachers believe that they have the word of the Lord for sharing with their people — and it can be ‘great’ in a limited sort of way; but usually it is quite informative, dry and uninspiring! By contrast knowing the Lord God and having a walking relationship with Him, whereby we can talk back and forth, is without comparison. Sharing in His life is unique, exciting , fulfilling, safe and rewarding!

There is a vast difference between declaring the ‘word of the Lord’ and sharing ‘the Lord of the word!’ We have known much of the word and what it says about the Lord Jesus Christ. . . Who He is and what He has done, is doing and will do. How well do we know Him? If you only know the ‘word of the Lord’, you will open yourselves to having to defend what you have discovered. If you know Him who is Life, Love and reality, you will never need to defend Him!

Here’s a picture: our Bible can be like the knowledge on the school chalkboard that H2O = WATER. We can add marvellous things of what water has done and what water will do. How it saves lives and enables growth as well as the danger of flooding.. Our chalkboard can become very full with that good knowledge which is absolutely true. One thing is still lacking. . . such will never quench your thirst. Have we actually drunk some of the water? Have we been refreshed by the life-giving water or do we have only the knowledge about the water?

We study our Bibles, the Word of God, to learn of more attributes and purposes of God. We search the scriptures to prove every point of the truth that Jesus Christ is God. We know all that He has said, done and will do, magnified by all manner of parables and illustrations. It’s good as far as it goes. Searching the scriptures and having Bible studies will not give us eternal life! It is rather knowing Him and to know Him is Life eternal and it will, of course, include knowing His voice.

Is your God on ‘the chalkboard’ of the Bible only? Do we know all the answers of what is going to happen? Eternal Life doesn’t come by THINKING, it comes when the Spirit of God reveals Himself to us.

Is Jesus Christ really real within us? Do we know Him? Is our daily walk made up of trying to please Him instead of letting Him live His life through us? Do you hear His voice within? In your walk, is He inside of you or outside of you?

Our life is to declare who He is; He is Christ Jesus — the all sufficient One. He is Love! He is for us and not against us. He is the answer to every need and He is in us. He is GOD ALMIGHTY with a redeeming heart ALWAYS for others and that includes us.

CAN YOU REALLY BELIEVE GOD?

Being God and being in us, are we able to believe what He says about us? Let me repeat that! Can we really believe what God says about us? What He has said about us, is it so or is it not? We shall become the answer channel to those with needs; we shall not be overly concerned with our needs when we know that the all sufficient One lives in us and we desire Him to be Lord!.

When He told us that our sins are forgiven, we believed it and became a new creation in Christ. When He told us that our ‘old Adam-self life’ was crucified with Him, we believed that too. When He tells us that we are complete in Him, we find it harder to believe! A further example of St. Paul, ‘for me to live is Christ’ — that’s for us too, but we reason away that truth because we are still trying to change ourselves to line up with it.

Grace freely gives us all things. Dead works consist of anything that we think, say or do in order to gain God’s attention or favor. We don’t have to pray harder, read more word, but rather believe that HE IS and that He is in us of a truth. He is WORD and that makes for talking — therefore our walk will be filled with talk with Him. Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father making intercession TOWARDS us says the Greek original. He being one with the Father knows the will of God. The Spirit which is God and is in us is the communication line . . . thus Jesus is interceding God’s will towards us into our hearts via His Spirit. So let us listen to His still small voice within . . . get to know His voice like sheep know the voice of their shepherd.

Does Acts 17:28 declares our real testimony? It says, ‘for in HIM we live, and move and have our being’. Every day — all day He is our life and our life is Him! In Him we move i.e. the where, how and when in each of our plans’. No problem for He bought us, right? We are the Body of Christ . . . we are the suit of clothes that God goes around in! We have the mind of Christ says the Word.

It is simply a matter of believing what HE has said about us. THIS IS THE WORK OF GOD, THAT YOU BELIEVE says John 6:29. So our constant cry is, ‘Lord Jesus, help me to believe all that You have said’. It is not what one believes that is life but rather Who one believes in. When you believe in someone, it is basically saying that you believe what they say. When it is Almighty God who is saying it, one shouldn’t have too much difficulty in believing each statement! God instructed Adam, the federal head of the human race, not to partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He could have eaten of the tree of life and lived forever. The tree of life is described as ‘Wisdom’ in Proverbs: Jesus is described as ‘Wisdom’ in I Corinthians 2. Prov 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; the righteous just do His will His way. Rev 2:7 . . . To him that overcometh operating his life by the tree of knowledge of good and evil, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God (which Paul equates with the third heaven in II Cor.12:1-3— Holy of Holies).

My prayer . . . ‘Speak to me clearly, Lord, and increase my faith in believing what You have decreed’.§