Meditations

Introduction & Foundation Why we proclaim God's Word

To walk in divine peace and blessing is to walk with God, and to walk with God is to walk in divine peace and blessing. Father is the source of all goodness, life, love, joy and peace, so to walk with Him (communing with Him, abiding in Him, filled with His Spirit) is to walk in those things. To knit our heart together with His is to be connected to the flow of eternal life which is in Him. Our healing (spiritual, emotional, physical) takes place in fellowship with Jesus because He is our Healer. He is the fountain of life and drinking of Him brings healing.

BUT: Amos 3:3 — "Can two walk together, unless they be in agreement?"

To walk with the Lord we need to be in agreement with Him.

Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Joshua 1:7–9

We need to think God's Word, speak God's Word and act God's word, to walk in the unlimited power of His grace to overcome every obstacle and threat and danger. We need to abide in His Word. Our thoughts, desires, plans, purposes need to align with His heart. We need to think, speak ("confess") and do His truth. Or to put it the way John puts it:

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my word [or commandments], ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. John 15:7–11

The mature Christian life is aligned with the Word of God, by faith in His faithfulness. Growing in maturity is growing in grace, is aligning our life to Father's promises in His Word.

Yet we so often slip into unconscious patterns of anti-Word thinking, speaking, and being.

Malachi 2:17 – 3:13 — "Ye have wearied the Lord with your words, yet you say, wherein have we wearied the Lord?… 'Your words have been stout against me'"

When we are negative about life and situations and outcomes, when our lips spout not words of praise and faith and hope but of pessimism and complaint, when we accuse "life" of being unfair against us, our words are "stout against the Lord", because basically we are accusing Him and grumbling against Him, as the Israelites did. When I complain about my workload being impossible, I am accusing Father of being a hard task-master. When I complain about being unable to sleep, I am accusing Father of not giving sleep to those He loves.

Instead, when, despite circumstances, I make my words agree with His words, I am walking in agreement with Him — I am abiding in His Word — and then I can walk WITH Him, in fellowship with Him.

But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be [sozo'd]. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is [sozo'd]. Romans 10:8–10

Salvation [being sozo'd — saved, healed and delivered] comes from confessing the same thing as the word of God says — from a heart filled with faith that overflows with words of faith. In other words, experiencing the grace of God comes from abiding in the Word of Christ through faith and letting the Words of Christ dictate what we think, feel, speak and do, rather than letting circumstances dictate what we think, feel, speak and do. We experience the power of God for salvation when we confess His words of salvation with our own mouths, from a heart of faith.

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Revelation 12:11

The evil one schemes constantly against us (Eph 6:10-20), and his schemes are to get us to believe contrary to the word of God — to question and doubt God's promises and goodness and faithfulness in every situation and so deny the goodness and power of God through our believing and doing. But we overcome the devil's schemes by the blood of the Lamb, and the WORD OF OUR TESTIMONY (Rev 12:11), by which we confess Father's promises to us in Christ, and His sure faithfulness to those promises, so that there is a release of power by which we are saved.

As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you. Numbers 14:28

According to our confession of faith, so shall it be. As the Israelites accused God that they would die in the wilderness, so they did die in the wilderness. As Caleb and Joshua said God would deliver them and give them victory in the land, so He did deliver them and give them dominion in the land.

My son, forget not my law;

But let thine heart keep my commandments:

2 For length of days, and long life,

And peace, shall they add to thee.

3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee:

Bind them about thy neck;

Write them upon the table of thine heart:

4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding

In the sight of God and man.

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;

And lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him,

And he shall direct thy paths.

7 Be not wise in thine own eyes:

Fear the Lord, and depart from evil.

8 It shall be health to thy navel,

And marrow to thy bones.

Proverbs 3:1–8

This scripture tells us that our medicine (what brings "health to thy navel" and "marrow to thy bones") for vexed souls and tired bodies is letting our response to every single situation be governed by the fear of the Lord and consequent departure from evil. The Fear of the Lord is living in the knowledge that He is the governor of the universe, He is full and final authority, His Word is true, and therefore ultimately we simply trust and do what He says, and therefore we also confess what His Word confesses, and nothing contrary. To do this, we need to fill our hearts and minds with the truth of Jesus.

For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." … so faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:8–17

We need to be walking in faith, and in the confession of faith in Father's promises through the Word of God. We need to be walking in agreement with God, in word and deed. We need our hearts to be filled with His truth and promises, and then our minds and mouths and lives to express those truths. For that, we need to fill our hearts with the truth so it is what governs our way of being, so that in every circumstance, we walk by faith and not by sight.

1 In Christ, I have PEACE WITH AND INTIMACY WITH GOD

✦ Christ HAS fully paid the price for every sin I have or shall ever commit

And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Colossians 2:10–15

✦ Therefore, I now have peace with God, intimacy with God, and in fact am become part of the dwelling place of God, and a son and heir of God

"There is therefore NOW no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" Romans 8:1

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace… For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God… In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Ephesians 2:13–22

Father… has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Colossians 1:12

✦ Father desires for me to have deep intimacy with Him through Christ

According to the riches of God's glory [may He] grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:16–21

"Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Jeremiah 31:31–34

✦ The guarantee and evidence that I have received this grace, am a son, am appointed to know God and walk with Him, is my experience of His Spirit in me

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit 1 John 4:13

In him [I] also, when [I] heard the word of truth, the gospel of [my] salvation, and believed in him, [was] sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:13–14

✦ Therefore, no matter how dark things seem, I can always draw near to Father in intimacy

In [Christ] we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. Ephesians 3:12

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. James 4:7

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16

✦ My part is to remain in the light by abiding in obedience, and confessing and repenting of all sins, and to remain in intimacy with Him

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:7–9

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1

✦ This, by the grace of God, I shall do — because I have been given grace to abide in freedom

For [I] did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but [I] have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ Romans 8:15–17

2 In Christ, I have SUFFICIENT and EVER-INCREASING FAITH to walk in grace

✦I have the same spirit of faith as the Lord Jesus

"We have that same spirit of faith [as Jesus']… we also believe and therefore speak" 2 Corinthians 4:13

✦Father, from His infinitely generous heart towards His children, has given me sufficient faith

"God hath dealt to every man his measure of faith" Romans 12:3

✦Father HAS given us enough faith to overcome the world

"For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" 1 John 5:4–5

✦Father causes my faith to increase, by His Spirit ministering His Word to me

"…as your faith increases…" (i.e., faith DOES increase) 2 Corinthians 10:15

"Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the word of God" (i.e, faith increases from receiving revelation from the Word of God) Romans 10:17

✦Father has given us His Spirit specifically to release revelation and faith in our lives

"The Spirit searches the deep things of the heart and mind of God… Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God" 1 Corinthians 2:10–12

Jesus gave me "another Helper, to be with [me] forever, even the Spirit of truth… He will teach [me] all things and bring to [my] remembrance all that [Jesus] has said to [me]" John 14:16, 26

✦We are God's creation — we are created as faith-creatures. He didn't mess up when He made us; He made us right; if we need faith to work, we have faith that works because HE made all His children as creatures of faith

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

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Meditating on the Promises of God