How Much Is Enough?

A Christian message for all who are curious...

I was ministering to a friend at Church on Sunday, and started sharing with her about the equivalent of raw juicing - the worldwide health craze. Friends like Max Tuck and Neil Martin have been emphasising to me the importance of raw food and juice for optimum health. How much more then should we as Christians expose ourselves to Raw Scripture?

I am a fan of preaching. It is a gift of the Spirit - it's a present to us from God - and thus a way for God to speak to us - often from an angle we weren't expecting. This article is not to reduce the importance of preaching but rather to elevate the importance of just the Raw Word as part of our diet. You can have both - and so you should!

The Raw Stuff that Burns

When I became a Christian at the age of 18, the very same words in the Gideons New Testament - that gift I had been given by the Gideons at school - those words came alive with relevance - as if God was speaking to me directly through them.

Much much later on, I had the same experience of God's Words burning within my heart when I listened to David Suchet reading Luke's Gospel. And I was transformed by those Words as if God was speaking to me directly. I changed. And I forgave. I forgave my former father-in-law who had most definitely sinned against me, my family, and against God. When I forgave him - he walked free - but so did I.

Remember that the prisoner and the jailer are both in jail

When we hold unforgiveness in our hearts, it is we, too, who are imprisoned

Let's be honest, folks, it is easy to forgive 'stuff' that isn't a real sin against you. However, there will be times in your life when you will experience real injustice and evil done to you and your tribe (whether that tribe be your family, your friends, your community, or your Nation.) That's the challenge. To forgive as Jesus forgives. That's why we say on a daily basis,

"Father... forgive me my sins as I forgive those who sin against me."

In fact, that forgiveness is tied in directly to your prosperity. It is preceded by,

"Give us, this day, our daily bread, and..."

Don't expect God to meet your needs if you hold onto unforgiveness. Be free.

The Disciples said to Jesus, "Teach us how to pray," and that's part of what He shared as an essential component of prayer. Let's do it!

How Much Word Is Enough

So, back to my friend in Church. I was asking her how much Raw Word was she getting, and she shared she was systematically working through the Scriptures on a daily basis.

This was good, but was it good enough?

Personally, my feeling was that her needs were so great, she needed to up her 'meds' - the Word is the only medication I want to take. It works, and it only has positive side effects!

She was desperate but not full of faith given that the solution was largely within her grasp.

Sometimes we need to be more hungry for God - "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness - for they shall be filled.

Are you hungry enough?

Friendship with God - Communion with the Holy Spirit

Today, I was reading how Kathryn Kuhlman had broken down and wept in a service. After some minutes of sobbing into her hands, she looked up and said to the silent congregation,

"Please don't grieve the Holy Spirit... Don't you understand? He's all I've got..."

This was far more dramatic than the short version I've shared here (you can read about this in Benny Hinn's book, "Good Morning, Holy Spirit.") My point is that we are a privileged generation with unparalled ease of access to the Word. Reading the Word (and then acting on it) pleases the Holy Spirit.

If we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit, we must ask ourselves, "Well, what would we rather have?" The answer is, "I would rather please the Holy Spirit."

Thus, our ongoing quest is to find ways to please the Holy Spirit.

You can guess the easiest way: get in the Word. But how much is enough?

Lessons from the Old Testament

As I shared with my sister in Church, I was, of course, accutely aware that I personally fell short of enjoying all the access to the Word that God has given me. I went back to the Scriptures today to remind myself of some of His commands to the Jewish people.

Let's begin with Exodus 13:9, which explains some of the ways the Jewish people are to remember their historic deliverance from slavery in Egypt.

It shall be for a sign to you on your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that the law of Yahweh may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand Yahweh has brought you out of Egypt.

This Scripture is behind the practice of wearing little boxes with portions of the Scripture in them. Am I suggesting we do this? Nope! You've got a smartphone (and did you know that there are more smartphones in the world now than access to toilets? - that's how mad the world is.) Your smartphone was made for the glory of God. Use it. Set up reminders so that you can memorise the Word. I used to have an alarm set to 10:10 each day to remind me of John 10:10...

"I have come that you might have Life, and have it more abundantly!"

Why did I stop? Laziness. (Reminder to self: do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Guess who's just reset his alarm!)

The purpose of these Scriptures was to encourage God's people to put the Word first place in their attention. It is to fill our vision, and flow out from our mouths. As Jesus said,

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks...

What I'm suggesting is we need to store up the Word in our hearts in such quantities that when we face a challenge, the first thing that comes out of our mouths is the Word.

Want more?

Reading the next verses (Deuteronomy 6:6-9), the message is clear: Word 24/7!!!

 These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.  You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the door posts of your house, and on your gates.

Why? Because when we've experienced God's blessing and have become comfortable, the natural tendency is to forget where the blessings came from (Deuteronomy 6:10-12):

It shall be, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities, which you didn’t build, and houses full of all good things, which you didn’t fill, and cisterns dug out, which you didn’t dig, vineyards and olive trees, which you didn’t plant, and you shall eat and be full; then beware lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

I have been freed from so much sorrow, from so much bondage, from so much futility. I need to remember that it is Yahweh who sets me free - He Who is Truth - as Jesus said,

You shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free

Total Immersion

Christians may disagree over baptism - should it be a sprinkling, or total immersion. Linguists don't disagree. They believe that the best way to learn a second language is by total immersion in that language and that culture.

Christianity is my second life. I've been born again. It's a new language and it's a new culture. To fully embrace it, I need total immersion.

How much is enough?

How much freedom do you want?

How much blessing do you want?

How much do you want to please the Holy Spirit?

I'm 'in' 24/7 - let the transformation accelerate!

...fin...

Footnotes.

This link is interesting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefillin

Unless otherwise acknowledged, all my Scriptural quotes are either from memory or from The World English Bible - a version specifically created to be copyright free - as the Scriptures should be.