​​His Inscriptions Blog

Life-Giving Communication with God
  His Inscriptions
  • Home
  • About
  • Current Words
  • Store
  • Donate
  • Subscribe
  • All Prophecies
  • Houses of Prayer
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Articles
    • His Inscriptions: How God Speaks to Everyday People
    • Have Smartphones Replaced God?
    • How to Pray to God: 5 Easy Steps
    • How to Start a Christian Blog: A Guide for Writers
    • How You Personally Could Spark the Next Great Awakening
    • Finding Beauty in Your Winter Season
    • Silence: Your Secret Weapon
    • Overcoming Exhaustion
  • Bible Promises
  • Friends We Support
  • How to Know God

The Gift of the Word - Part One

6/8/2014

Comments

 
Gift Picture
If you were God, and you could send a gift to help us - the people who live on earth - improve life, what would you send? Money to help the poor? A wise doctor who could cure cancer and other incurable diseases? World peace? 

While pondering this a bit, you might decide that Jesus was probably the best gift that you could send; after all, Jesus does heal people, he does bring peace, and he offers eternal hope and everlasting security: all very good things. You might just decide that God's gift was good, and join the millions of others who have opened the gift of a relationship with Christ and improved their lives. If you haven't yet, I hope you do. 

I also hope that you won't think, after opening that very special gift, that the party is over! Here's why: there's a whole big pile of presents still waiting to be opened, and if I were God, which I'm not (thank goodness!), I'd be wondering why my kids didn't want to open the rest of them!
Open gift pic
My studies led me into John 17 this week. This is the chapter that includes Christ's famous prayer to His Father, just before His death and resurrection. The first part of verse 14 seemed to jump off the page to me; Jesus says, "I have given to them the Words which You have given Me; and they have received them." (John 17:8 & 14) What impressed me was this: that the gift Jesus chose to give us was the Words of His Father. Christ gave His disciples every Word He heard His Father speak, and stated in the same prayer, "Your Word is truth" (John 17:19). Clearly, God's Words are very precious. 

For those who feel they cannot hear God, this has huge implications. If the one thing Jesus gave us when He came to earth was the Word, and if we have this Word meticulously, even inerrantly preserved for us today, then it is impossible NOT to hear from God! The Word is indeed "near you, in your mouth and in your heart." (Romans 10:8) The only thing we need to do - you guessed it - is open it!! 
"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word... 
the Word which you hear is not Mine 
but the Father's who sent me." 
~John 14:23-24

Amazingly, so many believers fail to open the largest, most obvious gift given to them. This present sits neatly on our bookshelves or even prominently displayed on our coffee tables for all to see, but we rarely get beyond looking at the cover's beautiful "packaging." We don't have time, we don't understand it, we fear what it - the truth - might do if we allowed it to penetrate our hearts. And so this precious gift, God's Word, is ignored. We have an opportunity to communicate with the most powerful and influential Person ever known, and instead, we walk away.

In contrast, there is currently a YouTube video-gone-viral of believers in China opening a box of Bibles for the first time. They rush to receive a Bible, then a hush comes over the assembled group as they kiss the books and hold them close to their hearts, some with tears of joy. Desperation, while unfortunate, creates deeper desire. 

In fact, God had to humble the Israelites with hunger in the wilderness to create just such a desperation. Deuteronomy 8:3 reads: "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord." We should be like a ravenous man seeking food as we devour the Word of God! 
The Bread of Life 
The Word is, quite literally, living and active. (Hebrews 4:12). It is the bread of life that sustains us. In fact the Word, says John in the first chapter of his gospel, is God. (John 1:1-3; see also John 6:33-35). Christ presented us, through God's Words, with the manifested heart and desire of God in the earth. And beyond that, Christ became the embodiment of the Word in its entirety, and is called the Word (Revelation 19:13), because He obeyed the Words of His Father perfectly. Jesus fulfilled every Word the Father had ever spoken, prophesied, or commanded. (See 2 Peter 1:19).

As Jesus demonstrated, the Word of the Lord is precious enough to die for. We simply must hear the Word; life is not worth living without it! This Word is powerful enough to give life to our mortal bodies and resurrect the dead. Knowing the Word - knowing Jesus - gives us everything we need for life and godliness. (2 Peter 1:3) In other words, we have not just the "survival gear" we need to get through this wilderness called life, but also the supernatural anointing to transcend this life and walk in godliness and communion with Him, as Enoch did. 

When you need a father or a mentor ... He is in the Word.
When you need healing or deliverance, it is in the Word. 
When you need physical strength, it is in the Word.
When you need a friend who understands, He is in the Word.
There are innumerable gifts to be given in His Word.

In short, to know God is to spend time with Him, receiving the one gift which has the power to transform spirit, soul, and body. He who receives the testimony (the words) of Jesus certifies that what He says is true. (John 3:33). As Jesus taught the scribes, the first commandment is to hear and to love the Lord. (Mark 12:29-30). To listen and obey, to allow God to inscribe His Words on our hearts, is the greatest thanks we could ever give Him.
c.Deborah Perkins, 2014. All Biblical references NKJV.
Comments

    Free Link to the Subscriber Resource Library when you join His Inscriptions!

    JOIN FREE
    Deborah Perkins, Author and Founder of HisInscriptions.com
    About
    ​Deborah Perkins

    RSS Feed

    Click to Order Deborah's Books on Amazon.com
    Author Deborah Perkins' books on Amazon.com
    Picture
    Author Deborah Perkins blogs for Bible Gateway.
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Bible
    Book Reviews
    Christianity In Culture
    Church
    Communication
    Communion
    Consecration
    Creativity
    Deliverance
    Easter
    End Times
    Evangelism
    Faith
    Family
    Fear
    Feasts
    Finances
    Forgiveness
    Glory
    God The Father
    Government
    Grace
    Healing
    Hearing God
    Heaven
    Holiness
    Holy Spirit
    Humor
    Interviews
    Jesus
    Judaism
    Justice
    Leadership
    Lifestyle
    Love
    Ministry
    Missions
    Passover
    Peace
    Persecution
    Prayer
    Prophecies
    Protection
    Relationships
    Rest
    Revival
    Satan
    Service
    Suffering
    Supernatural
    Technology/Social Media
    The Bible
    Trials
    Trust
    Warfare
    Women
    Worship
    Youth

    Picture

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

    Author

    A severe hearing loss from childhood caused Deborah Perkins to develop what she now calls her secret weapon: tuning in to God's voice.  A Wellesley College graduate and an award-winning writer, Deborah is now a wife and mother of 3 boys. Deborah has devoted over 25 years to professional and lay Christian ministry in New England and beyond. Her passion is inspiring people to cultivate greater intimacy with God. 
    You can follow her on social media using the links above. To subscribe to her weekly blog (free) by email, click here. 


    Salvation Pic
Photos used under Creative Commons from leireunzueta, kelgal77, graphia, Orin Zebest, MartialArtsNomad.com, put_the_needle_on_the_record, zeevveez, rebamae, jonycunha, traveling.lunas, Newport Geographic, Alexandre Dulaunoy, popofatticus, brendan.lally....away, adamfarnsworth, piropiro3, fabiane13, Luis Roberto Lainez, Snake3yes, ceasedesist, Kevin Shorter, dustinj, feryswheel, rghisi, stuartpilbrow, BLMOregon, Didriks, .Martin., jonseidman1988, feelsgoodlost, francisco.j.gonzalez, imagine_reality, Jay Aremac, Northwest Rafting Company, amsfrank, qmnonic, PhoTones_TAKUMA, chatblanc1, garryknight, limaoscarjuliet, V31S70, lcm1863, Jayel Aheram, SimpleSkye
  • Home
  • About
  • Current Words
  • Store
  • Donate
  • Subscribe
  • All Prophecies
  • Houses of Prayer
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Articles
    • His Inscriptions: How God Speaks to Everyday People
    • Have Smartphones Replaced God?
    • How to Pray to God: 5 Easy Steps
    • How to Start a Christian Blog: A Guide for Writers
    • How You Personally Could Spark the Next Great Awakening
    • Finding Beauty in Your Winter Season
    • Silence: Your Secret Weapon
    • Overcoming Exhaustion
  • Bible Promises
  • Friends We Support
  • How to Know God