Hebrews 4.12
For the word of God is living and active,
sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing to the division of soul and of spirit,
of joints and of marrow,
and discerning the thoughts and intentions
of the heart.
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The Word is my main source for knowing and beholding the Gospel. This is “the Gospel Bomb Factory,” so-to-speak. In God’s Word I have all that I need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1.3). It’s not just an instruction manual, a list of commands, or a collection of stories. Though it contains those elements, it is so much more than that!
Jesus said that whatever comes from my mouth comes from my heart (Matthew 12.33-37), and this is also true with God’s Word; it is the revealed heart of God! He chose to show me so much of who He is by “opening His mouth” and speaking forth His Word through the Prophets and Apostles. Indeed, His Word is His very heart in the form of words and sentences and stories for me to know!
God has clothed
His thoughts in words,
and there is no way
to know Him
except by
knowing the Scriptures.
-John Stott
I imagine that I wrote a 2,000 page book of what is most important to me to leave to my great-grandkids. Long after I am gone, they wonder what I was like. It would be foolish for them to refuse my actual writing and instead insist on just figuring me out on their own or just by guessing what they think I was like. I put my thoughts, heart, desires, and told of my great love for them in this gift of a revealing book, and what a tragedy it would be if they wanted to learn about me in some other unreliable way. I ought not make this same mistake as I desire to know my Savior!
Ignorance of Scripture
is ignorance of Christ.
-St. Jerome, 347-420 A.D.
I simply cannot know the true Jesus without knowing His Word. It is the only infallible source of revelation that God has given us to know Him, and it ought to be the very water that brings me life. It sets my heart to look to Him and know Him, and that is why God has given it to me, so that I may truly know the living God.
The Gospel reminds me that God is one who wants to be known intimately. He is not a distant God who wants to remain hidden from me. As a believer, if there is any distance I ever feel between God and me, I can be assured that it is not because of Him or His lack of desire towards me. Such a great reality: God wants me to know Him!
Read Again Out Loud and Make it into a Prayer:
Hebrews 4.12
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Personalize and Read or Pray Aloud:
Psalm 19.1-14
1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above
proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom
leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man,
runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden
from its heat.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also
from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
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Pray Aloud:
Preach the Gospel to Myself
Repent and Confess
Ask for Daily Bread and Help
Yield with Thanksgiving
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