"The Word Delivers"

 

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:2-4.

 

God, who is the creator and Father of all mankind, has given to us through His word many promises that cannot be taken back. Once He has spoken His word He cannot retract from it. Furthermore He says this in Isaiah 55:11, "So shall my word go forth out of my mouth, it shall not return to me void but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."

 

This is certainly not too difficult to understand. If someone gives his word to you, you expect them to follow through. People use so much natural faith in their everyday life that they don’t notice or even realize what they are doing. If a friend says I’ll meet you at four this afternoon we don’t even question their word. If our lawyer gives us advice we quickly act on what he has spoken. If the doctor writes us a prescription we act on it with no thought to the contrary.

 

We put our faith and trust in all of these people but what about our faith in God? He is the only one who cannot lie yet we have a difficult time believing Him.

 

Someone said I believe God but they spend every waking moment worried and frustrated about temporary things. Jesus said to Martha, “You are worried and troubled about many things but only one thing is needed.” What was it? The living word of God. Luke 10:42.

 

Here he was teaching the word; trying to get through to these everyday people that if they would just sit and listen to what he was saying that they could be set free. Why? Because freedom comes from no other source but God. There is no freedom from the day we are born until the day we die, except through the cross.

 

Let’s read, Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us. Hebrews 12:1.

 

Isn’t this interesting, the writer is talking to believers, is it possible that born again people can be weighted down by the world and fall into sin? I don’t believe we have to answer that. No one can escape the traps of the devil unless we consume the word of God, which enables us to receive revelation of Satans kingdom and how it is causing deception in our lives.

 

I thought I was doing great, attending a full gospel church, listening to tapes, speaking the word, reading all the right books, then it happened, Satan set the trap door and I fell in.

 

Let me be a witness for the word right here, it was a long fall and it was a long recovery. How did I do it? By being built up in the word and staying in the word until the victory came. By not turning to the left nor to the right but looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith. Hebrews 12:2.

 

Just like brother Paul we can learn from our mistakes. If we stumble and fall we get back up. I have never met a believer yet who has suffered like Paul suffered. Yet he said to Timothy, "And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom." 2 Timothy 4:18.

 

In our opening scripture it says through these exceedingly great and precious promises we may be partakers of the divine nature. If we are partakers that means we should be experiencing Gods best here and now. Heaven will be fabulous but what about our present situation?

 

It is the nature of man to worry and fret about this temporary life that we all have to live. The only way to make it to the future is to deal with the present head on. Jesus gave us His word in order for us to avoid falling into temporary traps.

 

In Matthew chapter six Jesus tells us not to get caught up in temporal things. Don’t worry about your natural life, eating, drinking, what to wear, roof over our head etc. Why? Because God knows everything that we need. Notice verses 32-33, the world seeks after these things but we don’t have to. We are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto us. When we came into His kingdom, His kingdom came into us. Jesus said in Luke 17:2, for indeed the kingdom of God is within you.

 

When I asked Christ into my heart I opened the door to the Holy Spirit, He came in and He came to stay. From that moment on I belonged to the Heavenly Father and I became a joint heir with Christ Jesus.

 

For years Pharaoh had me in bondage making bricks 14 hours a day, I looked to the Father and He sent me a Deliverer. If I’m called to go and face Goliath He has given me the perfect Rock to battle him with. If my neighbor is in distress He gives me the ability to help that one in need.

 

Do I deserve Gods blessings in my life? Of course not, there is no good thing that I could do to make Him bless me. He does it because I am His own and what is His is mine. God owns it all and if we act right and remain obedient to Him, we can surely have all things.

 

But, what does it mean by “all things?"

 

Let’s be very careful right here, some have tried to obtain all things by foolishness instead of faith.

 

Our opening scripture says, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Well we know one thing for sure from reading Matthew 6 that we don’t have to struggle for natural things.

 

But what about mentally and spiritually?

 

Ephesians 4:23-24 says this, be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man who was created by God in righteousness and true holiness.

                                                                                                           There is a process that believers go through that begins at the new birth and is expanded as we become older in the Lord. It is the process of growing up spiritually. We hear the word, the word is seed, it takes root in the spirit of man and it illuminates the human mind, which in turn receives revelation from God.

 

Exactly like a farmers crop, plant the seed and watch it grow.

 

Do you need deliverance from bondage in a certain area of your life? Go to the word and seek your freedom. If you are persistent and keep planting the seed, deliverance will surely come.

 

Everyone needs deliverance; I don’t care who they are, the new believer or the so-called perfect Christian. Have you met him yet? I don’t think so. As long as we are in the flesh perfection is impossible. Why? Because the flesh is corruptible. The only time we will see perfection is when Perfection returns and the word says we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 1John 3:2b.

 

In 1 Corinthians 15:44 Paul says there are two kinds of bodies, a natural and a spiritual body. In verse 49 he says, as we have borne the image of the man of dust (Adam) we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man (Christ). After the resurrection we shall be like Him but for now we are living in a corruptible body. Everyone knows that we are in a struggle but we also know that it’s only temporary.

 

Our Father has sent us a helper, not just any helper but the same One who empowered Jesus of Nazareth to go about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with Him. Acts 11:38.

 

We may be imperfect and we may be here temporarily but what greater companion could one have to walk with besides God Himself. In john 1:1 the Bible says Jesus and the word are one and the same. To walk in Him is to walk in the word; it is not called the word of life for nothing. There is power for deliverance in the pages of His word.

 

Remember our opening scripture; we are given exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these we may be partakers of the divine nature. Remember, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, well this new creature has a new nature, and with this new nature we can have our senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Hebrews 5:14b.

 

And how do we get to the point of discernment?

 

We must first feed on the milk of the word; slowly we begin to grow spiritually, just as a child grows naturally, one sip at a time. When the milk begins to do its work then we gradually step up to solid food.

 

Like we said before, Gods word has the power to deliver; if I’m not delivered it’s not His fault. He has already done everything that He could as a provider for His family. We must know by now that all of our needs are met according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19.

 

In the book of Revelation chapters 2 & 3 there are many references directed toward the one who overcomes which include some wonderful promises to this individual. Example: Revelation 2:11 – He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. Rev. 3:5 – He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments. Rev. 3:21 – He who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne.

 

I wonder who He is referring to?

 

Obviously He is talking to the members of His body; did you know that this includes you? Did you know that His body is supposed to work together in the earth? Supposed to come into the unity of the faith and once we do we become a mature man, to the point where we measure up to the stature of the fullness of Christ? Ephesians 4:13.

 

I think it’s time for the church to grow up and learn to work together once and for all. Pull down denominational strongholds and get this thing over with and begin to shout in unison, "Even so come Lord Jesus."

 

 

Written by: R W Nagle.