Faith Comes from Hearing the Message about Christ

It's imperative that we share God's Word so that people will hear the message about Christ and believe in Christ. It is God's will for the gospel to be preached to all nations so that those who hear may put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) The Great Commission is a command for all Christ's followers, not just for preachers and missionaries. All believers must be diligent in proclaiming the gospel. The gospel is this: Jesus saves sinners by dying on the cross for our sins (He paid the punishment that we deserve) and offers forgiveness, eternal life, and His righteousness to those who believe in Him. One can come to faith in Christ only through hearing the gospel (the good news about Jesus Christ as the crucified and risen Savior). Faith is the confidence in Christ's finished atoning work on the cross that fulfilled God's plan of salvation for the world. We need to tell people about Christ...about salvation by grace alone through faith in Christ alone so that those who are dead in sin will hear and know the truth regarding how they can be saved and raised to life in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. People need to hear what God says about sin, salvation, and Savior through His Word. 

There are currently about 7,000 unreached people groups. What are we, Christ's followers, doing about it? Remember that the task of evangelism can only be done on earth since there will be no sinners/unbelievers in Heaven. Therefore, let us take the Great Commission seriously and be active in spreading the gospel. It's a matter of urgency! People are dying and going to Hell everyday, without ever hearing the gospel of Jesus even once. "Go, send, or disobey!" (John Piper) "It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known."(Romans 15:20a) "I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace." (Acts 20:24) By the way, we must not forget to make disciples of our own children and equip them to share the gospel and multiply disciples! Teach them to obey God and His Word. We must live the gospel out in our daily lives so that it will validate the gospel we speak with our lips.

Prayer: Thank You, Abba Father, for loving me, choosing me, and adopting me into Your family! Thank You for giving me the gift of childlike faith! I'm so grateful for the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith in Christ alone. Please empower me to boldly share the gospel with those who need to hear. Please help me conduct myself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.

The Key to Spiritual Success

"Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." (Joshua 1:8)

The key to spiritual success is meditating on God's Word day and night and doing/obeying His Word. After Moses died, Joshua was to lead Israel into the "promised land" filled with enemies and pagan idolatry. How did God want Joshua to prepare for the victory and possession of the land? God did not tell him to train soldiers or acquire weapons or make strategic battle plans. God commanded him to meditate on God's law (the Torah) and to do everything written in it. God wanted Joshua to focus on the Word of God daily/continually and He will provide what Joshua needs to be prosperous and successful. Joshua's strength and courage (God commanded him to be strong and courageous three times in the first chapter of Joshua) was to come from knowing that God was with him, from meditating on the Pentateuch (the first five books of Scripture), from believing God's promises, and from living in obedience to God's precepts. Joshua's success in defeating the enemy in Canaan was based on his devotion to God's Word. We also can have victory over any temptation and enemy when we know/rely on the power of God and trust the promises of God by meditating on the Word of God. Like Joshua, we are to saturate ourselves with God's Word, by meditating on it, talking/sharing about it, and living it out. What we fill our mind with will influence our words, thoughts, and actions. Therefore, it's best/wisest to fill our mind with God's Word.

Meditation requires our personal investment of time, (mental) energy, and effort. It takes time to actively engage our mind when we read the Bible, consciously making the effort to understand the living Word in depth so that we will grow in our intimacy with the Living Lord and grow in Christlikeness. To meditate on God's Word is to ponder, reflect, contemplate, and focus our thoughts on the verses we read repeatedly, mulling over them carefully and thoroughly, in order to discern their meaning, significance, and application. We are to go over and over and over God's Word in order that God's Word will deepen its impression on our hearts, permeate all our thinking processes, and guide all our conducts. There can be no spiritual success and progress without daily meditation on God's Word. There are no shortcuts to spiritual growth. The Bible is our daily bread that we need for our spiritual sustenance and nourishment. Reading the Bible without meditating on it is like eating food without chewing...without digesting. It won't help us grow spiritually. We will be weak and unable to fight spiritual battles. To meditate means to deliberately muse over God's Word, to examine it, to compare Scripture with Scripture, and to "digest" its life-giving truths. Biblical truths should percolate through our mind day and night. It is only through God's Word that we can understand what God's will is and resist the pull of our own flesh, the Enemy, and the world. Seeing our circumstances, trials, tasks, identity as our Heavenly Father sees them changes our attitudes and actions. Think right thoughts. Think God's thoughts.

"We must read Scripture every day 
And meditate on what God said
To fight temptation from the world
And live a life that's Spirit led."
(Sper)

Meditation must be accompanied by obedience. Be doers of the Word, not just hearers (or meditators). Spiritual victory and blessings belong to those who obey God's Word. Do not misinterpret the last part of this verse ("Then you will be prosperous and successful"). For children of God, success and prosperity are not to be measured by physical, material standards of this world. Please do not fall into the false teaching of "the prosperity gospel". It's possible to prosper and succeed in the eyes of the world yet fail in the eyes of God. Meditating on God's Word transform our mind and motives and direct our decision-making to be according to God's Word and will. True success is being committed to the Word of God, being empowered by the Spirit of God, and doing the will of God, for the glory of God.

"There is absolutely no victory or chance for us to experience the blessings of our new life in Christ apart from the Word of God. Whenever any believer begins to turn away from the Word through indifference or apathy for whatever reason, he is turning away from the Lord and into defeat." (Keathley) 

"The believer’s mind should become like a 'spiritual computer.' It should be so saturated with Scripture that when he faces a decision or a temptation, he automatically remembers the Scriptures that relate to that particular situation. It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to bring God’s Word to our minds when we need it. (Jn 14:26) But the Spirit of God cannot remind you of something that you have not learned! You must first let him teach you the Word. You must memorize the Scripture that he opens up to you. Then the Spirit of God will be able to remind you of what you have learned, and you can use that truth to battle Satan. Please keep in mind that Satan knows the Bible far better than we do! And he is able to quote it!" (Warren Wiersbe)

"Read it much, read it often, brood over it, think over it, meditate over it--meditate on the Word of God day and night. When you are awake at night, think of a helpful verse. When you get up in the morning, no matter how you feel, think of a verse and make the Word of God the important element in your day. The Holy Ghost wrote the Word, and if you make much of the Word, He will make much of you. It is through the Word that He reveals Himself. Between those covers is a living Book. God wrote it and it is still vital and effective and alive. God is in this Book, the Holy Ghost is in this Book, and if you want to find Him, go into this Book." (A.W. Tozer)

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for giving me Your Word that sustains my soul and strengthens my faith! May I continually delight in studying, memorizing, and obeying Your Word! Please empower me to faithfully live consistent with Your Word and Your will each and every day. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.

Meditation and Mouth Connection

David prayed that God would guide and sanctify his mouth (words) and heart (thoughts/attitude) so that they would be acceptable and pleasing to Him. I, too, constantly need the Lord's help to keep my heart, mind, and words pure and right. That's why I include Psalm 19:14 in my daily prayer.

"The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress and my Deliverer; my God is my Rock, in whom I take refuge, my Shield and the Horn of my Salvation, my Stronghold." (Psalm 18:2) The Lord is my Rock on which I stand, build my life, and rely. He gives me strength to resist the Enemy and temptations. The Lord is my Redeemer Who delivers me from death, self/flesh, and the bondage of sin.

This prayer (Psalm 19:14) demonstrates the important connection between the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart. Our thoughts influence our words, our actions, our character...our life. What fills our heart and mind will spill out in words through our mouth. To speak right, we must first think right (have the right kind of thought). We must choose wisely what we fill our mind with. With the Holy Spirit living inside us, guiding us, helping us, empowering us, we are able to take our thought captive & make it obedient to Christ, and choose to dwell on things which are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8). 

Meditation in eastern religions is about emptying one's mind but meditation in the Bible is about filling one's mind with God's Word. It is profitable/nourishing to our soul to meditate on God's Word which helps us to know God more. His heart, attributes, and will are revealed in His Word. The more we meditate on God's Word, the more we think God's thoughts. God uses His Word to renew our mind and transform our hearts. Meditating on the Scriptures takes time. We don't read the Bible just so that we can check off a to-do item on our list. We need to saturate our mind with God's Word. Fill your mind with God's truths by studying and memorizing Bible verses. We must fix our eyes on God's ways so that we won't be wandering off the narrow path, be led astray, or be troubled by the worries of this world.

What we choose to dwell on will affect who we are, how we talk, what we say, what we do, how we respond, and how we react. "A man is what he thinks about all day long." (Ralph Waldo Emerson) Be aware that there is a battle going on in our mind. By choosing to occupy our mind with God's Word, we can prevent Satan from attacking our mind with lies, deception, anxious thoughts, destructive thoughts, sinful thoughts. Sin begins in the mind and so does godliness. The saying "garbage in, garbage out" is true. So many things can pollute our mind and in turn corrupt talk comes out of our mouth. May we choose God's Word in, God's Word out, instead!

Choose and use your words wisely! What we say matters! Words reveal the condition of our heart, mind, and character. Our words carry implications and profound effects. Words can ruin or strengthen marriages, careers, families, friendships, reputations, etc. We must strive to control our tongue. Avoid godless chatter and quarreling (2 Timothy 2:14, 16). Do not gossip. Do not lie. Do not boast. Do not use profanity. "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." (Ephesians 4:29) Speak the truth in love and with grace, respect, and gentleness. Let us examine whether our words honor and glorify our Lord!

"When I want to speak...let me think first:

-Is it true?
-Is it kind?
-Is it necessary?

If not, let it be left unsaid." (Babcock) 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word that renews my mind, encourages my heart, revives my soul, and transforms my life! Please help me meditate on Who You are and on Your truths each and every day. Please purify my heart and mind to be like Christ's. Please help my mind and my mouth to focus on what is pleasing and honoring to You. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.

Treasure God's Word in Your Heart

One way to safeguard ourselves from sinning against God is to hide His Word in our hearts as a precious treasure. When temptations come along, God's Word stored up in our hearts will give us wisdom and guide us to stay strong, resist temptations, and do the right thing. We are to bury the treasure of God's Word deep in our hearts so that God's Word will guide our thoughts, will, words, and actions. As a result, we will be kept from sinning/will be deterred from going astray. Even mature Christians are not immune to temptations. We all must be on guard always. It's not possible to isolate ourselves from all of life's temptations. But we are not to yield to them. We must follow Jesus's example when Satan tried to tempt Him in the wilderness. In each temptation, Jesus used the Scriptures to counter Satan's offer. He didn't succumb to the temptation; He did not sin. He overcame each temptation with God's Word. We don't have to sin when facing temptations, either. It's very important that we know the Scriptures so well by heart. The Scriptures we've learned and memorized will be readily available whenever we need it. They will be ready on all occasions to counsel, comfort, or caution us as need arises. They will strengthen us to say no to ungodliness and worldliness and will enable us to detect any lies and false teaching.

"The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible." (D. L. Moody)

"The law of their God is in their hearts; their feet do not slip." (Psalm 37:31)

"My son, keep My words and store up My commands within you. Keep My commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye." (Proverbs 7:1-2)

I would like to encourage you all to take time to memorize the Scriptures which is powerful fuel for energizing our soul. In the future, we may not always have religious freedom in this country. If the Bible were to be taken away from us, the verses we have memorized would be there to remind us of God's love, mercy, and faithfulness, assure us of God's power and providence, encourage us, comfort us, guide us, and feed/nourish us (spiritually). 

"Too difficult," you say?
"Not an excuse," I say! If your brain is working, then you can memorize Bible verses. How many movie lines can you quote? How many song lyrics do you know by heart? How many ad slogans are stuck in your head permanently? You get the point. Sadly, some parents/teachers make their students memorize poems, famous political speeches and documents, etc. but never or hardly encourage them to memorize the Scriptures. It gives me great joy to see my kids delight in the Lord and His Word.

"Too busy," you say?
"Not an excuse," I say! Do you still eat your meals even on the days you are busy? If you take care of your body by taking in nutrients through eating your food everyday, why would you not daily feed yourself with God's Word and be willing to starve yourself spiritually? Without taking in God's Word daily, you will get weaker and weaker spiritually. Therefore, reading/studying the Bible each day is very important. Now...think of memorizing Bible verses as eating snacks throughout the day. Snacks give us extra boost of energy and sustain/fulfill us until our next meal. Bible memorization is similar but even better :)...keeping us energized throughout our lifetime (once in a while, we may need to review what we've already memorized because forgetfulness does happen to some of us :)).