by Vince Finnegan
For more information visit lhim.org
Receive with Meekness; Retain with Conviction; Release with Boldness
1 Thessalonians 2:13 Receive and accept it as the Word of God. When you understand the Word of God, you are having an encounter with God.
Psalm 19:7-10
Making wise the simple – do you feel like you don’t know what the hell is going on?
Rejoicing the heart
Enlightening the eyes
Acts 17:11 Meekness in this context is receptivity toward God and the things of God. Meekness is acceptance of God’s will without being argumentative and without stubborn resistance. It is a willing setting aside of our own thoughts, opinions, and ideas for God’s. Simply stated, it is the willingness to listen, hear, and do God’s will.
Psalm 119:33-44
James 1:21-22 Receive the Word implanted. insert or fix (tissue or an artificial object) in a person’s body, especially by surgery. Sin impedes our ability to hear.
Regard the word of God as food for your soul
Romans 13:11-12 Road blocks – TIME
UNWILLINGNESS TO CHANGE
We hinder growth by limiting God to our meager framework of understanding. How could anyone ever think his or her own knowledge is complete and refuse to learn more? Yet, this is a common deception to which many fall prey.
Often an honest, sincere desire to believe, think, and speak accurately about God moves to a presumptuous conviction that our beliefs contain the whole truth about God. This has the practical effect of confining God to our understanding. The honest, sincere desire to be right slips into narrow-mindedness or closed-mindedness. We become deceived into not considering anything other than what we believe to be the truth. In doing so, we think we are taking a stand for God!
From this posture of mind, it is a very small step to criticize, condemn, and fear all those who believe differently than we do. “Surely they must be wrong because they do not believe what I believe.” Too often, we perceive other sincere, committed Christians as a threat because their beliefs are different from ours. Therefore, we think we must avoid them. Our convoluted thinking moves to: “how can we fellowship with someone standing outside the proper theological structure and thus outside God!” This mind set opposes meekness, closes God out, and causes division in the family of God. We all have to fight the fear of being wrong or of having been wrong. Regarding God, many people would rather stay ignorant in their wrong beliefs than concede they have been wrong.
Retain with Conviction
Luke 8:15 bear fruit with perseverance.
1 Corinthians 15:1-2
2 Timothy 2:15 work the word
Study using my books
Memorize the word
Speak the Word
Release with Boldness
1 Timothy 2:1-4; 2 Timothy 4:1-4 The greatest way to retain with conviction is to release with boldness.
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