Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser
Let me refer you to a scripture that reminds us of the importance of God’s word. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Mat. 24:35 NIV). No matter what happened last year or even last night, God is faithful to His word. Therefore, have faith in His word and hold onto it. God’s word is not going anywhere.
God’s word was with us last year, it was with us yesterday, and it’s with us today and forever. There can be many things that can go on in the world around us, we can face many trials, many things can happen in our lives, but all of these things will come and go, but God’s word will be with us forever. Therefore, hold onto it. That means have faith in His word.
A lot of times we try to depend on things of this world, things of this culture, but they are not the most reliable things to stand on. They sometimes fall through as you may say, but do you know something that will never fail you? Something that’s always reliable, and will always come true for you when you need it most? It’s the word of God. That’s why I encourage you today to have faith in God’s word and hold onto it.
Has God given you a word? Yes, He has. So, hold unto it. Have faith in His word. Has God told you that He will supply all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus? If He did, then stand on that word and don’t consider anything else. Don’t let anybody tell you that you will struggle to afford food. Don’t let anybody tell you that you will struggle to afford your essential needs, (Mat. 6:33; Phi. 4: 19). Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do it (Phil. 4:13). Your faith should be in the promises of God. Your faith should be in the word of God. Have hope in God’s word and hold onto it.
So many people are hopeless today because they are not dominated by the word of God. God gave us His word so that we can have all that we need to live out this life that He has called us to live. That’s why it’s important to get into the word of God every single day. That’s where our strength will come from. That’s what we can rely on to go into anything that we might face, whether throughout the day, throughout the week, or throughout our lifetime.
So, I encourage you to trust that everything else will pass away, but God’s word will remain. It will not pass away. His word is here to lead, guide and direct your life. Hold onto His word. Put your faith in the faithful word of God. For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so, through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God” (2 Cor. 1:20 NIV).
Renew your mind with God’s word. This means put your trust and faith in Jesus and God’s word above everything else – above your feelings, what you think, what your circumstance may look like, and what others say or think. This is so important because everything we receive from God comes to us by faith. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). One of the ways to walk in faith is to renew your mind through the word of God.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Rom. 12:2 NIV).
God has already given us His word and His promises. All you have to do is to renew your mind and appropriate what has already been provided. This doesn’t mean God has already provided so you’ve got nothing to do. I assure you one of the difficult things to do is to renew your mind. It takes effort to renew your mind, and if you are sitting in front of the television, watching ungodly things, and things that will take up your whole time, then you are not renewing your mind. You have to learn to spend some time in the word.
How much time have you spent studying the word of God since you became a born-again Christian? We need to keep learning. One of the hardest things to do is to unplug from this world and the ideas and philosophies that this world is giving us, and to start acting and thinking according to the word of the Lord. It’s not going to happen if you are a passive Christian. You have to be an active Christian; you have to be a determined Christian.
" Has God given you a word? If He did, then stand on that word and don't consider anything else. "
Most of us spend so much more time in the world system, thinking the wrong things than we do the word of God. You need to get the word of God and hold onto it. You need to renew your mind. The word of God is so available today. Statistics show that the average person spends 4 to 5 hours a day watching television, and on their phones, making phone calls and looking at social media. You can cut out all the bad stuff you use your phone for.
If you are to add to that, how many hours do you spend on your phone texting and reading things? You could come up with 6 or 7 hours a day. You can renew your mind if you want to. But we just put more importance on what we hear on the news or what someone is saying on social media. If you want to renew your mind, you will have to put priority on the word of God. Some Christians have allowed the fake news of this world to flow through their mind. No wonder they cannot operate in faith. No wonder they don’t hold onto the word of God.
We have millions of words, and some Christians can’t live with any kind of hope. They are hopeless and it’s not because the word of God doesn’t give hope. They are not holding onto God’s word because they have not renewed their mind with the word of God. “The scriptures give hope. “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). Hebrews 6 talks about God making a promise to Abraham so that He could remove all fear. God wants to remove all fear, so He has given us His word. We have awesome promises from God. Hold onto God’s word. Have faith in God’s word!
Everywhere you go, there are people talking about the pandemic and other sicknesses, and it’s so sad that people are dying. There’s fear, but you have got a word from the Lord – no plague will come to your dwelling, and God heals all of your sickness and diseases, by His stripes we were healed. He has already done it. You don’t have to wonder, will He do it? He has put His resurrection power inside of you. If you will just get into His word and let the word of God dominate you, the word of God will build hope. And then faith is a substance of things hoped for. Have faith in God’s word and hold onto it because it will not fail you. Holdfast onto the faithful word of God.
This is one of the reasons why people struggle today because we are so plugged into the world. You are listening to the world talk about all this fear with what’s going on around the world, and all the terrible things happening. You need to turn off this junk. You need to quit letting the sewage of the world flow through your mind and then try to believe God. You will avoid depression, fear, anxiety and discouragement. Don’t make yourself unequally yoked with somebody who is an unbeliever. You need people around you who are believers. When you go to church, don’t go where they preach unbelief. Go where you can hear the word of God. There are many ways that you can eliminate a lot of unbelief in your life.
If you want to be strong in faith, quit considering all of the voices, whether it’s people, the internet, literature or a book, whatever it is, quit considering and taking into account. Quit focusing on and thinking about things that are contrary to what God told you. This is a great key. Things have happened to many of us that there are no explanations for them other than God. I heard God and when other people were saying ‘you can’t do this’, I didn’t consider it.
Focusing on the word of God will help you do things that in the natural are impossible. And this includes winning souls, healing the sick, casting out demons, seeing financial transformation, seeing miracles of people’s lives being changed, and on and on. You cannot focus too much on the word of God when you are inundated with all the unbelief of this world. We live in a non-Christian world. The way we see ungodliness promoted and lies spoken, if you consider all the things going on, you will not be strong in faith. You will not hold onto God’s word. But faith is based on knowledge and if you focus on the word, you will have faith because God’s word tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Holdfast onto the faithful word of God.
