Day 5 - Week 15 - Hebrews 4:12 - "For the Word of God is living and effective, and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart."

"For the Word of God is living and effective, and sharper than any two-edged sword..."

Living and effective we get...but what about this phrase, "sharper than any two-edged sword"?  What kind of picture does that paint of God's Word?

A two-edge sword cuts both ways, doesn't it?  As it sweeps across and then as it sweeps back again.  God's Word leaves nothing unscathed when it does its convicting.  At first reading it cuts into our conscience, and with another review and allowing it to start its work, it cuts again to separate us from whatever actions that are causing us that sense of conviction.

In Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, it is stated this way, "The Holy Scriptures are the word of God. When God sets it home by his Spirit, it convinces powerfully, converts powerfully, and comforts powerfully. It makes a soul that has long been proud, to be humble; and a perverse spirit, to be meek and obedient. Sinful habits, that are become as it were natural to the soul, and rooted deeply in it, are separated and cut off by this sword."

We are reminded that Paul admonished us to arm ourselves with the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" in Ephesians 6:17.  The sword of the Word is a defense mechanism for us against the schemes of Satan...Jesus Himself used this tool when Satan tempted Him in Matthew 4.

Four times in John's vision of Revelation he refers to a sword coming out of Christ's mouth.  Now the sword is a tool of retribution and judgment.  Revelation 2:16, "Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth."

Seems we will face the sword in one of two ways...we can face it as a tool to enable us to cut away the sinful habits as Matthew Henry writes of, or we will face it as Christ returns to battle those who have never repented nor allowed that cutting work to take place in their lives and have chosen, instead, to remain opposed to Christ.

Just as Jesus told His disciples that we all need pruning so that we can bear much fruit (John 15),  His sword must be allowed to cut away the rotten and dead parts of us so that we can live our lives in Him to the fullest and be the most productive for His purposes.

It's a hard request, but....cut away!

Day 4 - Week 15 - Hebrews 4:12 - "For the Word of God is living and effective, and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart."

Let's look at the first segment of this week's verse..

"The word of God is living and effective...."

Various translations use: living and active - living and full of power - living and effectual - lebendig und wirksam, whoops, probably don't need the German translation, do we? - quick and powerful - alive and working...

The idea is pretty clear, isn't it? 

First - God's word is alive --- it maintains relevancy no matter what age the reader is in currently, whether 50 AD or 2011 AD.  Even though the times have changed drastically, God's Word has not.  Every verse bears relevancy to our lives today.  Whatever the Bible says is just as true today as it was whenever the Scripture was recorded. There is nothing that we can say is outdated about the Bible.

Second - God's word is effective --- full of power, powerful.  Just as Paul told us in.....

....well that's the first time that has ever happened!  I actually fell asleep while writing!  I guess the aftermath of travel fatigue hit me the hardest last night!  So let's pick up where I fell off!

....2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is inspired and profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correction, for training in righteousness." 

God's word is effective!  It is full of power, it works within our lives when we read it and adhere to it.  It can make changes that we thought were impossible, both in our lives and in how we view others.  It can heal broken relationships, it can restore our souls.  The Holy Spirit moves within the words to effect the changes that are needed within us to transform us into more Christ-like beings.  Anything that can transform a "me" to anything that resembles Jesus Christ is powerful! 

Ephesians 4:13-15, "until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ. Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth. Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ..."
We will be transformed by the reading and application of Scripture, allowing the Holy Spirit to enlighten us and empower us to change what is needed in our lives.  Letting go of the old and grabbing on to the new!

See you tonight...and I promise to stay awake!

Day 3 (1) - Week 15 - Yes ---we're going to have to get busy!

You must give me grace for my days away...I hate to go into much detail when I am away from home since I've been warned about "advertising" absences, but once I return I can fill you in!  It has become our tradition to take our kids and now our grandchildren on a trip to Washington, D.C. when they reach an age to appreciate all of the great things about our Capitol, along with the Colonial Williamsburg area.  This past week we took our 14 year old grandson, Cade, on his trip.  It has been a great trip, full of fun, history, and a renewed appreciation for our country and the political system that our forefathers set up so many years ago.  We are unique in the process of arriving at compromise between differing views and among 50 individual states making up a great nation. 

So, whenever I'm away from HYWIMH, you can just about bet that I'm away from computer access.  Otherwise, I will be here sharing His words with you!

We have some ground to make up this week...introducing our sixth and final verse regarding the gift of Scripture.  Before we do that, though, we must review!

Four Corners of the Bible
Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
John 1:1 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 - And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us; we have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father full of grace and truth.
John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

Romans Road to Salvation:
Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Romans 5:8 - But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 10:9 - If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 12:1 - Therefore, dear brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.  This is your spiritual worship.

The Gift of Scripture:
2 Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness.
Joshua 1:8 - This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth, you are to recite it day and night, so that you may carefully observe everything written in it.  For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.
Psalms 119:11 - I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.
Deuteronomy 6:4-6 - Listen Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength.  These words I give to you today are to be in your heart.
Deuteronomy 6:7 -  Repeat these words to your children.  Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 

Now, one more verse to reinforce to us how important God's Word is to be in our lives, a verse we've all heard many times, but now it's time to make it our own.  Another verse that we will need to break down into segments and then pull together in order to make it's memorization a bit easier...here we go...

Hebrews 4:12, "For the Word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints and marrow; it is a judge of the thoughts and ideas of the heart."

Here's a couple of quotes to encourage you and enthuse you about getting this verse down...

Robert P. Morgan, "Don't get discouraged memorizing this verse.  Work on it a step at a time as it unfolds in logic and memory.  This is one of the great verses in God's Word about God's Word."

A. T. Pierson, "The Word of Christ proves itself to be the Word of God by its living energy and its penetrating power."

We'll work hard this week to catch up so that by Tuesday we have this one firmly embedded along with our previous fourteen verses!  Don't get discouraged...onward! 

Day 7 - Week 14 - Deuteronomy 6;7 - "Repeat them to your children. them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and

Memorial Day 2011 - I was fortunate enough to observe one of the finest Memorial Day Parades in the country; where else but in our nation's capitol, Washington DC. I'm forced to be brief again due to travels and no Internet capability other than iPhone, but I couldn't help but share my thoughts on today's events in light of our verse.

For Memorial Day reflects the same intent as our verse---memorializing things that ate of the very most importance to us. Our country and those who have given of themselves to protect our freedom are things that Americans are passionate about and make special effort and set aside special observances to honor and to remember---and I pray we will always keep Memorial Day as a day of high regard. It bothers me that our children and grandchildren may not understand it's importance.

Of even more concern though is if our children and grandchildren don't understand who God is and the love we ate to have for Him. We need to reinforce these words at an even greater level of intensity.