Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
4/26/2021
The Truth that sets you free…Doesn’t come without a battle!
“ When Jesus said, the truth will set you free” John 8:32, he didn’t mean without a battle! Christianity is a war… it is an all-out combat against our own sinful impulses. 1 Peter 2:11 ”beloved I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passion of the flesh, which wage war against your soul”. Becoming a Christian is to wake up to the reality that the eternal joy of our soul, is at stake. There is no other way to say it – we are in ”Mortal Kombat”.
If we give a human or an animal the bare minimum of natural nutrients to survive, how healthy would you expect them to be? How could they possibly ward off disease or viruses and stay healthy? I think it’s a pretty easy answer, isn’t it? So why are we surprised when Christians give themselves the barest of spiritual nutrients to survive. And aren’t they? How much time weekly do they offer to our Sovereign Lord? Church? A 2 min prayer every morning with their wish list? Bible time? Too many are hanging on by a thread.
They have a little faith, they have a little hope, they have a little joy,
and so they also have TOO little power.
God’s word has given us very simple instructions to obey. But too many just refuse to read them. It’s like that parent trying to put together some assembly toy on Christmas morning and just refuses to read the instructions. Why? Because I can do it my way without it… a lot quicker.
FACT: TRUTH: The word of God awakens and strengthens our faith. And the Holy Spirit does not do that apart from the word of God. Romans 10:17 ”faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ”. The reason for this is because the Holy Spirit has been sent into the world to glorify Christ.
But Christ would not be glorified if the spirit wakened faith, in the absence of the revelation of the glory of Christ and the gospel!
John 16:13-14 ”when the spirit of truth comes”, Jesus said, ”he will glorify me” Therefore the spirit binds his faith wakening ministry to the Christ exulting word. This means that when we go to the word of Christ, we put ourselves in the path of the spirit’s willingness to reveal Christ to us and strengthen our faith.
And in this faith is the taste and the seed of all our joy…Through hearing the word of God…God supplies the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, the Bible speaks of the spirit coming through our hearing the word of God. In other words, conscious fellowship with the spirit is given when we hear the word of God with faith.
Listen to what Paul says in Galatians 3:5, ”does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith”? The answer is ”hearing with faith”. He reminds us, hearing that word with faith was the means by which the spirit was given to you. So the spirit comes, (unconsciously), before we trust him and enables us to believe in God‘s word: Then the spirit comes,(consciously), in response to our trust in him and gives us the ”conscious expression” of his fellowship through God‘s word –
The experience Paul calls, ”The joy of the Holy Spirit”.
”You receive the word… with the joy of the Holy Spirit” 1 Thessalonians 1:6
If you are struggling with spiritual malnutrition and the temptation of this world are having too much of their way with you… The bottom line is: if you want more of the Spirit of God, we must hear more of the word of God through Faith! The power is not in you… It’s in the word of God!
So in conclusion, the Word of God both creates and sustains life. When we turn to God by reading His word. We fill ourselves with hope and trust and strength to ward off the viruses and sick interpretations of the world.
When we read, we put on the armor of God. John 10:10 Jesus said, ”I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. ” What exactly does that mean? 1 Peter 1:23-25 “You have been born again, not of a perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God…And this word is the good news that was preached to you” John 20:31 “These are WRITTEN so that you may… have life in his name”
HIS WORDS ARE LIFE, AND HOPE,
AND GRACE AND FORGIVENESS AND POWER…IN HIS NAME!
Glorious Day-Kristian Stanfill/Passion
