I’ve been around the church all my life. I grew up in church so it is fair to say that I am “a living witness” to this timeless truth. Being around the church does not get your faith to work any more than being around water gets you wet. Having faith in God is more than just a religious catch phrase. In fact, one of the translations found in Mark chapter 11 states to have the God kind of faith. What is that? It implies that yes, even God uses faith. What does God need faith for, He’s God? He uses it as an example for us. God spoke everything He wanted into existence. What we seem to miss is that God was specific in what he said, addressing the negative circumstance that He was facing. It was dark, so he said “Let there Be Light.” Get the picture?
Jesus needed to come not only to save us from sin, but to show us that human flesh can be victorious over the devil. In order to do that, Jesus had to be tested just as we are. In Mark chapter four Satan threw several scenarios at Jesus, who answered each one with “It is written…” He always referenced back to scripture which addressed the negative circumstance he was facing. He was hungry and he could have turned the stones to bread. He knew who he was and was not about to give Satan the upper hand. He attacked him with the Word from Deuteronomy 8:3. “Man shall not live by bread alone…
There are two points that need to be mentioned here. First Jesus used specific scripture references to address specific areas or problems. That’s what we are to do. “Lord Have Mercy” and Jesus, Jesus” will not move any mountains in our lives. We need to find scriptures related to the problem we’re dealing with and continue to speak them until the mountains obey us. It is only the Word of God that will cause the devil to leave us alone.
Second, there is no quick fix to some of our issues. Do you ever wonder what Jesus was doing between the ages of 12 and 30. Not much is mentioned of those years of his life in the Bible, but a glimpse can be seen in Isaiah Chapter four.
“The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.”
Jesus was taught the word by his parents and continued in his studies. He got a daily dose of the word for eighteen years! Every morning, he woke up and spent time in the Word. So when the test came He knew what to say!! We barely want to spend eighteen minutes in the Word that’s why we are ineffective against the enemy. WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY!
Jesus only had five books of reference material. we have sixty-six books, countless reference books of anointed men & women who have done the research for us.; and the internet whose resources are endless. There’s no reason we can’t find the answer to our problem in scripture. Start with the thing you’re wrestling with and begin addressing it with “It is written…”
