Ian Cole shares the second of the themes for 2024 to confirm our belief in God’s word.
At the beginning of 2024, we sensed that as part of our individual and collective spiritual journey, God was giving us four words to carry through the year: Conform to the likeness of Christ, Confirm our belief in God’s word, Contend with spiritual powers of darkness and Connect through building unity with brothers and sisters around the corner and around the world.
In January, we wrote a short article on the subject of Conforming, stating that increasingly throughout the year we wanted to conform to the image of Jesus, to be more like Him in lifestyle, attitude and action. Read the article here.
The second in the series, is our desire to Confirm our belief in the Bible as the inspired word of God and, by God’s grace and in the power of His Holy Spirit, live by the truth of its teachings. We believe that this inspired Book is a Book of instruction, warnings, directions for living, truth, revelation, hope. Above all it reveals the love of God for His world and all mankind through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of His Son Christ Jesus.
Paul in writing to His spiritual son Timothy says, “All scripture is God breathed and given for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3: 16). Again, when he wrote to the church of the Thessalonians he said, “When you received the Word of God, you received it not as the words of men, but as it actually is, the Word of God.” (1 Thessalonians 2: 13.) Peter who wrote about the prophecy of Scripture states that, “No prophecy of scripture came about by the Prophets interpretation, but men spoke from God as they were led by the Holy Spirit”. (2 Peter 1).
So today, we confirm our belief in the God inspired Bible containing 66 books that ‘are alive and active, sharper than a two-edged sword in dividing soul and spirit, judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart’. (Hebrews 4. 12.) With the Psalmist we say, “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”. (Psalm 119: 105) This living word not only shows us the path to tread, it helps us a step at a time following Jesus who said, “I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6.)
This living word tells us that God created the world, He created man and woman in His likeness, that man sinned and disobeyed God and continues to suffer the consequences of that disobedience in that it separated us from God. But that is not the end of the story… In His Love for us, He sent His son Jesus, our Saviour and Redeemer, who took our sin, failures, guilt and shame to the cross. There he shed His blood to cleanse us and set us free from the power of sin. Through our repentance and turning from sin and believing this living word, He gives us true life and what’s more, it is eternal life. This living word transforms and changes us, our way of life, our identity and our culture. We do not change this living God inspired word to suit our culture, nor does culture change His living word.
This living word is not about lifeless religion, but about a day by day relationship with a triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit with whom we can walk and talk. A God we reverentially fear, but a God we can call Father, whose grace, love and mercy is constantly available to us and a Father who will never leave us or forsake us.
WOW! What a book! Now you know why we want to Confirm our belief in it and our determination through the power of the Holy Spirit to read it, believe it, speak it, share it.
Never read it? Go online, look up Marks Gospel, in the New Testament, and it will change your life.
Ian Cole is the founder of the World Prayer Centre and networks globally in the movement for prayer.
