Page After Page

"... it is God ... His nature, His character, how He thinks, how He does what He does."

A MAN LOST IN A CITY can drive in circles for hours and never stop and never ask directions. He can pass City Hall, the police station, and numerable other spots where someone will know how to get him where he is going. He can make assumptions and maybe he will arrive there. Or maybe he will find himself headed to Timbuktu. I remember years ago driving through Atlanta. One must pay careful attention on the highway through the big city because what was the left lane becomes suddenly the right lane, and you are now driving east. My mother tells a story about driving around Houston. My dad was tired and gave her the wheel to take a nap. When he woke up an hour later, they passed the place where they had lunch.

We read the Word of God all the time without asking for directions. We assume we know what is happening and Jesus’ meaning without any meditation on it, mulling it over, as we’d say, and listening to the Holy Spirit. He is our Guide. Jesus said the Spirit of God would continually speak of Him. He is the inspiration from Genesis to Revelation. The books of the Bible were not written haphazardly, from a man’s remembrance, but through the spoken Words of the Spirit. No other book has survived like the Bible, and there is a reason for that. Though men have tried to destroy it many times, the One who wrote it through its authors saw to it that it was compiled together, though thousands of years had separated it, and made sure it was spread around the world in most every language.

It is the logos, the written word, of the rhema, the spoken Word, of the Almighty, and every word contains the power to bring itself to pass. Nothing is haphazard in it, nor strictly singular, but can be read and reread and we will continually gain a fuller, more complete meaning. Not mentally, but in the heart, where it is planted firmly and begins to grow. It is not only the instruction, as rules, for a better life, but is the power enabling us to change our lives. In it, is healing for the mind and the soul, health for the body, wisdom for decision-making. In it is correction, yes, but what we must see from it is God. It is His nature, His character, how He thinks, and how He does what He does, not simply the story of it.

“Because of this, ever since we heard about you, we have not stopped talking to God about you and asking him to enlighten your minds with truth and with a greater knowledge of his character, methods, principles and will, thus increasing your wisdom and understanding of eternal realities.” (Colossians 1:9 Remedy)

The Old Testament is vital to an understanding of the New Testament, and the voice of the Spirit is necessary for that understanding. His revelation enables us to see the fullness of the gospel as prophesied from Genesis to Malachi. He opens up the truths of our redemption, why Jesus came and what He came to do, and in converse, by knowing who God is in the New Testament, we can better understand the Old Testament. God’s love and mercy for mankind are seen in both, the Old leading up to the revealing in the New. But to attempt to “figure it out” with the mind is driving in that unknown city without a map. It’s having the map but not reading the key. How far is a mile, an inch? And we decide for ourselves and soon are way off base.

The Word of God is the most fantastic puzzle, each piece crafted from lives over many generations, and yet in God’s hands they fit together perfectly and reveal a picture kept hidden until Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The image is His, the power to assemble it is the Holy Spirit, the foundation of all of it is the Father. And the best part, it isn’t complete, yet the ending is already written. Not happenstance, as these words we read were not tossed together, the Father is not continually scrambling to fix things, nor is He bored with it because we keep messing up the picture. But the same faithfulness that has kept His Word moving, creating, and increasing still flows from His Words today.

The God of heaven who formed the heavens who takes us to heaven when Christ lives in our heart chose not to bury Himself beneath grandeur and majesty, behind golden lights and whisking clouds. He chose not to simply speak as an oracle, a pronouncement, but to bend down low and whisper. To pull back the darkness and let us see His light. He chose to give what He was to men, though they didn’t deserve it, and to spend His every moment seeking after us. The Words on the page are more than letters and syllables, more than sentences, punctuation. More than authors from the past ages. They are personal, living, life-giving utterances. Roadmaps. Not black-and-white, but blue and gold and green. And red.

Ephesians 1:3-6 MSG
“How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son."

Colossians 1:9-12 Remedy"
Because of this, ever since we heard about you, we have not stopped talking to God about you and asking him to enlighten your minds with truth and with a greater knowledge of his character, methods, principles and will, thus increasing your wisdom and understanding of eternal realities. (10) We ask God to do this for you so that you might experience true re-creation of Christlike character within—here and now—and live lives revealing his healing power for all to see: practicing his methods of selfless love in everything you do, growing daily in your knowledge and experience of God, (11) being transformed by the power of his indwelling Spirit so that you might have unlimited patience and perseverance, and joyfully (12) give thanks to the Father who has healed you so that you are able to—along with all who have been healed—live in his kingdom of light."

PRACTICAL APPLICATION:
I do not write what I write for it to be read and discarded. I say that not out of pride, but that what I write comes directly from the Holy Spirit, who desires to spend time with you. Pledge to take the time this year to not only read the word but to study it in the Spirit. What do I mean by that? Find His Voice. Worship Him, call on Him in prayer, and THEN read. The more you do this, the more real He will become to you, and the more you will see fantastic things in God’s Word which will change you forever. And that is its purpose, to change us from who we were, as a man or woman consumed with ourselves, to someone who steps into the very throne room of God. Not once-in-a-while, but daily, hourly. Live there, and never leave.

“Because our minds were infected by distrust of God, and our condition was terminal, Jesus was given up to experience death in order to procure the Remedy. Having achieved God’s purpose, he was raised to life, and now distributes this Remedy to completely restore us into perfect harmony with him.” (Romans 4:25 Remedy)

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25)

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash



----------
Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com