| “But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).
When you say you believe a biblical truth, where does that belief come from? Some might say: * My parents taught it to me. * It’s what my pastor believes. * I read it in a Christian book. * A famous Christian said it. * It just feels right. * It’s what I’ve always believed. * It gives me comfort to believe it. * It makes me happy. * It seems more inclusive. * I can’t imagine God behaving otherwise. * I seriously prayed about it. * It’s in the Bible. There is only one 100 per cent reliable source–the application of the Bible in daily life led and supplied by the Spirit of God. The bottom line of any belief we hold onto is if it can be backed up by Scripture. If the Word of God does not back that belief and that action then it is no more than wishful thinking, speculation, or a theory with no impetus of God’s power. Too many today do not live lives backed by the Word of God. Their plumbline is what they feel or think. It is not according to the Word of God. It causes disruptions in the body of Christ. Therefore we have a church and a nation that is run by our wants rather than by God’s will. The church has run amuck today because it does not run on the tracks of the Word of God led by the Spirit of the Living God. These are our beliefs and it is what we do to satisfy us. Only Scripture applied by discernment, led by the Holy Spirit, involving both the will and the mind, engaged by the study and application of the Word by faith, really works. Only then will the Word of God transform a person’s thinking, focusing the lens through which he or she sees God, life, others, the world, and reality itself. We have a generation of people doing what is right in their own eyes when they really believe they are doing it God’s way.
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