Thursday, July 19, 2012

The Word of God, not the word of men

1Th 2:13  For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

The word of men and the word of God.

How many people believe the word men?  A lot. We have authorities on everything there is to be an authority on. We have theories proven and unproven and we have people who believe them all just on the say so of the authority of man. If a person says they are an authority on a subject and then reveals document after document, degree after degree proving they've studied all there was to study on that subject, others believe them. They've studied, they've been rewarded for their studying by receiving documents and a lot of them receive a title as well, a doctorate. They can call themselves a doctor of the subject they've intensely studied and mastered the knowledge of.  We get one of these people in our presence and they expound upon the subject they know so much about and we believe the things they are saying. Why wouldn't we believe them? They are learned men or women and have done something we have not, and know so much more than we do. They have the authority now to speak as a knowing one. We don't possess the authority and so we cannot speak as one with that authority. 

Now here we have the apostles who are THANKING God without ceasing- why? Because the people have received the word of God. The people have HEARD the apostles speak but did NOT receive the word of men but the word of GOD. They did not receive the word as being the apostles words, they took the words that they were given and believed them as the WORD of GOD- which is the TRUTH. The WORD of GOD can work effectively in a person when they truly believe the word is GOD'S and not MAN'S.

When you are called to spread the Word of God, to give the gospel to others, you are NOT called to expound on YOUR knowledge.  You are NOT to give YOUR words.  We are not to speak to others in order to have them marvel at our expertise on the Bible. We are to give them the TRUTH in God's Word. The life of the Words. We are giving them GOD'S WORD and He alone is the AUTHORITY on HIS Word, His truths.  We might be charged to speak the words that God has given to us through the Holy Spirit, but we are to never claim those words belong to us.

We don't want people to believe in the Word of God by saying …so and so told me what they believe and now I believe.  We want people to believe in the Word of God by saying I believe what I've been told because it is God's truth, it's a truth that can stand on its own even if the very same person who told me about the Word of God suddenly denies it all.   The Word of God is truth and NOTHING changes that, our belief or unbelief does NOT alter the word of God, it remains.  

Man's words are not filled with truth. You can take a man's words from a hundred years ago and show where they were wrong, their theories disproved in light of another man's more modern theory.  Yet so many people believed everything that man said a hundred years ago and would stake their lives on his words being truth.  We like to call it- truth for the time- meaning it's alterable if time changes things. Yet God's word is NOT truth for a time, it's truth for ever and will never be disproven, never.

Men can try to tear it apart into a million pieces and try to stick their own truths into it but it will remain forever unchanged GOD'S WORD, on GOD'S authority!

1Th 2:13  For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

People can believe what they want to believe, that's where the freedom of choice comes into play. You can whip someone into submission. You can torture them into acting how you want them to act. You can brainwash a person, we all know this is possible. You can try to and sometimes succeed in taking the power of choice over what a person believes away from them, but ultimately it's that freedom inside each of us to have the thoughts we choose to have that NO ONE can take from us. I don't want to force anyone to believe in anything I have to say, not a single thing. If a person is going to believe in the Word of God it has to be because they believe it truly is GOD'S WORD and not man's. The conviction of God's Word as TRUTH for all is the only conviction we need.  God's truth.  God's Word.

Do we truly believe God's word is of God and not man?  We have to, it is TRUTH.

Believing in the power behind the Word given by God is what will effectively work in us.

There is power in God's word because it has the authority of God Himself, our CREATOR, our REDEEMER, our LOVE, our LIFE ETERNAL.

We must believe in God's Word, not in the men who  preach their own words. A true man of God will guide others to God and God's Word -not to themselves and their words.

May we always and forever believe in the Word of GOD in all His Power, all His Authority!

In HIS LOVE!

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