Bible Study: God's Word

It was a good day. My tummy was satisfied after a visit to Chilis. I sat in my parked car and decided to open up to the page above.

Then I started sobbing.

I did something different. I read those Scriptures personally. I inserted myself inside those words and read them out loud to God. And the floodgates opened.

It's been said to remind God the promises He made to you. Well, I just want to warn you of what might happen when you do: Snot will cover your face as you realize that you don't believe these words.

Or at least for me.

Is it just me?

Don't get me wrong. In my case,  I believe them for everyone else. My friends can tell you that I am quick to encourage them with God's word with conviction. But for some reason, the book that I've been studying, I haven't been living.

The words I've been reading, I haven't been holding as my own. Because they sound too good to be true to be true for me. I felt as if I was the exception.

As if it would work for everyone else but me.

So reading them out loud to God, it hit me, the words hit me and He asked me to believe in what I'm saying. To believe in what He's saying. To believe for myself.

And I'm asking you to believe for yourself as well. It's not enough to believe for other people. These promises are for you. This is personal. God is a personal God. He wants to have a relationship with you and in order to do that, you have to believe in what He says. You have to hold on to these promises in the bible even when they don't make sense in your circumstances. You have to hold on to these promises as truth.

And God's not asking you to believe Him without proof. That's why the bible is here: to remind us of His faithfulness, to encourage us in those difficult times.

In John 1:1, it says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God."

God = His Word

His word represents His character i.e. love, joy, peace, justice, mercy, patience, faithfulness. Just to name a few.

But it doesn't end there: because God stands forever, so does His word.

It doesn't matter how long it's been since you've received that promise from God it will happen because just as God is faithful so is His word.

Heaven and earth have to pass away before His word does (Matthew 24:35). His word has a longevity that surpasses this universe's expiration date.

What He spoke (and what He speaks) over your life weren't something made on a whim. They were intentional, He knew what He was saying. His promises were always in mind when He created you and they've been waiting for this moment. They've been waiting for you. And they aren't going to bypass you.

His eye is always on you. He remembers what He's said to you. He hasn't forgotten about you. His word is already set before you, waiting for you.

Don't give up waiting for it. It's coming.

A Little Exercise

Read them personally and to God:

As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is Your word that goes out from Your mouth:
    It will not return to You empty,
but will accomplish what You desire
    and achieve the purpose for which You sent it.

Not one word has failed of all Your good promise to me.

For Your word holds true,
    and I can trust everything You do.
You love whatever is just and good;
    Your unfailing love fills the earth.
You merely spoke,
    and the heavens were created.
You breathed the word,
    and all the stars were born.
You assigned the sea its boundaries
    and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs.

Jesus, It's A Trap!

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing Him.

John 8:3-6

These teachers and Pharisees were out for blood. They didn't really care about upholding the law, if so they would have dragged the man to Jesus as well. No, they wanted to use the woman's sin as a bait to catch Jesus in a lie.

They couldn't accept who Jesus said He was because He was nothing like what they expected Him to be. The Savior, the Messiah who hung out with sinners and who wanted nothing to do with their self-righteousness. This was not what the teachers and Pharisees signed up for so they wanted to oust Him for the liar they believed Him to be.

So they took advantage of this woman's sin. If Jesus told them not to stone her, then that would be against God's law. But if Jesus allowed them to kill her, then His testimony of grace was false. This was a situation where they knew whichever way He answered, He would lose.

Little did they know that their questions revealed more about themselves, their lack of faith, their doubts about Jesus. (And their evil intent)

Listening to the pastor preach on these verses last night, it hit me that I was like the Pharisees and teachers.

I'm not sold on who He says He is.

I approach every situation just waiting for Jesus to fail me.

I wait with baited breath for Him to prove Himself wrong because His promises sound too good to be true.

I'm at the edge of the shore, not willing to step in because I'm afraid to drown if I follow Him into the waves.

So I watch Him, waiting, trying to find His limit, to see where He can't be who He claims to be, to search for the places where I can't trust Him.

But that's not what I'm called to do. That's not the life God called us to have.

When you spend your time toeing and skirting around to find His limit, you get stuck living a cautious life instead of the abundant life He promises because you're bracing yourself against something that doesn't exist.

Jesus is limitless. He has no end. He never fails.

And He's not a liar.

What are you looking for?

What are you waiting for?

God has no issue with your doubts. He's not afraid of them. He does not fault you for your doubts. But when your doubts influence your life more than your faith does, then there's a problem because that's when your doubts keep you away from God.

And He wants you to come close and cast all your cares onto Him. That includes your doubts. Bring them to Him and He'll take care of them. He is willing to show you the truth that would get rid of your doubts if you were honest with Him about them in the first place.

Don't be like the teachers and Pharisees.

There's no need to think that there's always a catch with Jesus, that He has a back door, a loophole to get out of any and every promise He's made to you. Jesus is not trying to dodge or skip out on you.

Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away but My words will never pass away" (Matthew 24:35).

You can trust Him even if your circumstances look crazy, His word reigns over your life, always.