You Need A Word

“And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.”

Isaiah 30:21

A “word” from God can bring you the solution you need. God created the world with a word, so imagine what a word from Him could do for your situation. The Bible says, “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” Notice the words, “Your ears shall hear a word.” But if your spiritual ears are not open, trained and attuned to God, you won’t hear what He is saying to you. Furthermore, if you filter what He’s saying to you through human intellect in order to harmonize it with your own opinions, you will get nowhere.

God gives a “word” to those who have an open ear—and heart. When you pray, what are you looking for? A spiritual high, or a time of intimacy with the Lord in which He speaks and you listen? When you read your Bible are you seeking confirmation of your own thoughts, or are you seeking God’s will? Imagine what one of God’s ideas could do for your life!

“… but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.

” (Daniel 11:32). If you dream of doing great things in life, get to know God. He will reveal Himself to you through His Word. You’ll hear a lot of different ideas each day; some will benefit you, others won’t. But when you get a “word” from God it’s like a seed; it has the potential to produce a tree; or better yet, a whole orchard of fruit.

The Ultimate Question

Philippians 2:9-11 “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

  

When Jesus spoke to His disciples about His impending death and resurrection, it was lost in translation. They didn’t seem to get it. The problem was they had visions of grandeur. They envisioned Jesus establishing His earthly kingdom where they would rule and reign with Him, where everyone would live happily ever after. That is why, after the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus made them get into a boat and leave. The people had wanted to take Jesus and make him king by force.

Jesus was about to reveal something to His disciples they had not understood up to this point, and it was simply this: He would die on a cross. There would be a crucifixion. There would be a resurrection. There would be a Second Coming. And then His kingdom would be established.

So Jesus posed a very important question to them: Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (Matthew 16:13). This question is still being posed to us today, and it is the most important question anyone ever will respond to.

They are really only four options, four responses to that great question Christ posed. Either Jesus was a legend, a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord. We know that He was not a legend, because there is more than enough historical evidence to clearly confirm that Jesus Christ lived and died at a marked point in time. Others will say that He was lying about everything He said, while still others would say that He was stark raving mad.

But we have to respond to this question Jesus posed. And ultimately everyone, everywhere will say that Jesus Christ is Lord. Christians, skeptics, agnostics, atheists, everyone—regardless of their religion—eventually will say that Jesus Christ is Lord when they stand before God.

Jesus posed an important question to His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” What is your response to this same-asked question of you?

The Spiritual Soldier

Luke 14:33 “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

The people were following Jesus in great numbers, but for the wrong reasons. So He made a series of statements intentionally designed to thin out the ranks. He wanted to be left with those who really wanted to follow Him, truly committed disciples and soldiers.

Jesus laid out plainly what is necessary to be His disciple, to be a soldier in His service. In essence, Jesus said, "If you want to follow Me, you must love Me more than anybody else."

If someone is trying to hold you back, say to that person, "I'm sorry, but I am following Christ. If you want to walk with me, come on. You can be a spiritual soldier with me."

A spiritual soldier must also forsake all he or she has for Jesus. That means you take everything in your life and say, "This belongs to you, Lord."

That is what it means to be Jesus' disciple. That is what it means to be His soldier: you love Him more than anyone, more than anything—just as He loves you!