ONLY KNOWING THE TRUTH SETS US FREE
"If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John 8:31b-32
Abiding in God’s Word does not mean to read it from time to time and then forget what we read. The dictionary defines the verb “to abide” as “to accept or act in accordance with.” In John 15:4a, Jesus tells us: “abide in Me, and I in you...” We truly abide in Jesus, only when we live right, according to God’s will. He is the vine and we are His branches. By abiding in Him we become one with Him, we get our strength and all we need from Him.
Jesus is the Word “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...” (John 1:14a). We remain in Jesus and He remains in us when we constantly meditate on His Word, we ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand and apply it in our daily lives allowing it to change and transform us. What we meditate on or allow to occupy our minds will define our mindsets. The way we think defines our emotions, then what we speak, what preoccupies us and in the end forms our character.
Jesus tells us that by remaining in His Word we truly learn from Him and by doing so we grow in knowing the truth and we will be truly free. It is not enough to merely hear the truth or about Jesus, to be delivered from all bondage. We need to truly know Him, understand who He truly is and who we are in Him. This is true freedom!
THE TRUTH OF GOD’S WORD SANCTIFIES US, SEPARATING US FROM THE WORLD
- “Sanctify them by Your truth [set them apart for Your purposes, make them holy]. Your word is truth. Just as You commissioned and sent Me into the world, I also have commissioned and sent them (believers) into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself [to do Your will], that they also may be sanctified [set apart, dedicated, made holy] in [Your] truth.” - John 17:17-19 (AMP)
Jesus is asking His Father to consecrate and separate the believers in Him, from the evil of the world, as we received His Word and are transformed by it. As Jesus was sent by the Father with the holy task to redeem us, we are also sent by Jesus to continue His ministry and spread the Gospel to all mankind.
Jesus accomplished God’s will in full, as He was, is and will always be holy! We are called to be sanctified, set apart, dedicated and made holy by knowing and obeying God’s truth, which is also His will that we find in His Word. By doing God’s will, as Jesus did, we may be sanctified in God’s truth, which means to be made holy, set apart and dedicated for the Lord.
THE LORD GOD IS THE TRUE GOD, THE CREATOR OF THE WHOLE UNIVERSE
Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed... 36 And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. - 1 Kings 18:32, 36-38
Because he knew that God was with him, the prophet Elijah had the courage to ask the king to gather the people of Israel, the 450 prophets of Baal, and the 400 prophets of Asherah on Mount Carmel. We do not know why there is not more information about Asherah's prophets, but we do know that Baal's prophets did everything in their power to persuade their god to bring down fire from heaven, to burn their sacrifice, and of course, they received nothing.
The prophet Elijah honored God, restored the altar of the Lord that was broken down and with 12 stones he built an altar for the sacrifice. Elijah laid the wood and the animal for the sacrifice and then asked the people to pour water over the sacrifice, wood and altar, three times. They poured water until it completely filled the ditch around the altar. Then Elijah prayed to God to bring down fire from heaven so that the people could see that He was the only true God, and the Lord heard Elijah’s prayer. “The fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood, and even the stones and the dust; it also licked up the water in the trench” (1 Kings 18:38), proving unequivocally that only God could send such a fire. Then in verse 39 we read that: "when all the people saw it, they fell face down; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!””
The people of Israel had been so blinded by worshiping the pagan gods that they forgot the miracles that God had done for their nation. They needed a new miracle to see the truth and be willing to repent and give up on their idols. It is amazing how much patience God has! He loves us so much that He continues to give us grace and opportunities to come to Him. But the sooner we do it, the better it is for us and for those around us. On the other hand, let us not forget that whenever one refuses the voice of the Holy Spirit over and over, their heart becomes hardened and they can get to where they can no longer hear His call to repentance and end up in eternal damnation.
TRUE HAPPINESS COMES FROM GOD
When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth even though one sees no sleep day or night, then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it. - Ecclesiastes 8:16 -17
Even if Solomon started to rule over Israel by receiving God’s wisdom, he was not satisfied; he wanted to learn more, so he spent a lot of time trying to learn and know wisdom. He noticed how hard some people work and how hard it is for some to truly accomplish anything. All that God did in the universe, will never be fully understood by us, no matter how hard we try.
Our physical brains are limited, and this is true even for the most brilliant mind. No one can know it all. Over three thousand years later, scientists still cannot figure it all out and they all agree that the more we learn, the more we realize how little we know. Does this mean that it is useless to study and learn? Certainly not. But if we ask the Holy Spirit to give us all the wisdom we need and to help us live to please God, we will be amazed how much we may learn. Because God wants us to prosper and enjoy life, we can live happy lives, by loving and obeying Him in all we do.
Copyright © 2020 Carmen Pușcaș. May be used for personal study or instruction but shall not be copied and/or distributed in whole or part without permission or for financial profit.