The Word To Live By: 8-1-26
Phil Waggoner
If you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. Colossians 3:1-2
The Word To Live By: We are talking about great faith and how to get there. (By the way, I just read the account of the Canaanite woman who Jesus also said had great faith and I saw in her the same things that were in the centurion in Matthew 8 who Jesus also said had great faith. I’ll break that down tomorrow.) Right now, we are talking about the basic principle of great faith is what comes out of your heart through your mouth. (Mark 11:23,24, Proverbs 18:20,21) Your words are like seeds planted in the garden of your life. Plant the fruit you want in your life by consistently confirming the promises of God that pertain to life and godliness. Notice the scripture in Colossians says to keep seeking. That tells me it’s not an overnight thing but a lifestyle. (Living by faith. Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 2:20, 3:11, Hebrews 10:28) The same spiritual law that plants good also plants weeds. Weeds are plants that bear bad fruit and suck up the water, nutrients, and space in your life. (things that kill, steal, and destroy) What you meditate on is what will eventually be planted in your life and bear the fruit thereof. Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:1-3 explain that in the Old Testament and Colossians 3:1-2 and Romans 12:1-2 in the New Testament among other places. For example, my previous pastor used to say when he sees something in someone’s life that makes him want to say something that would be lustful or covet or not consistent with unconditional love, he would instead say, “I’m in that line!” Don’t let your mind dwell on things that are not of God. That’s what meditating is. In the parable of the sower sows the Word it says that seed that is sown along the roadside is immediately snatched away by the evil one. So, when you hear, in your mind or someone throws out an ungodly saying, immediately counteract it with something God says. Last night on my way to bed I checked my work schedule for the month of August. (I only worked one day in July) I knew I was scheduled for 8/1 and wanted to make sure of the time. I found out It was postponed. My thought was, “There’s $200.00 you won’t make in August.” On my way to bed I said, “Thank God He supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” I woke up this morning with, “He is able to do exceedingly, superabundantly, beyond what I think.” That wasn’t by accident. It was because I had set my mind on Ephesians 3:20 and pulled a potential weed of worry with Philippians 4:19. You don’t have to say everything you are thinking. You can set your mind on things above by meditating on the Word of God when impure thoughts come to mind.
Read through the Bible in a year: 1 Corinthians 16; 2 Kings 12-13; Micah 3;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 1, Matthew 16:15-28, Romans 4
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160