Holding Fast the Word of Life

I am sincerely calling you, pleading with you, inspiring you, motivating you, encouraging you, leading you to give yourself to the word of God in 2010, as I always do in the second message of Prayer Week. to dedicate 2010 to receiving God’s word. to dedicate 2010 to receiving God’s word.

I don’t just mean a quick glance at it once or twice a week. I suggest committing to it every day. each day. Each day

No Power Without the Promises

Most people who are listening to me, in my estimation, are not happy with the spiritual strength, reliability, and fruitfulness of your life. And I don’t think anything I say will be a quick fix for that spiritual weakness. God is in charge. He alters the ebb and flow of time. And that includes the spiritual seasons and times that exist in various cultures, families, and people’s personal lives.

“The Bible is the infinitely precious and infallible word of God.”

But there is one thing I am certain of: No Christian can be strong, healthy, or productive without following a certain spiritual diet. And that is a diet that is rich in God’s word.

No Promises of Power

Observe what I say. I make no promises that studying or reading the Bible will lead to a full, happy, and prosperous life for you. The Pharisees read and memorized the Scriptures more than any of us will ever be able to. The majority of them, according to Jesus, were cast into a place of utter darkness and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

I’m not suggesting a strategy that will definitely endow you with power. The Spirit blows whenever and wherever he pleases. I’ve gone through severe famines while reading the Bible. The secret is to read the Bible, not to ignore it. I’m not God, and neither is the Bible. God is God. And it’s best if we don’t believe we can control him by using his words as a board of oracles or a string of beads.

Open the Eyes of Our Hearts

He is the only one who can provide that spiritual openness. Why else would Paul ask for “the eyes of your hearts to be enlightened” in Ephesians 1:18 so that we might understand the beauty of what the text so plainly declares? He is in prayer. He is pleading with God. The Bible does not represent God. The Bible is incredibly important and infallible revelation from God. But if the Living God does not give us the capacity to receive it into our souls, we can study the Bible for 100 hours a week and never fully comprehend what it says or the glory of the One who gave it.

No Guarantee, No Magic

Paul requests that we read the Bible with our hearts as our eyes. The period of prayer this past week is over. The relationship between prayer and the Bible is another thing. If God does not intervene in a sovereign way to remove our spiritual blindness, deafness, and numbness, we will not be able to see, hear, or read.

As a result, I am not providing you with any guaranteed program, apparatus, system, or method for spiritual health, fruitfulness, or strength. A magic trick is not what Bible study is. Bible memory, not mind control or divination. I’m not sure if memorizing, reflecting, and reading the Bible will make you stronger, healthier, and more productive.

Don’t Starve the Grace

I am aware that without it, you will be deprived of every grace that God desires for you to experience in order to flourish in his world. Every Christian must follow a specific spiritual diet in order to develop into a robust, healthy, and productive person. And that is a diet heavy in the word of God.

So here I am, pleading with you to spend 2010 spending lots of time in God’s word. Give God’s word your undivided attention. Give God’s word your undivided attention. God’s word, it is. God’s word, it is.

You Shine as Light in the World

Look at Philippians 2:14–16:

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

“The way you shine as lights in a dark culture is by holding fast to the word.”

Check out the connections between these two phrases. Verse 15 at the end says, “And you are lights in the world, walking in the word of life.” This culture is depraved and corrupt in many ways. Paul also asserts that because of their heavenly citizenship, Christians shine as lights in this dark world like stars in the night sky. This term is used to describe the sun, moon, and stars in Genesis 1.

You are the light of the world, Jesus said. Paul now asserts that Christians stand out as lights in a corrupt and perverse generation. How? How can the darkness of our sin be shed alongside our selfishness, pride, fear, lust, and bitterness? Paul responds, “standing tight to the word of life,” “you illuminate the earth as lights.” You shine by firmly maintaining the message. holding the message fast

Holding Fast the Word of Life

“Holding fast” translates a word that means hold your position or hold your gaze. In 1 Timothy 4:16, it’s translated, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.” In Acts 3:5, it’s translated, “He fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.” In Acts 19:22, it’s translated, “Paul himself stayed (held his place) in Asia for a while.”

So the idea is holding fast with your attention or with your person. Holding your gaze, or holding your position. So now back to Philippians 2:15: “you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.” Holding your gaze on the word of life. Holding your position with the word of life. Not leaving the word of life. Staying with the word of life. Fixing your mind on the word of life. Giving yourself to the word of life.

Fuel for Your Lamp

Holding faithful to the word is how you shine as lights in a dark culture. Keep looking at it. Maintain where you are in it. Hold on to it. Jesus asked Peter, “Lord, where shall we go? The words of eternal life are yours (John 6:68). We won’t stray from your promise. We will continue to listen to your words. Here, we’re maintaining our position. We’re keeping our focus on what you have to say. Such is life.

The source of life, power, health, and fruitfulness is God, and his word is the conduit. This is the course of action he has chosen. The light will become dimmer if we avoid using the word. Our lamps are fueled by the written word. You sparkle while maintaining the message. You sparkle while maintaining the message. Your torch is fuelled by the spoken word.

Don’t deprive your lamp’s wick of kerosene by failing to soak it in it. Keep speaking the word, please. Hold on tight. Give it your all. Keep it in your heart and mind.

God’s Invitation

The only way to shine is in this way. If you read the Bible and memorize it, I cannot guarantee that you will shine. However, I do guarantee that you won’t if you don’t. The point remains the same whether you think of the word of God as food, without which your soul cannot survive, or as fuel, without which your lamp cannot shine: if we don’t ingest the food and drink the fuel of the word, our light dims and our soul wilts.

“If we don’t soak in the fuel and eat the food of the word, our light dims and our soul languishes.”

God has brought you here today so that he could tell you through my voice: I have an invitation for you. I have a gift for you. I give you my very word. It give it to you. Take it in 2010. Take it and hold fast to it. It is your life. Your light.

Hold Fast the Word

• Hold fast to it for the sake of faith. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).
• Hold fast to it for the sake of your joy. “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11).
• Hold fast to it for the sake of your freedom. “If you abide in my word . . . and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31–32).
• Hold fast to it for the sake of your holiness. “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17).
• Hold fast to it for the sake of the Holy Spirit. “Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith” (Galatians 3:5)?
• Hold fast to it for the sake of life. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
• Hold fast to it for the sake of strength and stability and fruitfulness. Your delight will be “in the law of the Lord, and on his law you will meditate day and night. You will be like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that you do you will prosper” (Psalms 1:2–3).

God has a gift for you in 2010. An infinitely valuable gift — his word. Receive it. Hold it fast. Give yourself to it. Amen.