Keeping the Word Alive—The Exhorter Gift

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years,  and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.  God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. Genesis 1:14-19

The fourth day of creation parallels the exhorter gift. On the fourth day of creation, God created the sun, the moon, and the stars. He gave them two commands: First, to mark the day and the night and the seasons of the year, and second, to rule over them. The exhorter s designed by God to have dominion over time and timing, but because of the assault of the enemy, most exhorters do not live in dominion over time. Most exhorters are defeated in time and do not maintain a schedule or arrive on time or start and end on time. These guys talk a lot! God designed them to be prolific in their use of words to express eloquently and extensively the things God gives them to express. They are known for fair their worldliness. 

Exhorters have often been teased, ridiculed and harassed for their words. They also have the ability to cross any kind of barrier (social, racial, economic, and religious). Exhorters enjoy being around other people, they are not intimidated by new truth, and they tend to start things and move on quickly. Their weaknesses are that they are people pleasers, they are unwilling to confront because they also fear rejection. They have poor management skills, and tend to take in too much, and they are also compromising, they might settle for doing what is good, instead of God’s best.

Keeping the Word Alive—The Teacher Gift

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day
Genesis 1:9-13
On the third day, God planted trees, herbs and seed bearing pants. Plants drew nutrients from the earth and converted them into wood, food, and herbs for nourishment. The seed uses the inert life of the earth and transforms it into a usable form. That is also the role of a teacher, yet the seed that the teacher uses is truth.  They might not seem to have a lot of life, but they have the ability to unleash the potential in people and make them fruitful. People with the teacher gift have an unquenchable thirst for truth. The teacher operates under the principle of responsibility and battles selective responsibility. The teacher gift has authority over generational blessing, as they bring forth fruit. The birthright of the teacher gift is to know God’s deep truths, to know him experientially, and to reveal the presence of God to others. Often, the teacher gift’s major weaknesses are passiveness, selective responsibility, a battle between sight and faith, as well as a battle between doctrine and intimacy.
The teacher has a compulsion to validate the truth, a truth that this gift often validates by firsthand investigation. The teacher tends to validate new truth with an established truth. For this gift, the details of historical accuracy are important.
Biblical Example of the servant redemptive gift—Luke.

Keeping the Word Alive--The Servant Gift.

And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

Genesis 1:6-8

On the second day, God separated the waters above from the waters below. The waters and the atmosphere are pictures of the servant. The atmosphere, in most cases, is invisible. The primary functions of air and water are the cleansing of impurities and the dilution of toxins. Likewise, a servant has a low profile; they prefer to be invisible and in the background. The term servant carries a negative connotation in our culture, but that is not how God sees the servant. Oxygen is the most critical component to sustain life. Metaphorically speaking, the servant gives spiritual oxygen and cleansing. The servant sees external needs of contact and food and is quick to meet these needs. The servant is also a team player, very practical, and with few enemies because of his or her tendency to see the best in others, loyalty and hard work. They have special authority when praying for a restoration in the family, for the sick, especially in threatened premature death, for nature and weather, and for land issues. They also have a great gift for loving the unlovable, the hard cases.

However, servants tend to work so hard that it can sometimes become detrimental for their own health. They also battle against the victim mindset and against self-worth issues. They tend to tolerate indignity and shaming, especially in their families. They also have a habit of believing lies about themselves that cause them not to feel legitimate or adequate for spiritual responsibilities or positions of authority, thinking always that someone else is more qualified. They suffer from worry and anxiety, and they tend to be enablers, doing tasks themselves in order not to importunate others.

The servant’s principle is authority, and the battlefield is a mindset of victimization. Yet, most importantly, the servant’s birthright is to be a life-giver to others, especially leaders. Servants must provide the cleansing and authority others require for their destiny.

Biblical Example of the servant redemptive gift—Esther. 

Keeping the Word Alive--The Prophet Gift.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.  Genesis 1:3-5

On the first day, God spoke to darkness and said let there be light. The first day of creation represents the prophet gift, which is the ability to discern the mind of God and call it faith. The prophet gift operates under a design principle, and its battlefield tends to be fractured relationships. The prophet’s principles are for the speaking of life, light, and the truth that calls forth destiny. The birthright of the prophet gift is to help others live in their destiny by providing vision on God’s design. Note, however, that the redemptive gift of prophet does not necessarily have the manifestation gift of prophesy listed in Corinthians 12 or the office of prophet in Ephesians 4. 

The prophet’s weaknesses lead him or her to be non-relational because he or she tends to value principles and truth as more important than relationships. This person is also judgmental. A person with the prophet gift is more critical toward others and even more critical of self. The prophet gift is also inclined to bitterness, which is very destructive. Not having the ability to forgive easily is also another weakness, especially because the prophet gift tends to have a difficult time overlooking the failures and weaknesses of others.

Biblical Example of Prophet—Peter. 

Celebrating God’s Provision at Pentecost

We are on the verge of a major move of the Holy Spirit! We live in days when Pentecost is important because Pentecost is the feast of the open Heavens. Just as Passover is God’s time to deliver His people (See Exod3:8), Pentecost is the Appointed time for the Heavens to Open! This Sunday, I will be sharing a powerful word on Pentecost, and Chuck Pierce will also be here that night to release the sound of provision. But, before that, I thought I would share with you a little bit of what Pentecost really means and what it can do for you, as we draw to the end of our fifty days of freedom. First of all, it is important to understand Pentecost, for which I will share with you what Chuck Pierce shares with all of us in his book, “A Time to Prosper.”

When most Christians think about Pentecost, they think only about the outpouring of the holy Spirit described in Acts 2, but Pentecost is also a feast instituted in the Old Testament as described in Leviticus 23:15-16, Numbers 28:26-31, and Deuteronomy16:9-12. Chuck illustrates that there are three significant dimensions of Pentecost, and each represents a new expression of God’s blessing. The three dimensions are a direct reflection of the three things that God wants to accomplish in our lives. Each one involves a doorway we must pass through in order to enter into the full release of God’s blessing.

Provision is the first dimension because it celebrates God’s blessing of abundant provision. In Old Testament times, from the first sheaf of every new harvest, each year the Jews would bring a thanksgiving offering to the Temple.  This was a praise offering that was offered by faith before the full harvest was gathered. The Israelites would express their praise by bringing burnt offerings, drink offerings, sin offerings, fellowship offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, etc. It was a massive out poring of giving, and this is what the disciples would have done the evening before “Pentecost morning.” The night before the Spirit fell, they would have brought offerings to the temple to thank God for His physical Provision.

Revelation is the second dimension because Pentecost was the day that God opened the heavens to reveal His word. After being rescued from Egypt, God did not guide his people directly to the Promised Land. He had things to show them! Fifty days after Passover, God directed Moses to come to the top of Mount Sinai, and it was there that the Heavens opened, and God gave Him the Torah. Some people call the Torah the “Law” but the word Torah really means “the teaching of God.” It is the revelation of God’s will, God’s love, and God’s character to His people, and even though the word “Torah” is most specifically used for the first five books of the bible, in reality, all Scripture is “Torah.” At the time Jesus lived, part of the celebration of Pentecost included staying up all night studying receiving God’s revelation through scriptures because it was a way of receiving God’s Word again. As they filled their minds with God’s word, I believe God prepared them for the third dimension of Pentecost. We know that Jesus had recently promised the release of God’s power, so it is fitting to think that at the disciples would have stayed up all night Scriptures that described the outpouring of God’s power.  

Power is the third dimension of Pentecost. The bible says that it was in Pentecost that the Holy Ghost came and gave the disciples power. The power that Jesus promised fell upon them, and in turn, it then empowered men and women to proclaim the gospel. Just as power had come down on Mt. Sinai in Moses’ time, the fire of God’s glory now came to clothe those who had gathered in the Upper Room. With this power, the gifts of the Spirit were energized, and the anointing of God equipped them to see the sick healed, the oppressed delivered, the gospel boldly proclaimed, and the world changed! Come on Jesus!

We know that this is what the church longs for! The church all over is crying for a new Pentecost; however, because we don’t understand Pentecost, we don’t know how to prepare for it. The apostles understood Pentecost, and they positioned themselves to receive it. So, it is when we fully understand what Pentecost is about, that it moves us into a better understanding of the time of Pentecost in which God wants to lead us through: the release of provision, power and revelation in our lives.

Yet, perhaps the best way to celebrate Pentecost is to follow the example of the apostles who set apart an extended time to be with God. It is important to acknowledge and celebrate the fact that God’s provision is plentiful. He is constantly bringing bread from the earth. Gaining a mind to prosper involves developing a thankful heart by giving to the poor and bringing first fruits offerings. We must also be thankful to God for His desire to reveal Himself to us because He wants us to know His mind and heart. If you meditate in His word day and night, you will prosper (as psalm 1 promises), so be prepared to receive His revelation afresh. Last, you should be prepared to step in with God and obey His directives. We need to begin walking by faith, and meditate on His promises.

             So, this Sunday, be prepared to celebrate Pentecost by bringing first fruits offerings to position ourselves in a place of abundance and provision, and come anticipating to receive revelation from the Word. We expect to be filled with strength and joy as we release the sound of abundance through radical praise and worship. 

Sunday services are at 9:00am and 11:00am

Chuck Pierce will be here releasing the sounds of abundance at 6:00pm

Kent.

God's Presence

Acts 2: 1-5 is very familiar portion of scripture: "When the day of Pentecost had fully come they were with one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a rushing mighty wind and filled the whole house where they were sitting." As I read that I became very excited. I thought maybe we stand up too much in church. When the Holy Spirit rushed in they were sitting. God wanted to do something so badly that the people were sitting, waiting, when a sudden a wind came through the house. A strong wind blew through and the whole house was filled. What appeared to be tongues of fire appeared above their heads as they were sitting in God’s Presence and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as God gave them utterance.

Simply put, God visited them while they waited. Pentecost is when God, by His Spirit, came down. The annual Jewish festival known as the Feast of Harvests or the day of First Fruits is a celebration of the first buds of the harvest. Jewish men were required by law to go to Jerusalem three times a year to celebrate the major feasts: Passover in the spring, Pentecost which was seven weeks and a day later, exactly fifty days after Passover, and The Feast of Tabernacles at the end of the harvest in the fall. To research this further read Leviticus 23.

Those who became Christians on Pentecost actually were first fruits of a vast harvest of millions of souls. In Acts 2 God came upon the scene in a mighty, rushing wind that appeared to have tongues of fire within the Presence and there was such a dramatic, exponential harvest that three thousand people were saved in one day. Three thousand men and women were baptized that day and there was such a move of God that society was affected and culture was transformed by the radical download of the Holy Spirit of the Living God. In the book of Acts we see that once the Presence of God was manifested the early church of Jesus Christ immediately started to impact their sphere of influence.

As we read the book of Acts in its entirety we realize the impact and power of the Presence of God. Exponential fruit and supernatural happenings transpire when God’s Presence becomes the focal point of a church, people group, or a society. Dramatic results take place when we wait on God and trust that He is going to reveal another aspect of His character and sovereignty. I find that the body of Christ needs to shift our thinking in the way that we perceive the relevance of the church and what our role is in the world system and culture. The Western church in particular has to shift.

At Word Alive International Outreach God has called us to a season of hosting His Presence. In the western church culture we have become acclimated to gathering around a church service that includes announcements, praise, worship and a sermon. Our Sunday morning experience is sermon driven as opposed to Presence purposed. We gather around a message and expect that whoever is communicating that day is going to have a message. I am all for teaching the Word of God, gaining knowledge of scripture so we can build our lives on proper doctrine, but I also believe that if we are not careful we can become so focused on a sermon that we really miss out on what our gathering is supposed to accomplish.

The early church did not gather around sermons. Israel camped and gathered around the Presence of God. We need to change our understanding of attending church and consider gathering with the intention and expectation that as we gather God’s Presence will be with us. My understanding of the revelation that we read in the Bible is that there were no planned teachings before the Presence but rather the revelation came from the manifested Presence.

When Peter preached on Pentecost, he did not preach a message to get the Holy Spirit to come, the Holy Spirit came and a message came out of that and three-thousand were saved in one day. As we gather around and focus solely on the Presence of God we are expecting God’s rhema word to become the message we are hearing.

My prayer for this season is that as we begin to worship God His Presence will descend and we will hear from Him. We may stop and share the Word or we may just continue to worship. In the book of Acts His Presence was there to save, heal and deliver people

Word Alive International Outreach was founded on this philosophy. Our first service was my father’s funeral and the prophetic word for his life was that he would do more damage to the enemies’ camp in death than he did in life. We had bought, and he mortgaged the property our church is built on, and we were given the keys to the building two days before he died. His funeral service is how people found out about the church. We then preached a week of meetings people were saved, healed, delivered, we had our first food distribution and that Sunday we started the church. I believed that if I delivered a good word people would be blessed, tell their family and friends and the church would grow. I had a great word prepared but the more I preached the drier the message became and the more I struggled. Finally I closed my Bible, told the people that I had no idea what I was doing, and that without God’s Presence I was sunk. When I said that, the Presence of God became so rich and thick that we all began to weep and spontaneously worship. That is how the church started.

Throughout the years we have enjoyed many seasons of just being in His Presence. There are always going to be seasons to teach, educate, encourage, and inspire, but never to the point that we do not need and practice the Presence of God. I need Him and cannot accomplish anything without Him. However, changing the way we perceive church takes a shift in thinking. Our mentality and expectation should be that God will meet us when we gather in His Name.

Our dear friend Bobby Connors has reminded God’s people that as a whole we have become far too comfortable with a God Whom we barely know. In many churches around the world when God’s Presence does appear people really do not know understand or know how to respond, what to expect or how to we move forward. We have become so culturally conditioned to hear some music, listen to a message, pray a prayer and go home. The Lord has directed us to gather around His Presence, invite Him and come expecting Him to be with us. That means come to church no matter who is preaching. It is a shift in our thinking. As we are gathering around the Presence of God we must be in place ready to fully participate.

We are in a season that we need to gather around God’s Presence. We do not want to become trapped in a routine of going to church, singing a few songs, listening to a sermon, and then going home in the same spiritually bereft way that we came. Gathering around a message, personality, or an office of the church, whether it be a pastor or evangelists is not what God has called us to do. Worshipping our God is the highest call we can answer so we have started gathering around the Presence of God. I appreciate living a purpose driven life but I love living a Presence driven life. His Presence changes everything.

The church is changing. I received a prophecy last week that there will be a flood in Rome, Italy that will be a prophetic sign of God cleansing the church. The rest of the prophecy was that just as Greece has been shaken so would Vatican City be shaken free from the constraints of intellectual reasoning and the church would be cleansed of the legalistic pattern that we have been in held in religious bondage to. We must begin to understand and embrace the difference between living in the power of God and an intellectual knowledge of Him. God’s Presence is the difference between Spirit led lives as opposed to a religiously dictated existence. As the body of Christ purposes to gather in His Name His Presence will descend and we will hear from Him.

Knowing the Word

By Kent Mattox

It is interesting to discover what people really think about, and think they know, about the Bible. In courtrooms, and to make a point, we swear on the Bible. We own Bibles and many of us invest a great deal of time sending Bibles to nations that do not have easy access to them. The Gideons consider it part of their mission to put Bibles in hotels where the weary traveler can find solace within its pages. In millions of American homes the Bible has a highly visible, prominent place on our coffee tables.  The Bible is available to us but how much do we really know about what is written on its pages?

The real question is do we know the Word?  A shocking statistic is that less than 10% of Americans who profess to be Christians have actually read the Bible. There is no judgment or condemnation in the statistic, just fact. Many of us may have read parts of the Bible, but less than 10 % have read it cover to cover. That is staggering in its implications because that means believers are still not learning the truth of God’s Word for themselves.  We are still counting on someone else to tell us the truth about God’s character and plans for our lives. We don’t actually know the truth for ourselves; we know what someone has told us about the truth.  It only takes ninety hours to read the Bible from cover to cover. So be encouraged, take the challenge.  Read the Bible for yourself and get to know God’s plan for your life.

If you want to get it done in ninety days, read an hour a day; thirty minutes a day will get the job done in six months. In fifteen minutes a day you can read the whole Bible read in a year. It should be our goal to read the whole Bible every year. Every time we read the Word through God begins to reveal the truth to us like never before. If that statistic is even close to true we don’t really understand the Word of God and know the truth because we really believe what someone else has told us from their revelation.  We have not experienced the truth of God’s Word personally.

In John 8: 31-36 we find a very interesting portion of scripture that has been quoted and talked about a lot in church, history and culture. This is what scripture tells us, “Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, if you abide in My Word, you are my disciples indeed and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. They answered Him; we are Abraham’s descendants and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say you will be made free?  Jesus answered them and said, ‘most assuredly I say unto you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin and a slave does not abide in the house forever, but the Son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.’”

There are a couple of words, if you are really paying attention to this portion of the Word that should really jump off of the page. First, it is the truth that we know that sets us free.  Too often this truth is misquoted as it is truth only that frees us. That is simply not true. It is the truth we know that sets us free. To know something is powerful within that knowledge. To know is a spiritual word, and is the Greek word gnosis. It means to know intimately. It means to perceive or to recognize at a place of inception or attainment of the truth. It is the same word that is used in Genesis 4:1 at the point of conception. Adam knew [yada] his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain... Cain knew [yada] his wife and she conceived and bore Enoch... Adam knew [yada] his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth... (Genesis 4:1, 17, 25). In the Hebrew language yada means to know. It is a word that means intimate contact. 

It means face to face, and mouth to mouth. It is the intimacy of knowing the truth in such a way that you know it for yourself. It is not somebody else’s truth. You know the truth because you have had a personal encounter with the Truth.  The real question may be what is the truth?  We are asking if to know the truth is to have an intimate encounter with it, then what is the truth? This may be a zinger for some of you, but the Bible on its own is not the truth. It is not the truth, it the truth of God’s character, written in a book for us to learn about Him. The book is not the truth, it is a book, it is a Bible and can be described as a book with instructions for us to live by; the Bible: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. There are words on pages that teach us about Him.

Where we seemingly get off track, and miss the point, is that we do not understand that God is not interested in us memorizing 66 books of the Bible. In actuality, even if you re-read the book you can know the book and still not know the truth. In John 8:31-36 Jesus is talking to the religious Pharisaical men of the day and He is saying if you know the truth, the truth will set you free. They respond by saying we have never been enslaved to anybody. We are sons of Abraham. We know the Torah, we have memorized it every day. Jesus said, “If you really knew the Truth, you would know me. The One you are saying you know is the One who sent Me. I am the actually the One that you think you know, that you really do not know because I am right here.”

In John 5:39 Jesus said, “You search the scriptures because you think they will give you eternal life, but the scriptures point to Me.” The whole purpose of the Bible is to reveal the Truth, and the Truth is not a language, the Truth is not a doctrine, the Truth is not a religion, the Truth is a Person and His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. When you know the Truth, Jesus Christ, who God sent will make you free.  God uses the Bible to teach us Who He is. I believe the Bible from cover to cover. I believe the Book, but I do not worship the Book because the Book is just a Book. The Bible is here for one reason and that is to reveal the Truth of who Jesus Christ is to us. Jesus comes off the pages of this Book and introduces Himself to you and becomes reality, not religion.

Getting to know the truth through an intimate relationship with Christ is a life-giving experience.  But most of us know the truth a different way. The Bible is not the truth, God is the Truth. Reading the Bible is the best way to know the Truth, and the Truth is Jesus.  When truth gets transferred from person to person, and we believe what somebody else has told us instead of experiencing the truth as a personal reality it is still truth but it loses the message God is communicating to us. That is why there are so many people that could go to church for years and still not believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit gifts are available to them. In their quest somebody told somebody who told somebody else that the gifts are no longer available, they were only for biblical times, centuries ago. The good news for us is that when we know the Bible, we know the Truth and the truth is we still live in biblical times and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for all of those who know the truth.

It is important to read the Bible for ourselves, not to learn doctrine, even though that is okay. We study the Word so that Jesus can reveal Himself to us and we can continue to have personal encounters with Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. So that now that you know that you know that you know, that you know the truth. John 17:3 tells us, “This is eternal life, that you might know God, and know Jesus, Who God has sent.” Eternal life is not knowing the truth about Heaven. Eternal life is knowing the Truth of Who Jesus is, and why He was sent to earth and mankind, by God. Luke 24 is a very practical application of the difference knowing the Word can make when we really want to know more about Jesus. Two travelers are on the road walking from Jerusalem on the Road of Emmaus. These two travelers had been to Jerusalem, Jesus has been crucified and buried in a tomb and they are confused. They have co-labored with the other disciples with the understanding that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that He had come to save Israel, deliver them from the oppression of Roman tyranny and bring great restoration to their nation.

They had been in Jerusalem during the drama of the last several days as Jesus was crucified, put in a tomb, and they think wait a minute, how did this all transpire and what is the purpose of this? We thought it was supposed to take place this way, yet it did not happen the way we thought, and had been told it would happen. They were discouraged, despondent and confused and they were trying to figure it all out.  In Luke 24, Jesus, who was supposedly in a tomb, shows up on the road to Emmaus. Jesus, Who is supposed to been dead, and laid out in a tomb is somehow alive and He is walking with these two travelers on the road to Emmaus.

Not surprisingly they did not perceive Who He was.  That is why the Word of God is so important. We can have spiritual experiences but until you get into the Bible you will not understand Who Jesus really is. As He walked along the road with them He did not try to convince them of who He was. Luke 24 describes the scenario, “He said to them, ‘O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered these things and entered His glory?” In other words, He is talking to them and saying you read the prophets, don’t you understand the truth? Don’t you realize it was prophesied about Me, that I would suffer and that I would enter into glory. Beginning with Moses and discussing all of the prophets, He recounted all of the scriptures and the things concerning Himself throughout the Word.

As He shared the Word something powerful begin to transpire. They drew nigh to the village where they were going and He indicated that He would have gone further, but they constrained Him saying abide with us for it is toward evening and the day is far spent. And He went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass that as He sat at the table with them He took bread blessed it broke it and gave it to them. Then their eyes were open and they knew Him. That is that same word gnosis, to know Him intimately. From that we see that after He had taken the Word of God and broken open and fed them the Word of God, their spiritual eyes were opened and they knew the truth and the Truth they knew was Jesus.

No one had to prove to them that Jesus was resurrected. Jesus proved it to them Himself by demonstrating that the prophecies that were written had been fulfilled. They did not hear that He was resurrected from the disciples. Their eyes were opened and they knew that Jesus was the Resurrected Christ, the Son of the Living God. Their eyes were opened and they knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight. And they said to one another, “Did not our hearts burn within us did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road?” He opened the scriptures to us.  The Holy Spirit wants us, as followers of Christ, to have a spiritual experience with the Bible so that when we read it our hearts burn within us.

When I started reading the Word I had a powerful encounter with the Lord and you did not have to tell me to read the Bible. I craved it because I wanted to know Him. Some days I understood what I was reading and some days I didn’t. However, I kept reading until the words on the page began to give me life. The Word came alive to me.  When we read the scripture with understanding the Word comes alive so now when we read the Bible it is not some boring theological discourse but a life giving message and love letter from God.   

The Spirit of God begins to move when we read the Bible and He begins to take the words, letters and the chapters of this Bible and causes them to come to life in our lives. Then, it is not just a book filled with doctrine and theology that we are trying to prove. We do not have to prove that Adam and Eve existed, lived in the garden and made a bad choice that had resultant consequences. We know for a fact, that to this day, people make bad choices and suffer the consequences of those choices.

That is the truth. I don’t have to believe that Abraham actually existed. I do not have to prove that, it does not matter to me whether it happened or not. God speaks to us to take steps of faith and move out and trust Him in areas just like our example Abraham did. You cannot read Psalms and not know they are true because we have all had sleepless nights, walked dark paths,  had sorrow and hopeless times that we did not think we were going to get through. The book of Psalms comes to life because we have experienced the same life situations.

If you will read this Book you will experience Jesus Christ, the Truth and you will begin to know Him. If you already know Him, you will know Him better. He is like a diamond; every time you turn Him He has another facet to show you.

That is why the angels cry Holy, Holy, Holy! They cry Holy twenty-four hours a day because as soon as they say Holy, God has done something else to reveal His personality. They cry holy, and then they see something else. By the time they cry out Holy God has revealed another aspect of His nature and character. In Genesis, He is the seed of the woman, in Exodus, He is the Passover lamb,  in Leviticus He is the great high priest, in Numbers, He is the cloud by day and he fire by night, in Deuteronomy He is the prophet like Moses, in Joshua, He is the Captain of the host of my salvation, in Judges, He is the judge and the law giver, in Ruth, He is my kinsman redeemer, in first and second Samuel He is the prophet in first and second Kings, He is the reigning King, in Chronicles, He is the Messiah from the tribe of Judah, in Ezra, He is the faithful scribe, in Nehemiah, He is the rebuilder of the walls of broken lives, in Esther, He is our Mediator  that stands in intercession, in Job, He is the Dayspring from on high, in Psalms, He is the Lord who is my shepherd, in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes He is the wisdom of God, in Song of Solomon, He is my lover and my bridegroom, in Isaiah He is the Suffering Servant, my Messiah, in Jeremiah and Lamentations He is a weeping prophet, in Ezekiel He is a four-faced creature and in Daniel He is the fourth man in the fiery furnace. In Hosea He is the bridegroom, in Joel, He is the baptizer with the Holy Ghost and fire, in Amos, He is the burden bearer, in Obadiah, He is a mighty savior, in Jonah He is a forgiving God, in Micah He is a messenger with beautiful feet, in Nahum He is the avenger of God’s elect, in Habakkuk, He is the Great Evangelist crying for revival, in Zephaniah He is the Restorer of the Breach. In Haggai, He is the cleansing fountain, n Zachariah, the piercer, in Malachi, the Son of righteousness that arises with healing in His wings. In Matthew, He is the Messiah, in Mark the miracle worker, in Luke He is the Son of man, in John, the Son of God, in Acts, the Ascended Lord, in Romans, the Justifier, in Corinthians, the last Adam, in Galatians, the One who sets me free. In Ephesians, He is the Christ of unsearchable riches, in Philippians, the God who meets all my need. In Colossians, He is the fullness of the Godhead, in Thessalonians the soon coming King, in Timothy, the Mediator between God and man, in Titus, my blessed hope, ­­­­­­­a friend that sticks closer than a brother. In Hebrews He is the Blood that washes away all my sin, in James He is my great physician, in Peter He is my chief shepherd, in John, He is my everlasting love, in Jude, He is the God my Savior, in revelation, He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!  The Word reveals Jesus as the Son of God on every page but that is only part of Who He is and what He came to do in the earth.

When you read it next year you will have yet another revelation of Who He is. The Bible is designed to reveal the Son of God to us so the Truth of Who He is will become life to us.

There is no way you can be deceived once you know the truth, because the truth will actually come and live on the inside of you.  We have been taught that we need to obtain the truth, no, you already have the truth. All the Word does is bear witness with the truth that is already in us. In 1 John 2: 27 the Word reminds us that the anointing that abides within us teach us all things. You do not need a man to teach you because when you seek Him through the Word the Spirit of Truth, Who lives on the inside of you, will reveal Himself to you.  

We have to take a step of faith and begin to read the Word for ourselves. If you know Him today, you will know Him even more tomorrow. And if you do not know Him you will know Him like you have never known possible. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The Word describes Him to us from Genesis to Revelations and when you are Presence driven to know more about Him and His kingdom there are answers to all of our questions. This is how the Word describes Him: He is my king. He is a seven way king. He is the king of the Jews, that’s a racial king. He is the king of Israel, that’s a national king. He is the King of righteousness, He is the king of the ages, He is the king of heaven, He is the king of glory, He is the king of kings and the lord of lords, that’s my king, David says the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handy work. My king is a sovereign king. No means of measure can divine His limitless love, no far seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of his shore less supply. No barrier can hinder Him from pouring out his blessing. He is enduringly strong, He is entirely sincere, He is eternally steadfast, He is immortally graceful, He is empirically powerful, He is impartially merciful, do you know Him today? He is the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world. He is God’s Son, He is a sinner’s savior. He is a centerpiece of civilization. He stands in the solitude of Himself, He is august, He is unique, He is unparalleled, He is unprecedented, He is the loftiest idea of literature, He is the personality idea in Philosophy,  He is a supreme problem in higher criticism,  He is the fundamental doctrine of true theology, He is the cardinal necessity for spiritual religion, He is the miracle of the age,  He is the superlative of everything good you choose to call Him, He is the only one qualified to be an all sufficient savior. He supplies strength for the weak, He is available for the tempted and the tried, He sympathizes and He saves, He strengthens and He guards and He guides, He heals the sick, He cleanses the lepers, forgives sinners, He discharges debtors, He delivers captives, He defends the feeble, He blesses the young, He serves the unfortunate, He regards the aged, He rewards the diligent, He beautifies the meek. My king is king in the key of knowledge, He is the wellspring to wisdom, He is the way of deliverance, the pathway to peace, the roadway of righteousness, the highway of holiness, the gateway of glory.  His office is manifold, His promise is sure, His light is matchless, His goodness is limitless, His mercy is everlasting, His love never changes, His word is enough, His grace is sufficient, His reign is righteous, His yoke is easy and His burden is light. I wish I could describe Him to you, but He is indescribable. He is in comprehensible, He is inconceivable, He is irresistible, can’t get Him out of you mind, you can’t get Him off your hand, you can’t live without Him and you can’t live with Him, the Pharisees couldn’t stand Him but they found out they couldn’t stop Him, Pilate couldn’t find any fault in Him, witnesses couldn’t get their testimonies to agree, Herod couldn’t kill Him, Death couldn’t handle Him and the grave couldn’t hold Him, THAT’S MY KING!