Monday, September 22, 2014
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Now, let me make clear, I didn't participate in World War II, but I've been told that they gave American soldiers more than bullets to support them when they went into combat. They gave them a chocolate bar. It makes a lot of sense, actually, when you think about needing a sugar rush when they've got to have all that energy for the battle ahead. And maybe that's not all bad. Of course if you did it to a man as he's about to fall on the couch and take a nap, that might be bad. That's the funny thing about sugar. You eat it and you exercise, boom, it's energy! You eat it and you just lie there, it's fat.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Energy or Fat."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Joshua 1:8. We're looking at this because God has a lot of overweight kids because there's no conversion. When I say overweight, I'm not talking about physical pounds. When I say conversion, I'm not talking about being born into God's family. Spiritually, too many of us are loading up on spiritual food but not converting it into action.
Which is why we're looking at Joshua 1:8, "Do not let this book of the Law (the Bible) depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." Okay, God says, "I want you to meditate on this." Actually the Hebrew word here is chewing like a cow chews their food; over and over and over again. In the original Hebrew, it's actually "chew it until you're ready to digest it." He says, "I want you to think about it, okay. And then I want you to talk about it. I want it to be in your mind. I want it to be in your mouth. Don't let it depart from your mouth." And then He says, "All this is so you will do something because of what you read." I want it to be in your life!
So you don't just study God's Word to get smarter spiritually and to know something. Every time you pick up this book, you're supposed to do something; live different because of it. Now, most of us get a lot of great Bible teaching. I mean, you've got sermons to watch and listen to, Bible studies, CDs, DVDs, books, seminars, and radio programs. You know what? You can have a notebook full of Bible notes, and you can have a life that's spiritually empty of any real change in your relationships, your finances, very little change in your pet sin, or your attitude, your temper, your pride, your complaining.
Now, why is it that North American Christians are so well fed and yet we seem so spiritually powerless when you compare us to like third world Christians who don't have all of this? Could it be that we're just hearing it, we're filing it and we're not applying it? Are we just letting it turn into spiritual fat? And then there are people in situations where they have to put it immediately to work. They're living on it, living for it. They're living it. We need exercise!
That means you study the Bible to find out what God is saying about a particular issue. But you don't let it stop there. No, you say, "Now, what should I do differently today because He said this?" Keep a journal. Write down and process what He said to you, and then what you say to Him that you're going to do that day because of what He said to you through His Word. Writing it down actually takes the abstract and it makes it concrete; it's like right there in front of you.
See, when it comes to the Bible, we've got a lot of information; not nearly so much application. We're storing all kinds of Bible information and yet it's turning into fat. But when you make it a daily discipline to put the verse to work as soon as you can, it turns into a lot of spiritual energy that will enable you to live more powerfully than you've ever lived before.