Apply His Word

9/21/1995

I guess one thing I was thinking is ya know, I said some things earlier about being passive and the wickedness of that. It’s definitely true the things Bryan was saying. There’s a place for that. But I thought God always is extending His hands to us, always wanting to draw us deeper. He will at times give us spankings about things, but I thought He always wants to provide a way for us to be able to apply His Word. We hear the things, we’ve heard some things tonight about applying His Word, and we heard some things last week. We’ve been all challenged to make sure that we are not becoming dull and durr people – that kind of thing. Throughout the time Nick was talking, I thought, I just know that a foundational thing that you can never go wrong on, if you really want to retain and persevere and hear His Word and produce a crop…one thing you can never go wrong with is talking to Jesus about it. It’s a very, very simple thing. But upon hearing it, if you don’t have a mind to remember the key things that you’ve heard, to write them down and make a point of setting aside time with Him and spending time with Him – I know that was one of the things mentioned last week that perhaps we have slipped in some of our devotion to spending time alone with Jesus.

When I heard that, I thought I want to receive that correction in a healthy way, but I also want to receive it in a hopeful way. If there has been a gap of that in my life and in my brothers’ and sisters’ lives, if we are faithful to turn that around and begin to seriously pursue that and change any patterns that we have, other priorities that we have put in our life, other priorities that will overtake that time that we could be spending devoting to Him alone. That’s been one thing that I’ve thought of that’s been really a hopeful thing to me. That really does need to be in place. It really needs to be a very solid part of my life, it characterizes my life, is that I get time away with God that’s very purposeful, that’s specific, that’s meaningful, that bears fruit, that has me coming away with specific and clear thoughts in my mind, not just putting the time in to say that you have done it, but seriously wanting to be with Jesus because He is our only source of life. It’s a very basic thing.

But as Nick was talking, I thought, well, if you want to start anywhere, if you ever want to do one thing that is going to keep you on the right track, it’s to be sure that you talk specifically with Jesus about the things you’ve heard. I mean even tonight about being doers of His word, to talk with Him about that and apologize if need be, if there needs to be repentance, to say, “I really feel, God, like there has been too many times where I have heard things that You’ve said and three days later I hadn’t the slightest idea. So that tells me that I haven’t been a diligent doer of Your word, if I can’t remember three days later what I just heard.” Just as an example, the things that we have heard about being doers, to specifically talk to Jesus about that. To specifically say, “I really want to turn that around, I want my life to be marked by one who seriously puts it into practice, to apply the things that I hear.” And to ask Him for that, to ask Him how to do that. To confess maybe you don’t even know how. To ask other people what those steps might be to apply His Word.

So, I did want to just offer that bit of hope. I know that God has always…and He wants it more than we do, so you know that after He has just spoken His current Word to us and filled our hearts with the testimony of truth, and there is something that has resonated inside of us that we really do believe this is the truth and we want these things in our lives if we have an intent to obey. He will supply ample and great opportunity for us to put the things into practice that we hear. But we’ve got to start by pursuing it in an active way. It isn’t just going to fall in our laps. We do have to engage the thing, take it and do something with it. After He has given it to us, He wants to see what we will do, and it is our responsibility to do something with what we hear. But He will supply ample opportunity, by His grace and by His Spirit to be able to walk it through, to be able to put tangible feet on it that over time there will be change because we have done something with it. So I guess that’s kind of a fail-proof thing that you can never go wrong is to talk with Him about it very specifically and to ask Him for specific direction about whatever the topic happens to be.

Sometimes God might point us to talk with other people. In fact most of the time it will be coming out of our mouths with our brothers and sisters if it is something we really connected with Jesus on. If we’ve really been with Jesus, we will not be able to help but talk about it with other people. If it happens to be in the form of confession or lack of understanding, we need equipping, God gives revelation about it, we see some scriptures that light up to us. If we’re really in Jesus’ presence and we are respecting His life that He’s trying to pour out into us and give us when we are alone with Him, then it will come out with our brothers and sisters. And it should come out with our brothers and sisters. If from the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks, we won’t be able to help but speak about it. If there is a hesitancy or a fear to speak about it, or somehow we don’t think it’s important to speak about it, then we need to have our thinking corrected and know that we should be talking about the things that are important to us when we’re with Jesus, when we see things. And I’m not just saying running around bragging or talking about your great spiritual time or whatever, but in truth as we relate with one another, there will be things that come out of our mouths that will be a result of our having seen Jesus and encouraged by Him or corrected by Him, or something like that.

So, that’s sort of a general, practical thing, I know, for me that if I don’t apprehend the thing quickly that I’ve heard and talk with God about it in very clear terms with a clear mind, it is lost very quickly. It disappears very quickly if I don’t take hold of it and have an intent to speak with Him very specifically, an intent to do something about it when God gives me opportunity to put things into practice.

So, basic thought there. Another thing I was think of that scripture today, I was talking with somebody about “you have not because you ask not.” It’s the same thing. If you don’t have the change in your life, it’s probably because you haven’t asked and you haven’t believed God that He’d give it to you. So, that’s just along the same lines.

Also, I was thinking about if you take a posture of letting life happen to you, letting it happen to you, letting the next circumstance dictate what you do or the next set of things that you need to do, or going to work, or you know you need to meet this need or that need. If you let life happen to you, that’s another way that you can get robbed of God’s Word in your life. If you just kinda let things happen to you. Yea, you’re faithful with the opportunities that come your way and that kind of thing, but if you just let it happen to you but you don’t seize the opportunity to be with Jesus and seize the opportunity to apply the specific things, it will also get lost in the hustle bustle of all the needs and serving, and all that stuff. It all may be well and good and you’re having an intent to seek the Kingdom and do the right things, but if you kind of let all those things happen to you without you saying, “Wait a minute! I know I have got to carve out some time and devote some energy and specific thought and prayer to this specific thing.” That’s another way that it can sort of get lost in the shuffle if we’re not careful. And there’s probably a million other ways, too, that we can get distracted and reasons why we wouldn’t apply God’s word. But those are just a couple of things that might help as you consider how you are going to go about putting things into practice.