God sends daily manna to sustain His people. The Word of God is manna and the Word of God is a seed. Amy often spends her time receiving daily manna out in her garden, pictured here. The studies on this page are permanent. To join with Amy in weekly Bible study, visit her blog.
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THE WORD OF GOD – Part I
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1
We at Voice of Joy believe that God and His Word are one.
We believe that you can receive healing from the Word of God! Emotional healing, mental healing, physical healing, relational healing, financial healing, career healing all come from God, and God and His Word are one.
God communicates His nature to mankind - and that communication link is words.
A word is a thought expressed…an idea conveyed from one person to another person.
God is one with the thoughts He expresses. God is one with the ideas He conveys.
And since God is the Creator, His thoughts and ideas are filled with creative power.
Through the prophet Isaiah, God communicated, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…” (1)
He goes on to say that His thoughts and ways are higher than ours, His ideas are bigger and better than ours. Then he says that in the same way that rain goes down and waters the earth and causes it to bring forth both seed and the fruit of the seed, “So shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (2)
God designed it so that His Word (the ideas and thoughts He has that are poured out) would come to pass in the physical realm.
It began with “Let there be light!” (3) and it continued on with telling Abraham who was old and had no children, “…tell the stars, if thou be able to number them, and He said to him ‘So shall thy seed be.’ And he believed in the Lord and He counted it to him for righteousness.” (4). The Word of God coming to pass in the physical realm continued as He promised, “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (5), the angel Gabriel told the virgin, Mary of Nazareth, that she was the one chosen for that role, and she responded, “..be it unto me according to thy word.” (6)
Did you notice that both Abraham and Mary believed the Word of God and received it by agreeing that it could come to pass in their lives?
It is the way God works in the physical realm.
He communicates an idea, a concept, and even though it may look impossible that the concept will come to pass…. when a person believes God and gives Him permission to bring that “Word” to pass in and through them, He does.
God and His Word are one; His Creative power lives in every idea and concept He communicates to human beings.
“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world thorough lust.” (7)
God has given us free will and will not force His will or word on us. His part is to show us His Will by giving us His Word. Our part is to believe Him and allow Him to bring His ideas to pass in our lives.
(1) Isaiah 55:8
(2) Isaiah 55:11
(3) Genesis 1:3
(4) Genesis 15:5,6
(5) Isaiah 7:14
(6) Luke 1:38
(7) II Peter 1:4
WORD OF GOD Bible Study II
Read Mark 4: 1-20
“Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables? The sower soweth the word.” Mark 4:13,14 “But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.” Mark 4:34
Jesus told a parable, a story, about a sower who went out to sow some seed, and about the different kinds of soil into which that seed was sown, and about what happened to the seed in the different kinds of soil.
After He had told the story to the crowds, His twelve disciples came and asked Him what the story meant.
He told them that if they didn’t understand what that story meant, they would not be able to understand any of the stories He told. And then later we find out that He did not speak to the crowds except in stories.
This is very important to understand.
This passage clearly teaches that if we do not understand the story of the Sower Sowing the Seed, we can not understand anything Jesus taught. The story of the Sower is the basic principle of interaction between heaven and earth.
The Sower is sowing the Word of God into the hearts of people.
Jesus tells about four different kinds of hearts.
1. Those that are not interested in God will have it not affect them at all. verse 15
2. Those who have really not committed to the Kingdom of God but who have a surface interest will experience an initial excitement about the Word but when anything appears that contradicts the truth of that Word, they will not keep it until it comes to pass. verses 16,17
3. Those who have committed to the Kingdom of God but not wholeheartedly will have the Word choked out by worldly circumstances and worldly desires and doing things the world’s way and God’s promises will not come to pass for them. verses 18,19
4. Those who have completely committed themselves to the Kingdom of God will receive that Word and allow God to bring His Will to pass in and through them. verse 20
We see church goers in all three #’s 2, 3, and 4. Most Christians fall in the category of number #3.
Which kind of heart do you have?
Jesus said, in the Beatitudes(1) that it is the pure in heart who see God. The word pure means unpolluted. The Christian who is wholeheartedly committed to God, unpolluted in desires, allows Him to bring His Word to pass in and through them. But most of us are polluted in some area of our hearts.
The Psalmist wrote “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (2)
The “wicked ways” are those things in our hearts that hinder the Word of God’s promises concerning our lives from coming to fruition, whether that Word concerns our: relationship with God, relationships with others, maturity as a Christian, or success in all areas of life.
Ask the Gardener of your heart to rid your heart of any hindrances to His Kingdom coming and His Will being done in and through you. (3)
(1) Matthew 5:8
(2) Psalm 139:23,24
(3) Matthew 6:9,10