Let us turn to a verse in Psalms 119:11, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.” There is every possibility that we may fall in sin. In Genesis we see how the Lord warned Cain that sin was crouching at the door of his heart. In order not to fall into sin, we have to treasure God’s word in our heart. In our life we will face trials and problems and in those situations we may forget the words that we have heard. In verse 9 we read, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.” In order to keep ourselves pure in times of temptations, we need to treasure God’s word in our hearts. We need to put the word of God as first and foremost in our lives. In John 1 we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The word existed from the beginning. In verse 14 we read that this Word became Flesh and came and dwelled among men. This Word had a balance of grace and truth. We see this balance in the life of Jesus. This Word needs to become a reality in our life as flesh and blood in our life.
In Luke 2:8 onward we read of the instance where the shepherds came to see Jesus. The angel of the Lord revealed to the shepherds the birth of a Saviour. These shepherds were simple men who looked after the sheep. God chose to give this huge revelation to these men. What could be the reason? They must have been humble enough to receive the word. In verse 14 we see that with the birth of Jesus, there was peace among men with whom God is pleased. This is one thing that the word of God promises us – peace. In verse 15 we see that when the shepherds heard the word of God, there was a great desire in their hearts to see Jesus. And in verse 17 we see that when they saw Jesus, they wanted to tell everyone about Him. In the following verses we read of Simeon and Anna, who were eagerly waiting to see Jesus. In Luke 2:26 we read that it was revealed to Simeon that he wouldn’t die till he saw Jesus. When Simeon finally sees Jesus, he says that he has seen God’s salvation. If you long for the Word, it will become a revelation in your life. Simeon gives a prophesy to Mary that a sword will pierce through your own soul.We see a similar thing in the book of Hebrews about the word of God – that it is sharper than any two edged sword. The word of God can go deep down into our hearts and bring a change in our lives.
In Hebrews 4:1,2 we read, “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any One of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.” The word we hear, united by faith will help us to be in rest. When the Holy Spirit speaks to us, the word will pierce through our hearts and minds; and then by having faith in the word it will be of great profit to us. Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. Let us come before God and seek Him so as to treasure His words in our hearts.
In Heb 8:10 we read about the New Covenant, “This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.I will be their God, and they will be my people.” God is giving a desire in our hearts and He is giving the ability to follow in his footsteps. The old covenant given to Moses, consisting of laws which were written on stone, read as ‘you’ shall not murder, ‘you’ shall not commit adultery, ‘you’ shall not steal, ‘you’ shall not covet and so on. But as for the New Covenant, God says ‘I’ will put my Laws, ‘I’ will write them on their hearts, ‘I’ will be their God, ‘I’ will be merciful to their iniquities. This is the transformation which God is bringing in our life by writing the laws in our hearts and giving us the ability to do His will with the help of the Holy Spirit. Here we can see the life is centered on Lord Jesus Christ . This happens only when we listen to the small promptings of the Holy Spirit.
In Rev 3:8 we read of the church of Philadelphia having kept God’s Word and not denying His Name. Rev 3:10 reads, “Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing.” Verse 12 says “He who overcomes I will make him a pillar in the temple of God.” Here we understand God’s word is saving us from the hour of testing and the assurance which God is giving us that we will be ‘pillars in his body’ preserving the Church in purity if we are overcomers.
May God bless us all.
