Be Doers of the Word and Not Hearers only

We must as Christians keep our focus on Christ alone. Our sacrifices and our obedience should be about glorifying and building him up in the earth. Our success and our failure can both keep us from obtaining the goal of Christ Jesus. In order to go high we must stay low. We must look at ourselves as the servants of all, and when I write this I realise that God will test me in it. This is not just a statement it is a declaration of war because the one who will truly become a servant of all will rip the heart out of every enemy attack. When we become servants we enter into the heart of God and this is a realm of the spirit that this world only vaguely understands. A friend of mine told me a great story recently. He is a pastor. He told me that there was this woman in his church that for years he helped time and time again. He served her and helped her when she didn’t have very much. There came a time when this lady got upset with my friend and so she decided to leave the church, but when she left she also encouraged a number of families to leave with her. A couple of years passed by, and one day my friend was in a store in his region. Who should be there, but the woman who had caused so much pain in his life! They met at the cash register and greeted each other politely. The lady was the first in line, and when her goods had been checked in and it was time to pay her card would not work. She told the cashier that she had another card in her car and would go and get it. As my friend watched this situation unfold the Lord had been dealing with his heart. The Lord said to him, “PAY FOR HER GOODS.” My friend politely said back to the Lord, “I WILL NOT.” In fact he was kind of insulted with the Lord for even suggesting it. The Lord said it to him again, “PAY FOR HER GOODS,” and he said, “NO,” again. Listening to my friend tell this story was kind of humorous, but this banter went on for a minute or so; which can seem like an eternity when you are not wanting to listen. However, finally, my friend paid for her order while she was out retrieving her card from the car. When she came back into the store one of his children handed her the bags. This did not result in her returning or the other people returning to the church. This was not as important as the lesson that God taught my friends heart. You see he passed the test that day. The scripture says in Luke 6:38, “Bless them that curse you, and pray for them who despitefully use you.” It is one thing to read this scripture but it is another thing to live it out. We must be doers of the word and not just repeaters. Our life is constantly being refined by the word of God and there will come times when we live it out so wonderfully that the fragrance of that word will fill up rooms for his glory. Recently I had a vision. In it, I saw two leaders that I know. One was using the word of God to attack the other and the other one was using the word to overcome the attack. If you read the account of how Jesus was tempted in Luke 4 by the devil, you will see such an encounter in scripture. ​ In the vision, the first leader would use the Bible to attack and justify his anger and bitterness toward the second leader, by stating passages from scriptures. Have you ever done that? Perhaps your friend has received a blessing from the Lord and you say something like “Money is the root of all evil.” This sounds nice out loud but what is not being said runs much deeper. Perhaps you are jealous that they received that blessing instead of you. Such jealousy lacks wisdom because God is able to bless every one of his children and He will. The other leader used the word to respond to the first leader. When the attack came against him he just lowered his head and said “Lord thank you for this attack and bless my friend. Open his eyes to the revelation that you have for him in Christ Jesus.” We can know the word and use it to attack people, or we can know the word and live the word to overcome every attack. We must love one another. Love is the key to living out the scripture. When the word of God comes to life inside of us, and we are led by the Holy Spirit, we will walk through fires and doors that would be shut to most people. Why? Because God will help us to do it. I pray that God strengthens you today and that you learn to love more deeply. Guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Know that God will test you but also know that you will overcome. No weapon formed against you will prosper, as long as you remain in Christ. To remain in Christ is to remain in his word. We must use his word to serve and to overcome, not to justify dominance and attack. I will pray that you have wisdom to discern the difference and pray for me that I will as well.