A TRIBUTE TO THE BIBLE

     The Bible is not an amulet, a charm, a fetish, or a book that will work wonders by its very presence.

     It is a book that will work wonders in every life, here and hereafter, if acted upon and obeyed in faith and sincerity. It is God's inspired revelation of the origin and destiny of all things, written in the most simple human language possible so that the most unlearned can understand and obey its teachings. It is self-interpreting and covers every subject of human knowledge and need now and forever.

     As a literary composition, the Bible is the most remarkable book ever made. It is a divine library of 66 books, some of considerable size, and others no larger than a tract. These books include various forms of literature - history, biography, poetry, proverbial sayings, hymns, letters, directions for elaborate ritualistic worship, laws, parables, riddles, allegories, prophecy, dramas, and others. They embrace all manner of literary styles in human expression.

     It is the book that reveals the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts binding, its histories true, and its decisions immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy. The Bible contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the travelers map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's charter. Here heaven is opened, and the gates of hell disclosed. Christ is its grand subject, our good is its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill your memory, rule your heart, and guide your feet in righteousness and true holiness. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully, meditatively, searchingly, devotionally, and study it constantly, perseveringly, and industriously. Read it through and through until it becomes part of your being and generates faith that will move mountains. The Bible is a mine of wealth, the source of health, and a world of pleasure. It is given to you in this life, will be opened at the judgement, and will stand forever. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the least to the greatest of labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.

Dake

Accepting

B.T.A. Believe. Trust. Accept. As Christian’s many of us, and I did say US, have little trouble with believing and trusting in God, the power of God, and the promises of God. Where we might get into some trouble is with accepting His promises, His healing, His answers to our prayers, His will.

Accept in the Webster’s Dictionary means to take (what is offered or given), to receive favorably, approve, to believe in. So accepting would be the act of taking what is offered or given, receiving favorably, approving and believing in. “Accepting” is the action part of receiving the Lord’s will. There comes a moment in time when the Believe, Trust, and Accept come together as one, and become a realization in your mind, your heart, your very soul.

Desperation in prayer brings on accepting. The effectual fervent (to boil up, hot; burning; glowing; intensely devoted or earnest) prayer of a righteous man avails much, James 5:16b. Jesus prayed fervently in the Garden of Gethsemane, so fervently that He shed great droplets of blood from His pores. We know that He prayed Believing, Trusting, and Accepting. Jesus prayed that the suffering that He knew He was about to endure would be taken from Him. But, He then said “nevertheless” Thy will be done. He “Accepted” the will of God His Father without any reservations. We might not always know God’s complete will for our life but we can always Believe, Trust, and Accept that God knows best, He has the best plan for us and the Kingdom, and that we can Believe, Trust, and Accept His will, and His promises.

In Proverbs 4:20-22, the word of God says; My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh. In other words ACCEPT.

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive (ACCEPT) them, and ye shall have them Mark 11:24.

Norman Grubb, in his book, The Law of Faith,  makes interesting commentary about “asking” vs. “taking”: Faith is the spiritual hand, exactly as, in the natural world, nothing is received and put to use merely by wishing or hoping or by asking for it, but by taking and using it, so in the spiritual. The hand must reach out and take the food or the book. Faith must reach out and take the promises, and the spoken evidence of such taking is the spoken word of faith. Probably the effect in the realm of the Spirit is the same as in the realm of matter. God offers all in His promises. The word of faith is the act of taking and applying His power according to need. What we actually take we actually have, and when the decisive word of faith has been spoken, God in His grace begins to work; and as the stand of faith is persisted in, the answer appears. That is why the declared word of faith is so vital and should be so stressed. It is the act of taking in the invisible, and we suggest that the serious lack in so much of our prayer life, both public and private, is that it hardly gets beyond the stage of asking. Hardly ever do we hear a person in a public prayer meeting, having asked, take and thank; yet probably it is much more important to have “taking” meetings than to have “asking” meetings. Our constant asking must have the same effect on God as would a child on his parents, who keeps asking for food, when they have set his meal before him and told him to take and eat it.

We have a choice whether or not to accept Christ at His word. We must begin to speak to our mountains and accept God’s promises.

Don’t be afraid. Just trust Me. Mark 5:36

If you trust Me, you are really trusting God who sent Me. John 12:44

Don’t be troubled. You trust God, now trust in Me. John 14:1

No matter what I pray for Lord, nevertheless, I Believe, I Trust, and I Accept Your will for my life!