“Where is it in the Bible?” I am sure you have heard this phrase before.
There are some believers who for everything they will ask you to show a verse in the Bible. I don’t blame them because there are some vague things that are happening in the body of Christ, more so in these last days, where people take an aspect of the Bible and stretch it by their own imagination and distort it in the process. People have misused the gift of power in the area of miraculous and as a result many doubt things like inner healing, deliverance, miracles, signs, wonders and tend to feel safe on the other extreme of the spectrum where you rely only on preaching and sharing the Word and not on the demonstration of the Word. The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power.
Some worship the word and are stuck with it to the extent that they are willing to fight their brother. Paul warned us that the letter kills. The body of Christ, over the years, has been divided over doctrines. They are willing to kill their brothers with Scripture wanting to prove themselves correct.
Bible is the Word of God. It is the Spirit of God that makes the Word living. We need the breath of God. You may be a regular churchgoer, you may be reading the Bible daily, you may have read the Bible several times, you may be one evangelising and sharing the Word with others, you may be a good singer or a preacher, it doesn’t matter. It is the breath of God that empowers us.
The Word became flesh and lived amongst us. We have the privilege of the Word becoming flesh in us again, where we become the living illustration and manifestation of what God is saying. But if we focus on the word alone, we are in danger of turning the Word made flesh back into a word again.
Without the help of the Holy Spirit revealing the Scriptures to us, the Bible is nothing but another book. A book of history, songs, poetry, stories, letters, kingdoms rising and kingdoms falling, the events of Jesus’ life as He walked on earth… but if you seek to learn from the Holy Spirit and allow Him, the veil will be removed as He unveils Jesus to you.
God is the author of grace, not the Bible. The Bible reveals that grace, but can never dispense it.
“It is difficult to expect the same fruit of the early church when we value a book that they didn’t have more than the person they did have.”
The Trinity only has three sides, not four. And it is not Father, Son and Holy Bible.
With the new year just around the corner, some of you will make a vow to read the Bible in one year, some more than once in a year. There is nothing wrong with it. In fact, it is a good and recommended approach to discipline yourself to read the Word of God daily, however, it often becomes a mere obligation, a routine, a race to complete the course.
Have you ever seen a nice leather-bound user manual of a car with gold edged pages, ribbon marker and red letters for the words of the Director of the manufacturer? It is generally a simple black and white, often photocopied and stapled pages, at best laminated important quick fix and specification pages, something that is viewed as a tool we can trust as we conduct the repairs. So is the Bible as we navigate through life. A decorated manual on the shelf or table will not take us anywhere. The best of the travel guides and atlas on our bookshelf can be a nice collection but will not take us any closer to our destination.
Bible is not an object of worship. Bible is to stir up your imagination to open your senses to the supernatural, Bible is to build your capacity to hear God’s instruction, Bible is to meditate and know on the ways of God.
Do not worship the Bible. Worship the living God, God of the Word and not the Word of God.
As you go into this new year, a year of redemption, year of restitution, year of restoration, invite the Holy Spirit to unveil the mysteries God wants to reveal of Jesus as you read and meditate the Word of God.