The Power of Truth
The Power of Truth
Psalm 29:4 “The voice of the Lord is powerful..”
If you begin in the book of Genesis, chapter one, you will see the God of all Creation at work. The Bible says that in the beginning, the earth was “formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep..” (Gen 1:2) Before there was anything, God was present, preparing to create everything that we are and know. In verse 3 we see that God said “let there be light” and there was light. In verse 6 God said “let there be expanse between the waters to separate water from water” and God called that expanse sky. In the account of creation, God spoke each aspect of creation into existence. He spoke water (seas) and dry ground into existence. He spoke seed-bearing plants and trees that would bear fruit into existence. He spoke light, and the expanse of the sky that would separate day and night, the sun and the moon, into existence. He spoke every living creature into existence, and He created man and woman, blessing them and speaking to them to “be fruitful and increase in number.” Scattered throughout this creation story, is God’s continual statement that what He had created was good. Light was good, sky was good, seas and dry ground, plants, trees and creatures were all good. And man and women were good. God spoke each element into existence, and He declared each element of creation to be good. There is no denying the fact that God’s voice IS powerful. The spoken Word of God has created all that we know (including us!), brought calm to storms, raised the dead, forgiven sin, cast out demons, healed bodies and relationships, set people free from bondage and on and on. We can easily conclude that the spoken Word of God is powerful!
God’s Word is also true. As we learned last week, The Bible is what we base our decisions, our convictions and our compass for moral behavior on. Without that standard and foundation for truth, there is no basis for right and wrong, morality, behavior and decision making. The world struggles for the ability to define what is true, but our only standard for truth is the Word of God; it is the only unchanging truth. If we go one step further in the thought process, I believe we can’t experience God’s power without believing His truth.
Once we have taken the time to discover God’s truth for our lives, we must align and realign ourselves to it. We have to know what He says about us and how He feels about us. Then we have to know that He loves us, forgives us and accepts us, that He has plans and purposes for us, that He has a future for us, and that He desires to know us and spend time with us. Once we discover these truths, we must choose to align ourselves to them in our belief of them. These truths must become the base for our decisions and convictions and the compass for our moral behaviors and decision making. And when our minds drift from the things that we know to be true, we must choose to realign ourselves once again to the truth. We may never completely master this, but as we grow in the discipline of our minds (choosing to believe things that we know to be true regardless of emotions or opinions of others) we will move in a natural progression to proclaiming God’s truth.
Proverbs 18:21 says that our “tongue has the power of life and death.” I am sure you would agree with me on this; I want my tongue to bring life to others! I want to KNOW that God loves me, forgives me and accepts me. I want to align myself to that truth in my beliefs, and I want to declare it to others who are dying on the inside for lack of that truth! In Luke 9:1 – 10 we find Jesus calling his disciples together where “He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons, and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” (vv. 1-2) In looking at those verses again this week, I began to see an interesting connection between God’s truth and God’s power. The disciples were sent out by Jesus to reach people through preaching (declaration of God’s Word) and healing (demonstration of God’s power). They had spent time with Jesus discovering, believing and aligning themselves to the truth. They had witnessed the truth of the spoken word and saw the resulting power in the lives and circumstances of those who believed. Now they had the opportunity to proclaim that truth and operate in that power themselves. Did you know that that is one of our purposes as well? To discover the truth, believe and align ourselves to it, and proclaim it to others? The result is the power of God at work in people all around us. It can be as simple (and also as life altering!) as the example I used a few sentences ago. If we can really grasp, really believe, really base ourselves on the truth that God loves, forgives, and accepts us, the power of that truth will radically transform us! And as we share that truth with others, the power of it will grip and transform them too!
I leave you with a final word of encouragement. To those who struggle with the weakness of a human mind and a human body, II Corinthians 12:9 reminds us that God’s “power is made perfect in weakness.” The study notes in my Bible say: “The fact that God’s power is made perfect in weak people should give us courage. Though we recognize our limitations, we will not congratulate ourselves and rest at that. Instead, we will turn to God…We must rely on God for our effectiveness rather than simply on our own energy, effort, or talent. Our weakness not only helps develop Christian character; it also deepens our worship, because in admitting our weakness, we affirm God’s strength.” (Life Application Study Bible NIV version)
For Further Study
* Do a word study on “power”. Look up verses where it is used and note the results.
* Continue your study on truth. What truths do you find in God’s Word that you need to be building your life on? If you need help with this, please ask, I would LOVE to help you study this!
Your Assignment
*Share with the group something that God is doing in your life right now. EVERYONE should be able to share SOMETHING. If He is not doing something in you, you should be very concerned!
Psalm 29:4 “The voice of the Lord is powerful..”
If you begin in the book of Genesis, chapter one, you will see the God of all Creation at work. The Bible says that in the beginning, the earth was “formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep..” (Gen 1:2) Before there was anything, God was present, preparing to create everything that we are and know. In verse 3 we see that God said “let there be light” and there was light. In verse 6 God said “let there be expanse between the waters to separate water from water” and God called that expanse sky. In the account of creation, God spoke each aspect of creation into existence. He spoke water (seas) and dry ground into existence. He spoke seed-bearing plants and trees that would bear fruit into existence. He spoke light, and the expanse of the sky that would separate day and night, the sun and the moon, into existence. He spoke every living creature into existence, and He created man and woman, blessing them and speaking to them to “be fruitful and increase in number.” Scattered throughout this creation story, is God’s continual statement that what He had created was good. Light was good, sky was good, seas and dry ground, plants, trees and creatures were all good. And man and women were good. God spoke each element into existence, and He declared each element of creation to be good. There is no denying the fact that God’s voice IS powerful. The spoken Word of God has created all that we know (including us!), brought calm to storms, raised the dead, forgiven sin, cast out demons, healed bodies and relationships, set people free from bondage and on and on. We can easily conclude that the spoken Word of God is powerful!
God’s Word is also true. As we learned last week, The Bible is what we base our decisions, our convictions and our compass for moral behavior on. Without that standard and foundation for truth, there is no basis for right and wrong, morality, behavior and decision making. The world struggles for the ability to define what is true, but our only standard for truth is the Word of God; it is the only unchanging truth. If we go one step further in the thought process, I believe we can’t experience God’s power without believing His truth.
Once we have taken the time to discover God’s truth for our lives, we must align and realign ourselves to it. We have to know what He says about us and how He feels about us. Then we have to know that He loves us, forgives us and accepts us, that He has plans and purposes for us, that He has a future for us, and that He desires to know us and spend time with us. Once we discover these truths, we must choose to align ourselves to them in our belief of them. These truths must become the base for our decisions and convictions and the compass for our moral behaviors and decision making. And when our minds drift from the things that we know to be true, we must choose to realign ourselves once again to the truth. We may never completely master this, but as we grow in the discipline of our minds (choosing to believe things that we know to be true regardless of emotions or opinions of others) we will move in a natural progression to proclaiming God’s truth.
Proverbs 18:21 says that our “tongue has the power of life and death.” I am sure you would agree with me on this; I want my tongue to bring life to others! I want to KNOW that God loves me, forgives me and accepts me. I want to align myself to that truth in my beliefs, and I want to declare it to others who are dying on the inside for lack of that truth! In Luke 9:1 – 10 we find Jesus calling his disciples together where “He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons, and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” (vv. 1-2) In looking at those verses again this week, I began to see an interesting connection between God’s truth and God’s power. The disciples were sent out by Jesus to reach people through preaching (declaration of God’s Word) and healing (demonstration of God’s power). They had spent time with Jesus discovering, believing and aligning themselves to the truth. They had witnessed the truth of the spoken word and saw the resulting power in the lives and circumstances of those who believed. Now they had the opportunity to proclaim that truth and operate in that power themselves. Did you know that that is one of our purposes as well? To discover the truth, believe and align ourselves to it, and proclaim it to others? The result is the power of God at work in people all around us. It can be as simple (and also as life altering!) as the example I used a few sentences ago. If we can really grasp, really believe, really base ourselves on the truth that God loves, forgives, and accepts us, the power of that truth will radically transform us! And as we share that truth with others, the power of it will grip and transform them too!
I leave you with a final word of encouragement. To those who struggle with the weakness of a human mind and a human body, II Corinthians 12:9 reminds us that God’s “power is made perfect in weakness.” The study notes in my Bible say: “The fact that God’s power is made perfect in weak people should give us courage. Though we recognize our limitations, we will not congratulate ourselves and rest at that. Instead, we will turn to God…We must rely on God for our effectiveness rather than simply on our own energy, effort, or talent. Our weakness not only helps develop Christian character; it also deepens our worship, because in admitting our weakness, we affirm God’s strength.” (Life Application Study Bible NIV version)
For Further Study
* Do a word study on “power”. Look up verses where it is used and note the results.
* Continue your study on truth. What truths do you find in God’s Word that you need to be building your life on? If you need help with this, please ask, I would LOVE to help you study this!
Your Assignment
*Share with the group something that God is doing in your life right now. EVERYONE should be able to share SOMETHING. If He is not doing something in you, you should be very concerned!
posted by Di Beals | 3:24 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home