Why We Must STAND on The Word..and not on Feelings...

My heart is heavy today for the Haggard family. So heavy.

It has made me stop and ask myself some very searching questions....about me.

I'm the first to say that I have been radically saved from a life of utter destruction. ( Thank you again, LORD.)

My question today has been...now as a "new creation in Christ" and a leader of women's Bible studies, how do I make SURE that the enemy doesn't ever have that kind of control in my life again?

How do I make sure that I never fall, and bring disgrace to the name of Jesus?

Simply put, I can no more sanctify myself than I could save myself.

And, my adversary is constantly at work to try to keep me out of God's Word. Yes...even me who LOVES to study the Word...I think it's his key weapon in the life of the believer.

If he can keep us out of the Word, then our growth is stunted, and our understanding of Who God is and of how He works, and of what He wants for and from us...all of that lies dormant for us if we aren't in His Word.

As I understand Scripture, my job is to daily submit to Christ...to choose to walk in the new nature that He has given me, rather than to exhume the old man (nature) that was buried with Him.

Call me a radical, but I take the Word at face value. And when Romans 6 tells me that I was buried with Him, and resurrected with Him to walk in newness of life...I believe it.

Therefore, I don't refer to myself today as a sinner. That was the old me...the me before being given a new nature. Do I sin still at times? Yes....but, positionally in Christ, I am no longer seen by God as a sinner...I am seen by God as a saint...an heir to the throne...Jesus' own inheritance. ( Whew! What an awesome list, and that's just the beginning of how Scripture identifies the believer!)

So, if God sees me as such, why would I identify myself as the person that I was before Christ? It seems that would be going backwards...and I'd prefer to press onward. :)

And, why would I choose to walk the line?

With our kids, we teach them to ask God to help them see where the line of sin is...where the darkness and light are separated...and to stay MILES away from the line.

It's human to want to know where the line is, and then to stand right next to it, to dance around on top of it, but not go over it.

However, the Word tells us not to even allow for the appearance of evil in our lives.

So...why go near the line?

Isn't dancing on the line allowing for the appearance of evil in our lives?

The other thing I've been pondering today is this...I had someone come to me recently and "prophesy" into my life. Nothing about this prophesy lined up with the Scriptural model of how prophesy is to take place.

( I wouldn't have know that if I wasn't in the Word, though....and might have easily been swayed by this "wind of doctrine", as Ephesians calls it.)

There was no Scripture given to me...just lots of condemnation. And when I asked what Scripture the Lord had laid on this person's heart to share with me, the response was, "Is that the ONLY way anyone can ever "speak into" your life?!".

To which, my response was, "Yes. Definitely. The only way."

We MUST stand on the Word. We MUST trust the sovereignty of God's Word. We MUST allow His Word to form our lives, our hearts, our thinking, our actions.

We MUST. For, if we do not...how will we know the Truth from a lie?
How will we know if we are about to be condemned by someone's "feelings", or if we are being convicted by God's Holy Word and His Holy Spirit?

I do not believe that the Spirit of God EVER speaks apart from the Word of God. EVER. It's not a Scriptural precept.

We cannot allow our relationships with God to be based on emotion, void of His Word. That is enemy playground.

It started in the Garden...the enemy twisting God's Word. If you don't believe me, go to Genesis. See what God said to Adam concerning the tree...and then see what the enemy twisted God's words into.

Don't get me wrong. God created us to have emotions...and I am probably the one that you can count on to spring tears when I speak of my Jesus....but without a knowledge of His Word, our understanding of God and His character is grossly limited.

Every name of God in the Old Testament gives us a new understanding of His character. (That's an amazing study to do, by the way.)

Yet even the Psalmist makes it clear to us that God magnified His Word above His name(s).

(Psa 138:2) I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified
thy word above all thy name.

How can a man (woman) keep his (her) way pure? See Psalm 119:9-10

By keeping it according to His Word.

Good time to take inventory, isn't it? Good time to ask God to take it for us...what areas of OUR lives are we not keeping according to His Word?

Time to surrender it. We'll never win a battle against the flesh in our own power...never. But, He has given us the power through Jesus' work on the cross, and through the indwelling Holy Spirit to live a life of victory to His Glory and honor.

We are more than conquerors! Don't exhume the corpse. Choose to be in The Word, and walk according to all God says in it.

Live as a saint. Not repeatedly telling yourself that you're a sinner.

Pray for the Haggard family. They have a long road ahead of them...but, I was so encouraged to read Mrs. Haggard's letter to their church.

You see, her faith is in her faithful God, who never changes. While her husband may have failed her, God never will. Please, join me in praying for her...and for her husband and family to be restored.

Let's keep them prayed up.

I thank God for the many faithful Christian friends who prayed my marriage into healing. Oh, how I thank Him!

I want to be that kind of friend to Mrs. Haggard now, that kind of sister in Christ...she needs us, church...won't you please join me in praying for her and for their family?

Please, stop now and lift them up in prayer.

In Him,
Jesica

Psa 138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.