The Inspired Word of God

God is liberal and free with His Word. He is constantly speaking to His people through the Bible and through the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Word is rich with many examples and narratives about people hearing from God, it is rich with all sorts of promises about Him speaking to us. God loves relationship and looks for an ongoing dialog with each and every one of us. Our personal relationship with Jesus is special and as we interact freely with Him, our lives are enriched and we learn more and more about who He is and how He is changing us to become more like Him.

In 2 Peter 1:16-21 Peter provides some excellent teaching on prophecy; he is recounting his first hand experience on the Mt of transfiguration with James and John. In this he tells us that holy men spoke as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and they wrote the Bible. Today God is still speaking and still inspiring us and we can hear from Him and read the scriptures with the same inspiration that the writers had when they wrote – for the Holy Spirit is the same and is alive in all of us who are followers of Christ. The Apostle John echoed this point in 1 John 2:27, But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

What a powerful truth and wonderful blessing we have in Christ – that He makes His Word alive to us. We are personally blessed as we read the Word and experience the moving of the Holy Spirit.

As we have reviewed this truth today I encourage you to read the Word with the expectation of the Holy Spirit making it alive and real for you.

God bless you all.

Being Wise Virgins

In Matt 25 Jesus taught about the importance of being a wise virgin. In His teaching He contrasts 5 foolish virgins with 5 wise virgins. All 10 were virgins, all 10 had lamps, all 10 were waiting for the bridegroom, and all 10 slumbered as the bridegroom was delayed.

The only difference in this story is that 5 are counted wise because they had oil for their lamps; the unwise had no oil. The five wise were received into the chamber with the bridegroom, but not the 5 foolish.

There has been much teaching for many years on this parable, today I am looking at how we can learn from this and be wise. The 5 wise were ready and prepared, they had oil. We know oil speaks of the Holy Spirit and of anointing. The word wise has in it the sense of being prudent, where foolish means dull and heedless.

If we want to be ready we must be prudent. How can we be prudent? There are a couple thoughts that come to mind. In the Gospels and in Revelation we are told to have a spiritual ear, to hear what the Spirit is saying. In Rom 8:5-7 we are exhorted to be spiritually minded, which is life, and not to be carnally minded, which is death.

If we simply go through the motions we can become dull, this can represent being religious. A stronger way to say this is to look at 2 Tim 3:5 which speaks of having a form of godliness, but denying its power. The contrast to a religious practice is to have a relationship, a living and active and real relationship with Jesus. John 15 speaks of abiding, which can be translated "vitally united" or "maintaining a living communion."

Let us take heed and listen to the Spirit. Let us be active and real in our relationship with Jesus; because, it's through our relationship with Jesus and being connected to Him that we will have life (John 10:10). May we all be wise virgins and keep our lamps filled with oil.

God bless you all.

A Great and a Full Life

I recently heard a speaker preach on what it takes to have a great life and a full life. This is something so many of us want and look for, to be able to have success and to enjoy an abundant life.

Well this the speaker was able to break this down to a simple level and said if what we wanted was a great and a full life, the key was to be grateful.

Wow – what powerful point this is. Even writing it out in this note brings the message home again to me. Being grateful works, it changes our lives; it gives us the ability to have a proper perspective and to have the right attitudes in our relationships and in all that we do.

It is my prayer that this simple point on being grateful can change your lives so that they are great and they are full.

May the Lord bless you richly and help you to grow in gratefulness.