...and hearing by the Word of God - Part Two

Note: This is the 8th post in a series on Grace that should be read in the following order:

1 Purpose of this Blog
2 Grace Defined - Part One
3 Grace Defined - Part Two
4 Grace operates through Faith - Faith Defined
5 Faith comes by hearing
6 Faith comes by hearing - Time alone with God
7 ...and hearing by the Word of God - Part One
8 ...and hearing by the Word of God - Part Two

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
(Romans 10:17)

"And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live."
(Deuteronomy 8:3)

"...for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. "
(1 Peter 5:5)

"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. "
(Luke 4:1-4)

Give us this day our daily bread.
(Matthew 6:11)

I had thought to do a survey of the Word of God about the Word of God showing how His word is a Rock, The Sword of the Spirit, and a Light to our Feet, and the Truth and so much more. However, the Spirit wants me to talk about one aspect of God's word. It is to be our daily bread.

Why did God humble the children of Israel with hunger in the wilderness? That He might give them Grace. There is something both tremendously humbling and liberating in having to be completely dependent on God for everything everyday. But it is only when we are brought to the end of ourselves that we can see His mighty hand in our lives. If we insist on being self-sufficient and proud, God will resist us until we finally surrender all.

And why did God give the children of Israel manna to eat? Was it because they were hungry? Yes, but that was secondary. His primary purpose was that "he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live."

The wonderful thing about God's Word is that it has so many facets and dimensions. How many people think Jesus was speaking about breakfast, lunch and dinner when He included "give us this day our daily bread" in His lesson on prayer? Was he speaking of relying on Him for our physical needs? Most assuredly He was. Was He also speaking of coming to Him for our spiritual sustenance on a daily basis? You better believe it.

He gave them manna that they might know that they needed His Word daily.

It is the same for us today. We cannot serve God acceptably without Grace (Heb 12:28). Grace will only operate through Faith (Eph. 2:8) Faith comes to us by Hearing (Rom. 10:17) and Hearing comes by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17)

After 27 years of walking with the Lord, I can affirm that there is a direct correlation between the amount of time I spend in the Word of God on a daily basis and the quality of my relationship with Him. When I am in the Word, His Grace is very apparent in His work in me and through me to others. When I am out of the Word, my spirit is starving and the World, the Flesh and the Devil start winning all the battles.

The parallel between our physical food and our spiritual food can be found all over the Bible. In these parallels we find God giving us principles and lessons that we would do well to heed as the spiritual beings that we are.

"Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for that food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you. For God the Father sealed Him.

Then they said to Him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent.

Therefore they said to Him, What sign do you show then, so that we may see and believe you? What do you work? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert, as it is written, "He gave them bread from Heaven to eat."

Then Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Moses did not give you that bread from Heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from Heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world.

Then they said to him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.

And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes on Me shall never thirst."
(John 6:27-35 MKJV)

Now you should remember from ...and hearing by the Word of God - Part One, that Jesus is the Word of God manifested in the flesh (John 1).

So the conversation continues.

"Then the Jews murmured about Him, because He said, I am the bread which came down from Heaven. And they said, Is this not Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How now does this One say, I have come down from Heaven?

Jesus therefore answered and said to them, Do not murmur with one another. No one can come to Me unless the Father who has sent Me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets, "And they shall all be taught of God."

Therefore everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God, He has seen the Father.

Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes on Me has everlasting life.

I am the Bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and died. This is the Bread which comes down from Heaven, so that a man may eat of it and not die.

I am the Living Bread which came down from Heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he shall live forever. And truly the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

Then the Jews argued with one another, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

Then Jesus says to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves. Whoever partakes of My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who partakes of My flesh and drinks My blood dwells in Me, and I in him.

As the living Father has sent Me, and I live through the Father, so he who partakes of Me, even he shall live by Me. This is the Bread which came down from Heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna, and died; he who partakes of this Bread shall live forever.

He said these things in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
(John 6:41-59 MKJV)

What is Jesus talking about here? Cannibalism? Future reference to our taking communion?? This was not an easy thing for His followers to hear.

"Then when they had heard, many of His disciples said, This is a hard saying, who can hear it? ... From this time many of His disciples went back into the things behind, and walked no more with Him."
(John 6:60, 66 MKJV)

How many things do we miss from God because we are looking at the physical when He is trying to show us a kingdom that is not of this world? "Our fathers ate manna in the desert."

Jesus tries to clear things up for them:

"It is the Spirit that makes alive, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and are life."
(John 6:63 MKJV)

"The flesh profits nothing."

"The words that I speak to you are spirit."

The Word of God is a spiritual matter. It is our spiritual food. If we do not partake of it daily, then our spirits will be come weak and faint.

Do you want power with God? Spend time in the Word.

Do you want to walk in the Spirit? Spend time in the Word.

Do you want your faith to grow? Spend time in the Word.

"...I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food."
(Job 23:12)

"Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts."
(Jeremiah 15:16)

Did the twelve understand?

"Then Jesus said to the Twelve, Do you also wish to go away? Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the Words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
(John 6:67-69)

So now we see the parallel between "manna", our "daily bread" and our time reading, studying and meditating upon the scriptures. It makes sense for us to take a closer look at what God was revealing to us through the Spirit in His dealings with the children of Israel and the manna.

"Then Jehovah said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from the heavens for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain amount every day...This is the bread which Jehovah has given you to eat.

This is the thing which Jehovah has commanded:

Each man gather of it according to his eating...And the sons of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, and some less. And when they measured with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little lacked nothing. They gathered each one according to his eating.

And Moses said, Let no man leave of it until the morning. But they did not listen to Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning. And it became rotten with maggots, and stank. And Moses was angry with them. And they gathered it every morning, each man according to his eating. And when the sun became hot, it melted.

(Exodus 16:4-21 partial MKJV )

There are a number of principles here that should be applied to us as regards time in the Word. We see that:

• Each man had to gather his own portion. Nobody else could do it for him.
• He had to gather it every morning. Today's manna would not last until tomorrow.

"Give us this day our daily bread", Jesus said.

Although God has given us Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers to equip the believer for the work of the ministry, the Lord still requires us to gather our own "bread from heaven" on a daily basis if we are to walk with Him.

The parallel must be drawn. If you go days without your physical food, you will become weak and without energy. If you go weeks or months without it, you will die.

Why would you think it any different with the Word of God and your spirit? As we saw earlier, Job said, "...I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food."

The Bible also gives us a progression of spiritual nourishment.

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.

For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
(1 Peter 1:23-2:3)

So then, we are first born again by the Word of God. We repent and turn away from our old life and we turn to God, desiring the sincere milk of the word.

Without the Word, we can not grow!

To grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ we must be in the word ourselves every day.

"And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able."
(1 Corinthians 3:1-2)

Before we can walk we must crawl. Before we can eat solid food, we must drink milk. Before we can become men and women of God, we must start taking our spiritual nourishment every day.

"And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Called of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.

For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillfull in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
(Hebrews 5:9-14)

As a young baby can only drink milk, do his business and sleep, so it is with the believer at first. But as that baby continues to drink milk every day, he or she becomes stronger and eventually starts eating solid food, walking, talking and understanding new things every day.

So it is with us. We must partake of the Word to not only grow, but to learn to walk in the spirit, understand the things of God and partake of the meat of the word.

Later, we learn how to handle the Sword and do battle with the enemy.

Yet, look how disappointed the writer of this book is. The believers had gone backwards and not forwards. They had to learn all over again the basic principles of the Word of God. They were still unskilled in the Word of righteousness.

Then notice what he writes:

"But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."

By reason of use.

The Word is not to be theoretical in our lives, but practical. We must do the word if we are to grow.

"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. "
(James 1:22, 25)

So it would seem that the recipients of the letter to the Hebrews had forgotten what they had learned because they had not been doing what they had been reading.

"I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.

I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.

I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one.

I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.

I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one."
(1 John 2:12-14)

Look at the spiritual progression of maturity in the Spirit.

Little Children - Their sins are forgiven for His names sake and they know the Father.

Young Men - They are strong (in the Lord), the Word of God abides in them and they have overcome the wicked one.

Fathers - They have had a close personal relationship with the Lord from start to finish.

It all comes back to time alone with God and time in the Word and then doing the Word by the Grace of God.

"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. "
(John 8:31-32)

Continue in my word may also be translated, Continue to live in my word. There is a hearing and then there is a doing. Continually.

Word => Hearing => Faith => Grace

"But, how can I continue int he Word all the time?", you ask.

By hiding it in your heart.

By meditating on it day and night.

Here is one simple tool you can use.

Find an index card or use the back of a business card. Choose a scripture that you want to memorize and meditate on. On the card, write the first letter of each word and group them in phrases. Then with your bible close at hand, take a few minutes and try to say the verse only looking at the letters. It is easier than you think. Once you can do that, take the card with you wherever you go and refer to it when you can not remember what it says.

This way you can meditate on God's word any time you have a few free minutes just by looking at the back of the business card.

For example:

"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. " (Jn. 8:31-32)

T S J T T J W B O H

I Y C I M W T A Y M D I

A Y S K T T

A T T S M Y F

Try it!

I leave you with Jesus words:

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you:

continue ye in my love."
(John 15:1-9)