Almost everything that is manufactured comes with a manual. There’s usually a warning in the manual that states “do not operate before reading instructions”, otherwise you are operating at your own risk. Are you ever guilty of this?
Most never read the manual that is in the glove box of our automobile until the red light comes on. My VCR blinked every day for years, which tells you something…I didn’t read the manual.
Here’s the point in all of this. God manufactured us, and He gave us a manual called the Bible. The acronym for BIBLE is Basic Information Before Leaving Earth. And without God’s information about how to live life on this earth, we are operating at our own risk.
God’s Word says, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” John 1: 1, 14.
You could write “Jesus” in place of “Word” in the scripture above because Jesus and the Word are synonymous. i.e. “In the beginning was Jesus and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God. Jesus became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” Well, Amen!
When my friend Charles “Tremendous” Jones used to come to town, he would pull out his Bible and ask you to read for him, whether he was driving in his car or sitting in a restaurant. When you would ask him, “Where do you want me to begin?” He replied, “It doesn’t matter, Jesus is on every page.”
Some people prefer the red letter edition of the Bible because they think these are the only pages where Jesus spoke. Ann Graham Lutz, Billy Graham’s daughter was asked what she thought of the red letter edition of the Bible. She said, “I prefer the non-red letter edition of the Bible because He is on every page.”
“For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
My friend Michael Wells who does a lot of Christian counseling was told by a woman who came to him for counseling that she had an IQ of 145 and therefore, he wouldn’t be able to pull anything over on her. Michael’s response was, “Wow, that’s very high. I understand the average IQ is only around 105, and Einstein’s IQ was 165, and he was a genius. But I’m not going to use my IQ with you, I’m going to use an IQ of greater than 1 Zillion plus.” At that point he holds up the Bible representing God’s IQ and says, “How does your 145 compare to this?” The Bible says, “My Word shall not return to me void”…Isaiah 55:11 Great counseling advice! Thank you, Michael.
God’s Manual reads, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of God stands forever.” I Peter 1:24, 25
The Word of God is our daily bread, the bread of life. What are we feeding ourselves? Jeremiah 15:16 reads “I ate your words and they brought me great joy.” Psalms 119:103 says “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth.”
Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich said “The mind is like a garden. When you plant positive seeds, it grows flowers. When you plant negative seeds, it grows weeds. It doesn’t know the difference between positive or negative, it just takes whatever you give it and grows and grows.” What are we feeding ourselves?
There was a man who complained adamantly every day about his lunch, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. One day his fellow workers asked him why he didn’t tell his wife that he doesn’t like peanut butter and jelly. His response was “Leave my wife out of this, I make my own lunch.” Well, there you have it. It was Pogo who said “We have met the enemy and the enemy is us.”
Someone once asked “how do you get air out of an empty glass?” The best answer was “fill it with water.” Well, how do we get the world out of us? Fill it with the water of the Word, God’s Manual! It is called Living Water, and it will not return void. Otherwise you are operating at your own risk. Thank you, Jesus for your Word.
We appreciate your continued prayer and financial support. We need both to meet the ministry obligations. Thank you for your faithfulness.
Growing in His Grace,
Len Baker
P.S. Our website is working. Below read one of the letters we recently received. Tell others about our website @ gigm.org and check it out yourself. Kyle Aulerich does a wonderful job each month.
December 19, 2010
Dear Mr. Baker,
I came across your website searching for words of wisdom to help guide me through my walk with Christ, since I have been faltering quite a bit lately. I enjoyed reading a past devotional from February 15. The part about condemnation coming from us trying to reach God on our merits is very on point and something we all need to remember. The true statement that Christianity is not about self-improvement but self-replacement made me realize that I have been working too much on self-improvement and not enough on maintaining an actual relationship with my savior. There is no improvement without Him. He can only take up residence in our hearts when we allow Him to replace our egos and desires.
I also noticed your offer of a free copy of Oswald Chamber’s “My utmost for His Highest.”If you have any copies left, could I please have one?
Thank you for your words of encouragement and for your generous offer. Keep up the good work in Christ.
Warmly,
Rhonda
Leonardtown, Md.
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