© 16 Colin Melbourne
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Jn. 8:31-32 KJV
Prayer;
Thank you LORD for your eternal word, and for the revelation of it through the Holy Ghost to our hearts. Open my spiritual eyes to see the Glory of the New Covenant in your Blood. Amen
Praise God how He crams a lifetime’s teaching into a single sentence: Keep this word, and you’ll see it works for every situation all the time.
Question:
Are you a believer in Christ, or a disciple of Christ?
Unless you reply “both”, you’ve missed the mark.
That is implicit in Christ’s first two statements;
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Some try to get by, receiving Christ as LORD without following Him, they remain stationary, struggling in old sinful habits for years and decades, wondering why.
That is not Bible Christianity!
In God’s Book, word, and mind; to be a believer, is to be a disciple: Every believer follows Christ, and quits sin.
Anything less is self-deception, hypocrisy, and will be exposed at The Judgment.
Jesus taught that disciples continue in His word, they keep and do it, putting His teaching into practise.
Are you a disciple?
If not, resolve to become a disciple of the LORD Jesus Christ now.
We live to thrill Father’s Heart, and Jesus taught us how to do that…
If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Paraphrased; If you live what I teach, you are really my disciples.
Disciples In-Deed
Knowing the word, is not enough, knowing about Christ is not enough: It is only by doing His word that you receive the blessing;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Live what He teaches, and you come to know the truth, in the deepest and most essential sense of experience and fellowship.
Set Me Free Lord!
There are Christians praying to be set free, still shackled and chained in bondage to sinful habits, begging the LORD for freedom, just like sinners do.
Is that you?
Do you know somebody like that in your fellowship?
When you grasp the point of this article, you’ll become a disciple, you’ll do what you should have done years ago, and you will be free.
According to this scripture, freedom does not come to believers by praying and pleading for God to set them free.
Making a Prayer Idol
Wake up, and understand redemption, repent from ineffective repetitive praying.
It’s possible to make an idol out of prayer.
People develop personal praying routines, erecting an idol, building a barrier of unbiblical prayer and unbelief between themselves and the Living Word of God.
For example; they ask for what God says they already have, and they beg Him to do what His word declares He’s already done: They pray denying the word, contradicting it, instead of believing the word.
Don’t do that! Live and pray the Bible way, the Jesus Way.
Bible Freedom
Biblical liberty comes by putting His word into practise and thereby knowing the truth. Jesus said so;
If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Doing His word, following His teaching, brings profound spiritual comprehension as a result of living experience; You know what that word means. You know the blessing that doing it gives: You understand that you have been set free.
This applies to all the word, for every believer, all the time. It’s how we learn, develop, and grow more Christ-like.
As we embrace and obey Christ’s teaching, the word becomes flesh again: God’s word displayed in our flesh. That has always been His Plan.
You can see how that makes you free, can’t you?
When Prayer Won’t Work
A Spirit-filled pastor held weekly deliverance meetings for Christians in his fellowship. His flock came, dramatic demonic manifestations resulted, and demons were driven out.
After a few months of this, the pastor realized the same people kept coming for deliverance, they were not really changed, so he sought the LORD in prayer, asking why.
Jesus’ answer has wide application; He replied that the pastor was trying to do through prayer, what only His word would do. Get the word into them, and as they do it, they will be set free.
The pastor obeyed, and taught the word: The New Covenant word of the New Creation; what Christ has accomplished for believers, what we have in redemption, who we are in Christ.
People began to see what they already had in Him, and so could live in.
The personal revelation of these basic truths set them truly free, as they walked in them, and laid a scriptural foundation for faith to remain free.
What the Holy Bible says believers are in Christ Jesus. Goes through the Bible listing what the New Covenant scriptures say we are In Him. It transforms make-believers into real believers and disciples.
© 16 Colin Melbourne
Tract image © Chick Publns. Used by permission.
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